TOXICS IN VEHICLES: MERCURY

A Report by Ecology Center Great Lakes United University of Tennessee Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies January 2001

Implications for Recycling and Disposal

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The United States had a record 210 million automobiles on the road in 1999, up 15 million from 1994, and the total for all of North America in 1996 was more than 235 million. Each year, some 12 million of these vehicles are retired from useful life. Many of the materials used in their production create problems along the way, either in the vehicle's manufacture, use or end-of-life. This report examines the historic and continuing use of the highly toxic metal mercury in automobiles and estimates its releases to the environment from end-of-life vehicle (ELV) processing. The report will show that emissions from vehicle recycling and disposal processes are one of the largest sources of mercury contamination to the environment. The report also examines strategies for cleaner production and proposes key policy solutions to eliminate mercury hazards from both new and existing vehicles.

Mercury in Automotive Applications

Government agencies, and the automotive industry as well, have acknowledged concerns with automotive mercury use since the early 1990s. In 1995, a Task Force convened by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources determined that mercury switches were responsible for more than 99 percent of mercury use in automobiles - primarily in hood and trunk lighting, but also in antilock braking systems (ABS). As part of that process, automakers agreed to voluntarily phase out mercury switches within a few years and to educate auto recyclers on how to remove switches from existing vehicles.

Five years after the task force findings, however, mercury continues to be used in lighting switches and its use has even increased in ABS applications. The North American vehicle fleet may now contain as many as 250 million switches that, if not removed and properly managed, could release as much as 200 metric tons of mercury into the environment, causing harm to human health and wildlife.

Specific findings of this study include:

• Mercury-containing switches account for more than 99 percent of the mercury used in automobiles, with each switch containing approximately 0.8 grams of mercury.



• Approximately 11.2 tons of mercury were used in U.S.-made vehicles in 1996, with an average of 1.06 switches per vehicle.



• An estimated 215 million mercury switches (and perhaps as many as 250 million) in vehicles currently on the road account for some 172 to 200 metric tons of mercury.



• The 12 million vehicles disposed of annually in the United States and Canada contain an estimated 8.8 to 10.2 metric tons of mercury (U.S. ELVs alone contain 8 to 9.4 metric tons of mercury).



• While the use of mercury in convenience lighting switches declined some 62 to 77 percent since 1996, mercury use for ABS applications appears to have increased by at least 130 percent and perhaps by as much as 180 percent.



• Other uses of mercury in automobiles, such as high intensity discharge headlamps, navigational displays, and family entertainment systems, also appear to be on the rise.



• Automakers have never fully disclosed their historical uses of mercury nor specific vehicle models that contain mercury.

Mercury Releases from Auto Recycling Facilities

The first stop for most retired vehicles is an automotive dismantler. This can include high-value parts dismantlers or a common auto scrap yard. Once salvageable parts are removed, vehicle hulks are sent to shredder facilities where ferrous (steel) and nonferrous metals are recovered, or sent directly to electric arc furnaces (EAFs) as steel scrap. These EAFs use electrical energy to melt the scrap to make new steel products. During these dismantling and recycling processes, multiple opportunities exist for mercury contained in vehicles to be released to the environment.

While removal of mercury switches from convenience lighting applications is a fairly simple procedure, very little known recovery actually occurs. Even less likely is recovery of ABS mercury switches. This report analyzed recent emissions data from one shredder facility, four EAF facilities in three states, and three other steel smelting facilities (the only recent data available). The data confirm that significant mercury emissions occur at shredder and metal recovery facilities, where most, if not all, of the mercury from vehicles is currently released to the environment. Using national emissions estimates derived from these data, EAFs appear to be the single largest manufacturing source of mercury air emissions in the United States, and the fourth largest of all anthropogenic sources.

Specific findings include:

• The bulk of mercury releases from retired vehicles occur from melting contaminated scrap steel in EAFs. Mercury air emissions from U.S. EAFs are estimated in this study at 15.6 metric tons per year, of which mercury from automobiles is likely the single largest contributing source.



• EAFs constitute the largest manufacturing source of mercury air emissions in the United States, larger than all other manufacturing sources combined. EAFs also constitute the fourth largest of all mercury air emission sources, behind coal-fired utilities, municipal waste incinerators and commercial/industrial boilers (all combustion sources).



• Potential mercury air emissions from Canadian and Mexican EAFs are estimated at seven metric tons per year, but this estimate is more uncertain due to the absence of data in these countries.



• Some of the mercury in vehicles is also released at auto shredder facilities, either as an emission to the air or as a contaminant in waste material (i.e., "auto shredder residue"). At the only combined shredder/EAF facility where a mercury mass balance has been performed, mercury releases from the shredder accounted for more than 20 percent of the total.



• Mercury can also be released at auto scrap yards. There are approximately 10,000 to 14,000 auto scrap yards in the United States and Canada, many of which have been designated as environmental contamination sites (some with known mercury contamination).



• The vast majority of EAFs, shredders and scrap yards in North America are neither monitored nor regulated for mercury pollution.

Strategies for Clean Production and the Need for Producer Responsibility

Automakers can prevent mercury emissions from retired vehicles if they employ clean production principles. This means designing vehicles to avoid the use of toxic substances like mercury in the first place and accepting responsibility for the hazards of their vehicles even after they are sold. Furthermore, a range of public and private policy initiatives must be started to reduce the threat from vehicle-related mercury pollution.

Automakers can halt the proliferation of toxic contaminants in vehicles by utilizing "design for environment" approaches that consider life cycle environmental impacts in a product's development. This should also include development of supplier specifications and material tracking systems to ensure that toxic substances like mercury are not used in parts supplied to auto manufacturers. Automakers can also voluntarily accept responsibility for hazards posed by their products at the end of their useful lives through product take-backs or by providing funding for a separate mercury collection and recovery system.

Governments can move to protect human and environmental health by instituting policies that promote cleaner production practices. The European Union (EU) has recently taken a major step in this direction by adopting the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive, which requires the phaseout of most applications of mercury and other heavy metals. The Directive also gives automakers financial responsibility and sets recycling targets for ELVs. Some U.S. states, such as Vermont and Minnesota, have required the labeling of mercury-added products (including automobile components) or restricted mercury-containing products from entering the waste stream. Northeast states are now collectively considering comprehensive mercury legislation, which would restrict sales, ban disposal, and provide a collection scheme for mercury-added products.

Although North American-based automakers pledged in 1995 to phase-out mercury-containing switches, their use has continued into the new millennium. There has also been little progress toward removing these switches from the existing vehicle fleet. By contrast, European-sold automobiles have not contained mercury switches since 1993, when mercury use was banned in Sweden. This suggests that proactive government policies may be the more effective approach to achieving clean production ends. With Europe setting the standard, it is time for North American governments to take action now to reduce mercury hazards from end-of-life vehicles.

Recommendations

Based on these findings, the following actions should be taken to eliminate mercury hazards from retired vehicles:

• Elimination of Mercury Switches from New Cars and Trucks: Automakers should immediately eliminate the use of mercury switches in the production of new cars and trucks to stop the introduction of new sources of mercury into the end-of-life vehicle waste stream.



• Producer Responsibility for Mercury Switch Removal, Collection and Replacement: Automobile producers should take responsibility for the removal and safe collection of mercury switches from the millions of vehicles in the existing fleet. This should include replacement of switches in vehicles on the road, where feasible, as well as full disclosure of historical uses of mercury.



• Phaseout of Other Uses of Mercury in Vehicles: Automakers should begin a phaseout of other uses of mercury in vehicles, following a timetable comparable to requirements in the EU ELV Directive.



• Labeling of Vehicles Containing Mercury: Automakers should label all new vehicles containing mercury, until such use has been fully phased out. Both mercury-containing parts as well as the vehicle itself should be labeled.



• Upgraded Environmental Standards for Automotive Recycling Facilities: Federal, state, and provincial governments in the United States and Canada should upgrade environmental standards for ELV management by scrap yards, shredders, EAFs, and other metals recovery facilities that process automotive scrap. In particular, they should: 1) require processors to remove and safely recover mercury-containing products before shredding or otherwise processing ELVs, and 2) establish and enforce mercury emission standards for metals recycling and recovery facilities with high mercury emissions, such as EAFs.

Additional background information and full versions of the reports are available for viewing or downloading on-line, at:

http://www.cleancarcampaign.org/pdfs/toxicsinvehicles_mercury.pdf