We could not have done it without you! Thanks to Onondaga County residents, 470 grams of mercury was collected for safe management over the weekend at the OCRRA and Covanta Mercury Collection Event. Mercury can be harmful to humans and wildlife when handled improperly. Keeping mercury thermometers and thermostats out of the trash benefits the environment and our community.
During the event at Miller Environmental Group in Syracuse, 114 people dropped off a total of 158 thermometers and 78 thermostats. That's equivalent to the amount of mercury in 117,500 compact fluorescent light bulbs. Thank you for taking time out of your weekend to support this important community event. Mercury that isn’t managed properly may get washed into our waterways, harming local fish and other wildlife.
If you missed the event, learn how to manage thermometers and thermostats through OCRRA's searchable database. Not every thermometer or thermostat contains mercury. Non-mercury thermometers and thermostats can go in the trash.
How do you know if an item contains mercury?
- Mercury thermometers have tubes with silver, metallic grey or black filling. Any other color indicates the thermometer is not eligible for this event since it doesn’t contain mercury and can be thrown in the trash.
- Mercury thermostats have levers or dials that you move to change the temperature. If you remove the faceplate and see a glass capsule with a silver substance, it contains mercury. Do not remove or break the capsule. If your thermostat is digital / programmable, it is not eligible for drop-off and can go in the trash.
Drop-off Locations
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