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The Clean Car Campaign has developed an aggressive plan for the collection of automotive mercury, and calls for producer responsibility in addressing the hazards presented by mercury devices in vehicles. Within its four-point action plan, the Campaign calls on automakers to take primary responsibility for removing and properly managing mercury switches and other mercury-containing devices in the existing fleet of vehicles, both on the road and retired. The Campaign has also formed a Partnership for Mercury Free Vehicles with industries which handle end-of-life vehicles.
The Campaign endorses the complementary approach of both in-use and end-of-life strategies to collect mercury switches. An in-use strategy would collect (remove/replace) mercury switches from the fleet of 210 million vehicles currently on the road; an end-of-life strategy collects mercury switches from vehicles that are retired and removed from the fleet. While an effort should be made to recover mercury switches from all vehicles in the existing fleet on and off the road, a collection program should be designed to achieve an overall mercury capture rate of at least 90 percent.
Announcement of Landmark New
National Program to Collect Mercury Switches from Automobiles
A landmark agreement was announced that will greatly reduce a major source of
mercury from the environment by creating a new, industry-funded, national program
for recovering mercury switches from vehicles before they are dismantled and melted
for recycling. The agreement was reached after years of research, advocacy and
coalition-building by Environmental Defense and Ecology Center, working closely with
the vehicle dismantlers, vehicle shredders, steelmakers, states, the auto industry and
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
email: info@cleancarcampaign.org