Toronto taxi drivers fight mercury pollution

(Toronto, ON) Toronto taxicabs had a free retrofit of mercury-filled lighting switches at Union Station today while waiting to pick up their fares. The non-toxic ball-bearing replacement switches were courtesy of Pollution Probe, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Environment Canada who are working to reduce the volume of toxic mercury released to the environment.

Mercury is a toxic substance that, when converted to methylmercury, bioaccumulates in living organisms and is the number one cause of contaminated fish advisories in North America. Five provinces and 47 states currently put out fish advisories due to the dangerous levels of methylmercury.

Automotive mercury switches, used largely for activating convenience lights under the hood and trunk lids of North American made vehicles, account for nearly 10 tonnes of preventable mercury releases per year. Pollution Probe estimates that in Ontario alone approximately 200,000 switches, or 200,000 grams of mercury, go to the automotive recyclers and junkyards each year. Pollution Probe’s Leah Hagreen stated that "when cars are crushed, shredded and melted to make new steel, 100% of the mercury is released into the environment, mostly to the atmosphere." Atmospheric fallout of one gram of mercury, the amount contained in one convenience lighting switch, is enough to contaminate the fish in a 20-acre lake.

Hagreen said "there is a real opportunity for the Big 3 automakers (Daimler-Chrysler, Ford and GM), to use non-mercury replacements instead of mercury switches in new vehicles." Pollution Probe, Environment Canada, and the NYSDEC are trying to get cooperation from the Big 3 as well as the imported automobile manufacturers to eliminate all mercury containing devices from their vehicles. The group is also looking to develop a collection program for the over 200 tonnes of mercury in switches of vehicles in scrap yards and still on the road.

The mercury switches collected from this event were transported to the Toronto Household Hazardous Waste Facility for recycling.

‘Switch the switch’ is part of Pollution Probe’s comprehensive Mercury Elimination and Reduction Challenge (MERC) programme.

For more information contact: Leah Hagreen, Pollution Probe’s MERC Programme (416) 922-9038x25.

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