Mercury in Vehicles: Facts and Issues

Mercury is a highly toxic substance - only one gram (the amount in one vehicle mercury switch) can contaminate a 20-acre lake for one year to the point where the fish should not be eaten. Mercury accounts for most of the fish advisories in Ontario, and indeed North America.

Mercury switches account for 99.9% of mercury use in vehicles. The major use in older vehicles is a one-gram fingernail sized switch used in hood and trunk lighting. This use is being phased-out (70% decrease since 1996); mercury use in other applications - switches in anti-lock brakes, a vapour in High Intensity Discharge lamps and navigational displays - remains the same or is increasing.

There are over 5.3 tonnes of mercury contained in switches in vehicles on the road in Ontario. Because there is currently no mercury recovery from vehicles, crushing and recycling of the cars can release the mercury to the environment. When vehicles are melted down this mercury becomes available to the environment where it contaminates lakes, fish and wildlife. When the switches are crushed, the ground in the recycling facility becomes contaminated, which is a threat for future uses of the site. Even with phase-out of all mercury use, there will be a 10-15 year lag time before mercury emissions will stop when vehicles are recycled.

A life-cycle management approach to addressing mercury pollution seems the most appropriate way to manage the mercury already contained within vehicles. Proper management of these switches can minimize releases of the toxin to the environment. The goal of this programme is to demonstrate that mercury switches can be recovered from scrap cars safely and efficiently, so that this programme might be expanded to all automotive dismantlers in Canada.