City of Gastonia

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City of Gastonia

• Mercury Awareness

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Mercury Issues

• In 1998 The City of Gastonia was experiencing
  occasional mercury violations at both of their
  Wastewater Treatment Plants.
• Any detection of mercury was considered to be
  too much.

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Initial Efforts

• Initially we focused our efforts on educating
  the area dentist about the harms of mercury in
  the environment through annual presentation with
  help from the North Carolina Division of
  Pollution Prevention and Environmental
  Assistance.
• Dentists were targeted because dental offices
  are considered to be a point source contributor
  of mercury dischargers.

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Community Efforts

• In 2002 we expanded our efforts to include the
  community.
• The most effective way to deal with mercury
  issues is to eliminate or reduce its discharge
  at the source, which includes removal from the
  community.

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July 13, 2002

• The City held its first Mercury Collection Day
  and Thermometer Exchange Event on July 13, 2002.
  Residents brought in mercury containing items to
  be recycled. In exchange for their
  participation, they received a free non mercury
  thermometer.

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GOAL of Event

• The goal of this event was to remove mercury
  containing items from the environment for proper
  disposal.

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PURPOSE of Event

• The event was held for 2 purposes
• 1) Public health and environmental awareness of
  mercury.
• 2) Educate the Community regarding the removal
  and proper disposal of mercury containing items.

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Public Awareness

• The public awareness campaign consist of the
  following
• News Articles in the Gaston Gazette
• Government Television Broadcast
• Flyers and Email Distributions

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Mercury Collection Event

• The event represented the first step in our
  campaign to motivate residents to replace mercury
  containing items with non mercury substitutes.

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What is Mercury?

• Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is a metallic
  element which is liquid at room temperature.
  Mercury flows in shiny, silver droplets with high
  surface tension.

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Where is Mercury found?

• Mercury is released into the atmosphere by
• Volcanic eruptions
• Groundwater seepage,
• Evaporation from Oceans
• Human Activities -Combustion of fossil fuels and
  incineration of municipal and medical waste as
  well as improper disposal of mercury-containing
  items
• Once released into the environment, mercury can
  be re-circulated through the air, soils and water
  for hundreds of years.

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Why should we care about Mercury?

• Metallic mercury is relatively non-toxic, but
  other forms of mercury are threats to the public
  health.
• When metallic mercury is released into the
  environment, bacteria can convert it into methyl
  mercury, a potent neurotoxin.
• Larger organisms consume the bacteria, fish
  consume the organisms and humans consume fish.
  Methyl mercury becomes more concentrated as it
  moves up the food chain making consumption unsafe
  for birds and mammals, including humans.

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Metallic Mercury Cycle
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Methyl Mercury

• Humans consume food sources which contain methyl
  mercury.

• In high concentrations, Mercury is capable of
  damaging the adult central nervous system and
  brain.

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Manufactured items containing Mercury

• In the following common household products
• Mercury thermometers
• Barometers
• Fluorescent light bulbs
• Electrical switches
• Dental fillings
• Button cell batteries
• Batteries (produced before 1991)
• Paints (manufactured before 1990)
• Sneaker that light up

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Event Summary

• The Mercury Collection Day and Thermometer
  Exchange event removed 898 mercury-containing
  items from the environment for proper
  disposal-recycling.

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Event Summary

• The 4 containers of free liquid mercury had been
  kept by 4 residents for 20, 25, 30 and 70 years
  before being brought in for disposal-recycling.

The container of liquid mercury showed above had
been kept by a resident for 70 years. The one
below had been kept for 25 years.
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HISTORY

• The City of Gastonia is the first City in North
  Carolina to conduct a Mercury Collection Day AND
  A Thermometer Exchange Program.
• The Town of Tryon, North Carolina was the first
  to hold a Mercury Collection Day. They removed
  175 pounds of mercury containing items.

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Sponsors The City of Gastonia would like to
thank the following sponsors

• North Carolina Department of Environment and
  Natural Resources
• North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention
  and Environmental Assistance
• R.G. Medical Diagnostics
• American Efird
• Crompton Corporation (Reine M. Smirz)
• CRS Gastonia
• Firestone
• George Weston Bakeries Inc.
• Danaher Tool Group
• Industrial Electroplating Company, Inc.
• James P. McCarthy, DMD
• Jerry Marshall Gunter, DDSPA
• Kevin Monroe, DDS

• Lowry Dentistry
• Noveon
• Pediatric Dental Care (Charles W. Conner, DDS)
• Porta-Jon of the Piedmont, Inc.
• RADICISPANDEX CORP.
• Sashae Enterprises
• Stabilus
• Target
• Town of Ranlo
• Valley Proteins Inc.
• Wal-Mart
• Clarence Morris
• The Gaston Gazette

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Future Events

• Due to the success of the event, it is now an
  open event. Residents who would like to recycle
  mercury containing items like thermometers,
  button cell batteries or thermostats in exchange
  for a Free non- mercury thermometer, contact
  Janet Maddox at 704-854-6672 or
  janetm_at_cityofgastonia.com

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CASE STUDY

• City of Gastonia-Mercury Collection / Thermometer
  Exchange Event on The N.C. Division of Pollution
  Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA)
  Website
• www.p2pays.org/mercury

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QUESTIONS ?