Consumer Electronic Products / Wastes

ercury can be found in various consumer products that you might probably own one of them in your lifetime. Common examples of mercury-containing consumer products found in homes, offices, and institutional common spaces are mirrors, fluorescent light bulbs, and lamps, barometers, vases, batteries, electronic products, circuit boards, etc.

Consumer products that contain even a small amount of mercury make different kinds of health effects on human beings and ecosystems, and improper methods of recycling those mercury-containing consumer products can lead to widespread global mercury pollution.

Therefore, environmental organizations such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) encourage consumers to consider the alternative approach of using products that contain mercury. For example, led lamps are a safer alternative approach to using mercury-containing fluorescent lights.

Mercury-containing-products should not be disposed of in regular household trash but they need to be recycled with care which is one of the best ways to prevent the accumulation of mercury in the environment. If mercury is landfilled, it will enter the groundwater, possibly the source of drinking water. Again, the incineration of mercury-containing-products will release the mercury into the atmosphere.

You can check the list of consumer products, household items, and/or industrial equipment that may contain mercury at the following link

https://waste.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/211674298-Which-consumer-products-household-items-and-or-industrial-equipment-contain-mercury-

Reference
[1] https://www.epa.gov/mercury/mercury-consumer-products

Electronic waste (also known as e–waste) contributes many harmful substances such as mercury to the environment.

While, some consumer electronic products may contain lower amount of mercury, some may impact on environmental and human health due to higher amount of mercury.

Mercury is evaporated and released from the consumer electronic products during Electronics (E-Waste) Recycling processes. Humans readily absorb both inorganic and organic mercury vapor once they have inhaled the mercury.