Maine passes bill to remove mercury from vehicles - State Update - Brief Article

Recycling Today, May, 2002

The Partnership for Mercury-Free Vehicles, a coalition of environmental organizations and industries involved in vehicle recycling, praise Maine's passage of the nation's first law mandating auto manufacturer responsibility for the removal of mercury from vehicles.

"We in the recycling industry have long been concerned about the use of potentially hazardous materials such as mercury in automobiles," Robin K. Weiner, president of the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), says. "Maine's new auto mercury law removes from the recycling equation a known public health hazard and helps to ensure that the auto manufacturers share in the responsibility for solving a problem created by their decision to use mercury in the first place."

Bill Steinkuller, executive vice president of the Automotive Recyclers Association, says, "Our members simply cannot assume the significant responsibility for disposing of these toxic substances."

The Maine law creates a manufacturer-funded system for removing and disposing of mercury-added components, such as switches in convenience lighting found in trunks, before vehicles are crushed or shredded for recycling.