National Mercury Switch Program Celebrates First-Year Accomplishments

The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program (NVMSRP) is celebrating its one-year anniversary with the release of the program's Annual Report for 2006-2007. NVMSRP's aim is to facilitate the voluntary removal of mercury switches that can be found in 2002 and older model automobiles, before being recycled, in order to benefit the environment in terms of mercury reduction.

"This is an important environmental issue for our industry," said Jim Schultz, vice president of environment and energy for AISI. "Through our participation as part of the NVMSRP, our industry is able to work to protect the scrap infrastructure from contaminants, such as mercury."

The program is a collaborative partnership of the AISI, Environmental Protection Agency, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Automotive Recyclers Association and the Ecology Center, along with other auto and steel industry and environmental organizations.

The Annual Report explains the importance of the mercury switch program, while at the same time highlighting the accomplishments of the partner organizations during its first year. Since the programs start in August 2006, more than 635,000 mercury switches have been collected by approximately 5,900 participants. As a result, partners of the program have prevented almost 1,400 pounds of mercury from being released into the environment. In addition, mercury switch removal programs are now operational in all 50 states. For more information on the number of switches collected to date, visit www.elvsolutions.org.

Fourteen AISI member companies are active participants in the program and are working to educate and encourage their supply chain to participate. At the same time, the members are taking steps to purchase scrap metal generated from participating dismantlers and recyclers that have removed the mercury-containing switches.

AISI and the other partnering organizations plan to further promote involvement during the second year of the program. The partners will also continue to work with one another to correct any areas of weakness and to improve awareness among the public. The Annual Report and partnership agreement are available for download at www.steel.org. For more information, contact Jim Schultz.