 What
You Can Do
There are many steps you can take to reduce your risk from
mercury. By properly removing mercury from your home,
school, business, and government, the
risk of mercury exposure decreases! Below are steps to take to
help reduce mercury in the environment which
reduces your risk. |
You Can Make
A Difference! |
Do
Determine Where
Mercury is Present
Use the information
below to identify products that contain mercury. Understanding
where mercury is found and how much you may have is an important first
step in removing as much as possible.
- Products Containing Mercury
- Mercury in Fish
(Pregnant women and young children should limit their consumption
of some fish)
-
Tox Town National Institutes of Health An interactive, fun
Web site to help you find where environmental health risks
are found.
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Start a
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Bin
Keep your
hazardous waste safe and contained until it can be properly disposed. Consider storing old
batteries in a plastic tub or old coffee tin; save your fluorescent
light bulbs and other mercury-containing products in a plastic “mercury
bucket” with lid, a good package for fluorescent tubes is a cardboard
wrapping paper tube; save paints in an old plastic tub. Just as you
would set up a recycling or garbage center in your garage or shed, place
your hazardous waste collection system next to it as a visual reminder
to safely dispose of your mercury containing items and other hazardous
waste.
Use your
Local Household Hazardous Waste Program
Take your
hazards bin to your local household hazardous waste facility! Call
Ecology’s 1-800-RECYCLE line for information, visit the
Ecology Hazardous waste service providers, or log onto Earth911’s
website at
www.earth911.org
to find local facilities and a list of the items they accept.
Replace Mercury-Containing Products with Mercury-Free Alternatives
Consult Washington's Guide
to Mercury Products in the Home (pdf
43 kb).
Participate in Environmental or Public Health Events
Earth Day: Earth Day is
held annually on April 22. Special events and activities
to help the environment are held every year on or around Earth
Day. Locate an Earth
 Day
event in your community by browsing the
Earth Day Network, the main Web site for Earth Day across
world. Consider hosting a mercury-reduction project for
Earth Day!
Environmental Education Week:
Environmental Education Week is held annually in April. Visit National
Environmental Education & Training Foundation's
Environmental
Education Week Web page for additional information.
Public Health Day:
Usually held in early April, the Washington Department of
Health celebrates Public Health Week by hosting a variety of
activities across the state to help keep its citizens healthy
and safe.
Organize a Project in
Your School or Community
Consider organizing a community or school activity to raise
public awareness on the dangers of mercury, promote the proper
disposal of mercury-containing products, and encourage the
reduction in use of mercury-containing products.
Outreach projects may include:
Poster Contest:
Consider holding a poster contest in your local school or
community. The Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency’s Environmental Education Program hosts a popular
annual pollution-prevention-themed “Poster, Poetry, and Prose”
contest for Washington State's 5th and 6th graders.
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental
Education Program.
Thermometer Exchange:
The nonprofit group
Health Care Without Harm
provides a
brochure with information for any group or
individual interested in holding a thermometer exchange.
The brochure includes information on the most effective
locations and methods for exchanges, cost estimates on
mercury-free thermometers, information on finding funding, and
advice on publicity and holding a successful event. The
brochure also includes sample posters, fliers, and letters.
The group also provides information on holding
battery roundups. For a starter set of 50
thermometers to launch a thermometer exchange at your school
or organization, contact us at
1-877-485-7316 or send an e-mail to the
Office of Environmental
Health Assessments.
Research Environmental Health Topics
and Share Your Knowledge:
Talk to others about participating in
The Youth Network
for Healthy Communities (YNHC), a videoconference
project of the University of Washington’s Center for
Ecogenetics and Environmental Health. The project is designed
to give middle and high school teachers across Washington State the
opportunity to work with students on environmental health
issues in their local communities. The students prepare
projects, research, and share their findings with their
peers and with environmental health experts at the University
of Washington via the statewide K20 videoconference network.
Additional Mercury Related
Information
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