Dive Brief:
- Oklahoma has started collecting thermostats made with mercury as part of a new recycling initiative aimed at keeping toxins for the waste stream.
- The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) joined forces with Covanta Tulsa and Locke Supply to establish the program, aimed at giving residents a convenient way to recycle obsolete thermostats.
- Homeowners and contractors are encouraged to drop off thermostats to any Locke Supply wholesale location; thermostats are transported to the Thermostat Recycling Corporation. Covanta Tulsa owns a energy-from-waste plant where it recovers thousands of tons of metal for recycling.
Dive Insight:
A growing list of states enacted mercury thermostat recycling regulations. California implemented a thermostat disposal ban in 2008, banning them from landfills, and cracked down further by introducing expanded regulation in 2013, holding manufacturers responsible for the collection of thermostats.
2013 also saw Wisconsin introducing legislation requiring manufactures to establish a thermostat collection program, while a bill making its way through the state House garnered divergent views; it was seen as “promising” by advocates and “ineffective,” by environmental groups.
As of August 2014, a mercury recycling law passed in Massachusetts but still had a fair share of opposition tied to it. The version that passed eliminated target recycling rates and fines aimed at manufacturers; the new law will collect $300,000 in fees to promote mercury recycling from thermostat and light-bulb manufacturers in the state.
