Pull-A-Part, a family business serving the do-it-yourself, used auto parts market, has achieved a milestone in the national effort to prevent mercury contamination in the environment caused by mercury switches in old cars.
At its 28 used auto parts superstores in 12 states, the company has captured more than 255,178 mercury switches from old cars before making the vehicles available to consumers to pull and purchase used auto parts.
Mercury switches can release a significant amount of mercury into the environment if they’re not removed from old cars before the vehicles are crushed and shredded for recycling. Each switch, about the size of an acorn, contains enough mercury to contaminate 132,000 gallons of water above U.S. EPA drinking water standards. The mercury switches collected by Pull-A-Part contain 561 pounds of mercury, preventing the pollution of more than 33.6 billion gallons of water, enough to fill a 1,034-acre lake 100 feet deep.
Many vehicles produced before 2003 included mercury switches – devices that control the convenience lighting in hoods and trunks and in some anti-lock braking systems. While the switches are not used in today’s new cars, many vehicles with mercury switches still are on the road or headed into used auto parts businesses.
Published in the November 2014 Edition of American Recycler News