Electronics and Lighting
Mercury historically has been widely used in electronics and lighting products.
Sections 2.2, 2.3, and 2.6 of “Options for reducing mercury use in products and applications, and the fate of mercury already circulating in society” (by the European Commission, December 2008) provides a comprehensive list of lighting and electronics products that utilize mercury. Notable lighting and electronics products containing mercury include:
- Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s)
- Other fluorescent lightbulbs
- Laptop screens
- TV flat-screens
- “Button-cell” batteries (batteries shaped like a small button)
- Mercury containing light switches for the trunk in older automobiles
- Mercury-containing contact switches for airbags in older automobiles
- Older thermostats for heating/air-conditioning systems in homes
- Additional information on consumer products containing mercury can be found at the Interstate Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) Mercury-Added Products Database.
In many cases, non-mercury alternatives for these products are now available and thus the mercury-based products are being phased out. However, fluorescent lightbulbs and Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL) contain mercury and are becoming increasingly popular as an energy-saving device. Because this is a growing exposure risk, SafeMinds is particularly focusing efforts on the current recycling and the eventual elimination of mercury-containing lightbulbs. Thus, a special section in this website is dedicated to CFLs.
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