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Initiative for Reduction in Mercury Use
Description:
The demand for mercury in the United States is still growing or declining only slightly in a number of industrial sectors. These include electric lighting, electronic equipment, wiring devices and switches, measurement and control instruments, dental equipment and supplies, laboratory uses, and medical uses. About 190 tons of mercury were used by these sectors in 1997. While EPA is pursuing a number of voluntary initiatives within these industries, information on consumption, use, release and environmental impact is poor. Therefore, an assessment is necessary in order to collect the data needed to identify the potential for source reduction across industry sectors.
The ETO Team is undertaking an assessment of these sectors to reduce this uncertainty and determine in which areas emissions are large and difficult to measure. The assessment must incorporate collaborative activities with industry, including providing systems analysis tools such as Economic Input/Output (EI/O), Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) and Engineering Trade-Offs (ETO) to help industry determine the economic, energy, and environmental costs and benefits of management options.
Status:
The ETO Team has initiated a Pollution Prevention Prioritization Assessment (P2PA), based on evaluation of the potential for source reduction of mercury use in the consumer sector, to identify major needs and opportunities for reduced use and releases. The P2PA will guide the development of at least two life cycle engineering projects. The P2PA will also guide the selection of sector activities for evaluation of engineering trade-offs.
Estimated Completion Date: September 2005
Pending Publications:
- EPA, "Use & Release of Mercury in the United States," (EPA 600 Series Report), June 2000 (Planned)
- K. Stone, "The Business of Mercury Pollution Prevention: Identifying Source Reduction Opportunities and Engineering Trade-Offs," Workshop on Mercury Products, Processes, Wastes and the Environment, Baltimore MD, March 2000