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Mercury Refining, Inc.

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The Mercury Refining Company (MERECO) property occupies .68 acres at 26 Railroad Avenue in Colonie, NY. The site was used as a mercury reclamation facility from 1955 to 1998. MERECO primarily reclaimed mercury from batteries and other mercury containing materials, and prior to 1980 mercury contaminated waste from site operations were dumped over an embankment of a tributary to Patroon Creek, which is located south of the site and to the right of this photo.
In 1985, in response to an order issued by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, MERECO excavated and disposed of approximately 2,000 tons of mercury contaminated soil and approximately 400 tons of PCB contaminated soil from the southern portion of the facility. The excavated area was capped to prevent the spread of any remaining contamination. In this photo, the investigators in the photo are standing on the cement cap. Since 1998, MERECO's business has been to reclaim precious metals, primarily from used batteries like the watch batteries in this drum.
A peek inside MERECO's operations building shows equipment and storage containers used in the reclamation of precious metals.

 

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