SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Ira Ruskin has introduced legislation to curb the release of mercury into the environment from old thermostats that are improperly discarded.  Sponsored by the Sierra Club of California and the California Product Stewardship Council, Assembly Bill 2347 requires manufacturers of thermostats to establish mercury recycling programs that increase the percentage of mercury thermostats recycled each year. 

“It is critical that harmful toxics such as mercury be removed from the waste stream and recycled.  There is a serious threat to public health from mercury, and it is time for the companies who have profited from selling these products to take responsibility for their disposal.  Mercury pollution has already contaminated the waters of the San Francisco Bay and Bay Area watersheds, and high levels of mercury make many of the fish that swim in these polluted waters unsafe for human consumption.  My bill will greatly reduce the amount of mercury from thermostats that is allowed to pollute our environment,” Assemblymember Ruskin said.

Current state law bans the sale of new mercury-added thermostats for most uses after January 1, 2006, but the long lifetime of thermostats means that many of them are still in use.  Most thermostats contain 3,000 milligrams of mercury and have a 35-year life span.  Current state law also bans disposal of mercury-added thermostats in solid waste landfills, but an effective system for collecting and recycling mercury-added thermostats at the end of their useful lives has not been established.  The burden of collecting these “universal wastes” currently falls almost entirely on local governments, which do not have the means to establish the necessary infrastructure.

“Cash-strapped local governments have had to pay for hazardous product waste management for too long,” added Heidi Sanborn, Director of the California Product Stewardship Council. “AB 2347 establishes a model policy for extended producer responsibility that requires the companies that profit from products to pay for end-of-life disposition.  These programs are commonplace in Europe, Canada, Japan and other industrialized countries”

In 2000, the largest thermostat makers, General Electric, Honeywell and White Rodgers, established the Thermostat Recycling Corporation (TRC) to run a voluntary program for collecting waste mercury-added thermostats. However, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control estimates that less than 5 percent of the mercury-added thermostats removed from buildings in the state have been turned in to the TRC collection program.

This bill addresses this problem by placing responsibility on those companies that have profited and continue to profit from selling thermostats in California.

Bill Magavern, Director of Sierra Club California, hailed the legislation: “Most people want to do the right thing when it’s time to get rid of hazardous household products. Assemblymember Ruskin’s bill would finally provide free and convenient options for recycling mercury thermostats.”