How Do You Dispose of a Mercury Thermometer?

If a thermometer breaks, the EPA says to have everyone else leave the area without walking through the mercury, remove pets, open all windows and doors to the outside, and shut doors to other parts of the house. It says never to use a vacuum cleaner to clean up mercury, because the vacuum will put mercury into the air and increase exposure, never to use a broom, because it will break the mercury into smaller droplets and spread them, and never to pour mercury down a drain, where it may lodge in plumbing and can pollute a septic tank or sewage treatment plant.

For disposal, the EPA says to contact your local health department, municipal waste authority or local fire department to find out how to dispose of it properly under local, state and federal laws. It says many states and local agencies have collection and exchange programs for mercury-containing devices such as thermometers, and that some counties and cities also have household hazardous waste collection programs.

The EPA says metallic mercury mainly causes health effects when inhaled as a vapor, with symptoms of prolonged or acute exposure including tremors, emotional changes, insomnia, weakness and twitching, and headaches, and that higher exposures may also cause kidney effects, respiratory failure and death. It says at least 13 states, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Oregon and Washington, have passed laws barring the manufacture, sale or distribution of mercury fever thermometers. An Illinois law effective January 1, 2004, found that mercury fever thermometers are easily broken, creating a potential risk of dangerous exposure to mercury vapor in indoor air.