Eco groups: Mercury vapors found in Manila recycling sites

An ecological group expressed alarm over mercury vapor detected in the recycling sections for waste lamps in the garbage transfer station at Pier 18 in Manila. The EcoWaste Coalition urged government to firm up an eco-friendly policy for managing lamp waste for households, small businesses and institutional users. "We need to emphasize that it is not only the lamp waste recyclers who bear the brunt of toxic pollution. The mercury vapor escapes as the glass tubing is broken and travels around, exposing the workers, their children and the environment to this toxic metal," EcoWaste chemical safety project coordinator Antonio Dizon said in an entry on the group's blog. He added the informal recycling of mercury-containing compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is done in the "most archaic" way. Spent lamps are first collected and stored in heaps or kept in old rice sacks, then individually smashed with a hammer to retrieve the recyclable parts. Dizon said the data they collected should serve as a warning signal of toxic danger. "Our investigation, we hope, would prompt government and business leaders into enforcing mercury pollution prevention measures such as a practical system for collecting lamp waste and ensuring their safe management," he said. The group used a hand-held “Jerome J-405" ambient air analyzer in getting mercury vapor data from places where the breaking of CFLs is taking place. It found that in a test of 14 used CFLs of different brands and wattages, one product recorded an excessively high and dangerous mercury vapor at 502.40 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3). The average reading for the 14 tested products was 117.20 mcg/m3, it said. Also, the groups cited the “permissible exposure limit" for mercury vapor as set by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is 0.1 milligram per cubic meter (or 100 mcg/m3) of air. It warned “a worker’s exposure to mercury vapor shall at no time exceed this ceiling level." A case study prepared by the EcoWaste Coalition and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives found “the woeful lack of a deliberate system for collecting and managing CFLs after their useful lives means that spent mercury-containing lamps are simply thrown into regular trash, which is not only irresponsible, but also unlawful" as these are classified as “special waste" requiring separate handling and treatment. A focus group discussion held as part of the study shows that 80 percent of the respondents are not aware of the various routes of mercury exposure, 70 percent work as waste pickers seven times a week, working for an average of 10.5 hours per day, 90 percent break CFL tubes without nose covering, 80 percent recycle CFLs wearing no protective clothing, and 60 percent break lamp waste with bare hands. Improper lamp waste disposal adds mercury into the waste stream and exposes waste workers to mercury from lamps broken during the process of collection, transportation, dumping and recycling in unregulated conditions, the case study showed. Also, the case study showed spent CFLs not reclaimed by enterprising recyclers such as dumpsite and itinerant waste pickers as well as “paleros" (garbage crew of trucks collecting trash) would normally end up being dumped in dumpsites or landfills, which could lead to the discharge of elemental mercury. In turn, this can easily contaminate the water supply and bioaccumulate in the food chain as organic mercury. Data from the Philippine Efficient Lighting Market Transformation Project (PELMATP) show that 88 percent of households, 77 percent of commercial establishments, 33 percent of hospitals, 9 percent of offices and .83 percent of schools surveyed disposed of their mercury-containing lamp waste as domestic waste. The same data indicate that 67% of mercury-containing lamp waste from hospitals are sold to junk shops, while 15% from schools, 9% from offices, 3% from commercial establishments, and 1% from households do the same. A government-published guidebook on “Mercury-Containing Lamp Waste Management" warns that “mercury and its compounds are highly toxic especially to the developing nervous system, which is very sensitive to all forms of mercury. Exposure to high levels of mercury can cause permanent brain damage, central nervous system disorders, memory loss, heart disease, kidney failure, liver damage, vision loss, sensation loss, and tremors. - VVP, GMA News