Group blasts mercury thermostat makers

The manufacturers of now-banned mercury thermostats should be responsible for their safe disposal because some of the devices have ended up in incinerators that have spewed mercury into the air, an advocacy group said Wednesday.

"We need to do more to collect that material," said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate with the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It is banned from disposal, but the fact of the matter is that most of it ends up in the waste stream."

The round thermostats that control the temperature in many homes used to be made with mercury. An estimated 310,000 mercury thermostats are disposed of every year in New York, but only slightly more than 1 percent of those are recycled, Haight said, citing 2008 reports from waste management and recycling groups.

The group singled out Honeywell, once a major manufacturer of mercury thermostats, as an obstacle to legislation that would make the companies that made the devices responsible for their disposal.

Lobbying records show that Honeywell has lobbied on a bill sponsored by Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) that would require manufacturers to meet targets for safe disposal of mercury thermostats.

Honeywell said in a statement Wednesday that it was not opposed to mandates as long as they didn't apply solely to manufacturers.

"Honeywell strongly supports legislation that bans the sale of mercury-containing thermostats and mandates mercury thermostat recycling, with responsibilities shared among thermostat manufacturers, wholesalers and contractors," the statement said.

Sweeney, who chairs the Assembly committee on environmental conservation, said voluntary recycling programs supported by the industry haven't been effective. "There is no reasonable way for the average person to legally dispose of mercury containing thermostats," Sweeney said.

Sweeney's bill would require manufacturers to create programs to ensure that at least 25 percent of thermostats disposed of every year were done so safely. The target number would be based on estimates of the number thrown out every year and would take affect in 2014.

Honeywell and other companies point to the nonprofit Thermostat Recycling Corp., which the firms established to manage the collection and disposal of the thermostats.