I replaced a wall thermostat in my house a couple of years back and ever since then, I’ve had the old thermostat kicking around. I’m reluctant to throw it out because it has a mercury switch and even a non-recycler like myself has some limits beyond which they will not go. It’s possible that my town has a hazardous waste disposal day, but I’ve never seen one advertised. So what does one do with old mercury switches? Can I mail it somewhere? Hand it in at some large hardware store? Give it to the kids next door to play with? (Ooh, look, shiny!)
<sigh> :rolleyes:
You have a computer. Go to www.google.com , type in your states name, “hazardous household waste disposal” and bob’s yer uncle.
I’m fairly sure asking an honest question on the Straight Dope qualifies as using my computer.
Obnoxious rolled eyes aside, Googling wasn’t particularly useful unless I want to drive to Braintree to throw out a couple of grams of mercury. I was rather hoping to get an answer from someone who:
a. Had previously had a mercury-containing device.
b. Successfully disposed of it.Uh, Braintree’s near Boston; you’re near Boston; is there a problem? Places that accept mercury for disposal are few and far between, and I reckon you’re lucky to be that close to one (I don’t know exactly where “Somewhere near Boston” is, but it can’t be much more than 20 miles from Braintree).
Wouldn’t the fire department take small things like that? Here they are responsible for a good part of hazardous waste management… or they should know where to drop it off.
I alwas just add it to my coffee in the morning for a little extra kick. Or if you don’t drink coffee, kids love it.
Know anybody that owns a motorcycle? I saw a pretty cool motorcycle alarm that used a mercury switch. The bike leans to one side when parked, so if the bike is righted without disabling the alarm, which could be as simple as a hidden switch, the mercury connects and activates the piezo or whatever you decide to hook up to it. Other than that, I say snort it, and report your experience/symptoms to the SDMB for public enlightenment.
The standard answer is to wait for your town’s hazardous waste collection day, which you find out about by calling up your town department of public works. No real problem with this solution, other than remembering the day and making a trip to the collection point on that day, but here are a couple other ideas:
Get a (free!) home energy audit from your electric or gas utility. They usually have replacement thermostats (which you don’t need now), but are set up to properly dispose of the old mercury ones. This is how I got out of the exact situation you’re in, earlier this year (thanks, NSTAR). The audit could also point out some ways to save yourself some money, and they’ll usually have some other free schwag to give away (like weatherstripping, etc,)
You could also keep an eye out if a local hospital or other institution is having a mercury thermometer swap, where they collect mercury thermometers and give electronic ones. They’ll also take random other mercury stuff, too.
I’ve gotten rid of mercury switches at thermometer swaps before - got a free electronic thermometer in the deal, even!
Check with local heating suppliers - they probably have a box of the things just waiting to be picked up for recycling and if asked nicely, will add yours to the pile.
Sell it on ebay
Sell it on ebay
No, you can’t sell it twice. It’s against the rules.