Is creating a new use for mercury a good thing? won't it just go to our landfills?

Question

Is creating a new use for mercury a good thing? won't it just go to our landfills?

Answer 1

Pretty much agree with Doober.  Mercury is present throughout the environment.  It is a naturally occuring element.  You certainly don't want to drink, eat, or breath it but we all are exposed to in small quantities.  Our body can deal with small concentrations without much harm.  I think generally your biggest exposure would probably come from eating fish.

Answer 2

It's hardly a new use, and it REDUCES mercury pollution.  

Conventional fluorescent bulbs contain 2-10 times as much mercury, and are used by the tens of millions in office buildings.

Fossil fuels contain mercury.  If you use a conventional bulb instead of a CFL, you're releasing MORE mercury than the CFL contains, and blowing it right into the air.

Answer 3

in which application? some new products such as cfl lightbulbs do contain a small amount and if you don;t recycle them they will end up in a landfill. However, even if you don;t recycle the net mercury release is still lower than a normal lightbulb if your electricity comes from mostly coal power. Coal is loaded with heavy metals including radioactive isotopes. When it pulled from the ground and burned these metals are spread throughout the environment.

Answer 4

It depends on what they use it for.  If the product does not wind up in a landfill, then the mercury won't go there either.

Actually, a landfill is not a bad place for mercury, because it gets converted to mercuric sulfide, which is one of the most insoluble compounds known.  Once it is as the sulfide, it pretty much stays put,  Better than releasing it into the air, or surface water.

DK

Answer 5

After all the whining about mercury pollution, introducing CFL's and putting them everywhere doesn't make much sense.