Where and how to dispose of a mercury thermometer correctly and without danger to health if it breaks or breaks

The main danger of thermometers lies in the presence of mercury inside them. This metal is poisonous. If any damage occurs, it is important to properly dispose of the mercury thermometer. Otherwise, there is a high probability of not only polluting the environment with metal, but also causing irreparable harm to human health.

First steps if a mercury thermometer breaks

If a thermometer containing mercury falls in an apartment, the person who breaks it must first do the following:

1. Remove all people and animals from the room.
2. Wear a mask or special respirator. You should wear rubber gloves on your hands. You need to wear an old robe over your clothes. Shoe covers must be worn on feet.
3. Carefully remove all mercury fragments. Small metal particles are sucked up with a syringe without a needle, large ones are carefully swept into a paper cone with a thin brush. The smallest particles of mercury need to be collected with tape, attaching it to the floor and tearing it off from it. All mercury must be placed in a glass jar and then closed tightly. Instead of a jar, you can use a zip-lock bag, which is placed in another similar bag.
4. When a mercury thermometer breaks, you need to call the unified dispatch service. This is number "112". There, employees must explain where to dispose of the thermometer in the future.
5. Wash all surfaces in the room where fragments of mercury were found with the “Belizna” solution (5 liters of warm water per liter of composition). Instead of “Whiteness,” you can use a manganese solution (per 2 g liter of warm water).

After treating the apartment, you need to open the windows everywhere and ventilate it throughout the day. During the cleaning itself, you must leave the room for fresh air every 15 minutes.

After cleaning, it is important to remove all clothing. It, along with gloves and a respirator, must be placed in a separate bag and tightly closed. In the future, all this will need to be recycled, but not thrown into a landfill.

After finishing cleaning, you need to take a shower. Additionally, it is recommended to drink activated carbon. It will remove fragments of mercury from the body if it suddenly got into it during cleaning. Also, for preventive purposes, you can rinse your mouth with a soda solution.

What are the health risks of mercury?

The metal is highly poisonous. At the same time, mercury itself is not as dangerous to humans as its evaporation. They provoke severe poisoning in humans. First of all, the nervous system suffers. Mercury vapor is toxic to the kidneys and liver. Metal also has a negative effect on the gastrointestinal tract.

Inhaling vapors from a broken thermometer is dangerous to the respiratory system. Metal fumes are especially toxic to the fetus during its intrauterine development. Mercury greatly affects the functioning of the immune system. It is toxic to skin and eyes.

The metal accumulates in the body for a long time. Its toxic effect appears gradually. Over time, mercury intoxication provokes apathy, drowsiness, headaches, memory impairment, and constant fatigue.Due to the accumulation of metal in the body, a person becomes nervous and irritable. His emotional background becomes unstable. Tremors (trembling of the limbs) may occur.

Mercury intoxication affects the functioning of all senses. With it, a person’s sensitivity to tastes and smells decreases. Chronic diseases gradually develop, leading to a deterioration in general condition and death.

Where can I return a mercury thermometer that has been broken?

Simply throwing away a damaged thermometer is prohibited. It contains about 2 g of toxic metal. From the trash container, mercury penetrates into the soil and water. Plus, the metal will evaporate for a long time, harming the environment and people.

It is necessary to hand over the broken thermometer along with the collected mercury to the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations. You need to call the services, call a specialist who will take the thermometer along with the clothes and then dispose of it according to all the rules.

In addition to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, you can take a broken thermometer to a city or regional center for ensuring the safety of various industrial wastes. An alternative may also be a demercurization center (mercury recycling) operating in a region or city. The addresses of all these institutions are freely available on the Internet.

How are mercury thermometers properly disposed of?

Thermometers are disposed of in several ways. Doing this at home is prohibited.

The first option is the hydrometallurgical method. First, the thermometers are crushed. The process uses a special solution. With its help, all fragments of mercury are washed from glass. Crushing and washing are carried out in a ball mill at a temperature of 60 ⁰C. The process itself takes 3 hours 20 minutes.After this, a liquid reagent is added to the solution. It contains potassium iodide and sodium chloride. At the end, the reagent is drained from the mill. Then it will already contain only mercury salts. At the final stage, the reagent undergoes cementation with aluminum.

Disposal of thermometers can also be thermal. With this method, thermometers are crushed and heated until all the mercury has evaporated. The evaporation itself is sent to a special condensate system. In it, mercury vapor is purified to a safe standard.

Where can I return a damaged mercury thermometer?

The Russian Federation does not have a general system for the collection and disposal of mercury thermometers. For this reason, there are several options for how to dispose of a damaged thermometer with mercury:

1. A container called "Ecobox". These are special containers for mercury disposal. But they are located only at separate addresses. Such containers are not found in all regions of the country.
2. Demercurization Service. These are special organizations strictly involved in the disposal of mercury. Any thermometer can be taken there, regardless of its condition. They also accept undamaged but also non-functioning thermometers. Such services provide their services for a fee.
3. Waste recycling centers. There are such institutions in every region. One of their areas of activity is mercury recycling. By prior arrangement, you can bring a broken thermometer there and give it for disposal.
4. Sanitary and epidemiological station. This is an alternative option. SES employees are not always able to accept mercury. But if there are no other ways, you can try to return the non-working thermometer to this service.
5. Ministry of Emergency Situations. The most suitable option.More often, the department deals with the disposal of mercury thermometers that have already been broken. But if necessary, you can try to hand over an undamaged but broken thermometer to the regional office of the department as a potentially dangerous item.

An additional, but not always effective, option may be to take your broken thermometer to the clinic. The institution is engaged in recycling or sending various waste to it. These include mercury thermometers.

One of the places where you can try to get a thermometer is government pharmacies. They get rid of expired medications, thermometers and other medical items. By agreement, you can try to take your damaged mercury thermometer to the pharmacy.

What is not allowed to be done if the thermometer breaks?

If the mercury thermometer has been broken, it is strictly forbidden to do the following:

• use a vacuum cleaner to remove mercury balls;
• sweep metal fragments from the room with a broom into a regular dustpan;
• remove mercury balls with a wet cloth;
• flush toxic metal into the water supply or sewer system;
• throw mercury fragments into a garbage chute or landfill.

Do not allow strangers or animals into the room while cleaning a damaged thermometer. They can spread mercury throughout the apartment. It is not entirely correct to ventilate your home while cleaning metal. This way, the draft will further spread the mercury balls throughout the room. Ventilation should be done only after disposal of the toxic metal has been completed.

You cannot wash all your things that were cleaned from mercury in your home. They must not be thrown into a garbage chute or landfill. There may be metal fragments left on them.Such things and items must be packaged separately in double zip-lock bags and disposed of according to all rules.