New York recycler removes over 15,000 mercury switches

Brookfield Resource Management, Inc., located in Elmsford, New York, has removed more than 15,000 mercury switches from end-of-life vehicles at its Westchester County facility.

The mercury switches were collected over the past two years at the company’s Elmsford facility and sent to the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corporation (ELVS) for safe mercury recovery.

“The cost to remove a switch from a vehicle is more than we receive in income for the recovered mercury, but this program isn’t about financial results it’s about environment gain,” said Tom Malone, president, Brookfield Resource Management, Inc.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various industry groups, including auto manufacturers, steel makers and recyclers, started the National Switch Recovery Program in August 2006. The program’s goal is to prevent toxic mercury emissions when vehicles are recycled. The EPA estimates that about eight tons of mercury per year is emitted from furnaces that melt scrap metal from end-of-life-vehicles.