ARLINGTON, Va. — Thermostat Recycling Corp. (TRC) released its 2011/2012 progress report, showing that it has recovered nearly 6 tons of mercury since it began national operations in 2002. TRC, an industry-funded, non-profit organization committed to recovering and properly disposing of as many mercury thermostats as possible, has established a successful and voluntary nationwide recycling program. The program exists despite the fact that the majority of states do not have mercury thermostat disposal bans in place.

“In 2011, TRC recovered nearly one ton of mercury, bringing our total recovery amount since 2002 to almost 6 tons,” said Mark Tibbetts, executive director, TRC. “If the thermostats we collected in 2011 were stacked, their height would surpass the summit of Mount Everest. While there is still much work to be done, we are proud that our efforts, and those of the HVAC industry, have kept thousands of pounds of mercury from the nation’s landfills.”

The 2011 report shows TRC’s new assessment tool to track its mercury collection, called the Mercury Recovery Index. This index allows TRC and others to see a snapshot of the program’s performance at national, regional, and state levels. TRC expanded its outreach to HVAC distributors, resulting in the greatest annual increase in thermostat collection locations to date. The company also implemented a highly effective social media campaign to raise awareness of the program among HVAC contractors and consumers, driving significant amounts of traffic to TRC’s website during the campaign.

“Even after ten years, TRC’s collection program continues to grow, evolve, and improve,” said Tibbetts. “Last year we sought innovative ways to tell our story and change recycling behavior. We will continue to use what we learn from our new Mercury Recovery Index to strengthen the program, and focus resources and effort needed to maximize results.”

The TRC 2011 Progress Report is available at www.thermostat-recycle.org/media/index.

Publication date: 8/20/2012