Feb. 25, 2005: Mercury Recovery From Thermostats Increases In 2004
ROSSLYN, Va. - The Thermostat Recycling Corporation (TRC) has announced that it recovered over 80,000 thermostats containing over 729 pounds of mercury in 2004. Thermostat collections increased by 23 percent over 2003 and mercury recovery increased by 17 percent. The TRC has now recovered nearly 3,000 pounds of mercury from 336,000 used mercury-switch thermostats returned by HVAC contractors since it began operating in January 1998.
The TRC began operations in nine states (Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) and expanded its operations in January 2000 to the District of Columbia and thirteen eastern states. In the spring of 2001, the TRC began operating in the remaining lower 48 states.