Ford was one of the founding members of the End-of-Life Vehicle Solutions Corporation (ELVS). ELVS's purpose is to enhance vehicle recyclability by managing programs to recycle mercury switches on a nationwide basis.
Autos are only one of many sources of mercury in products. Because mercury has special properties that make it ideal for electrical conductivity, it has been widely used in thermostats, appliances, switches and many other products. Industrial use of mercury has dropped significantly over the years as substitutes have been found.
Mercury emissions from steel furnaces, the pathway by which auto switch mercury can enter the environment, do contribute to the United States' total mercury inventory. Therefore, ELVS members support shared responsibility programs to collect and recycle mercury from end-of-life vehicle switches.
Prior to 2003, mercury switches were used in some autos for convenience lights and anti-lock brake sensors. Ford phased out these uses in 2001. On January 1, 2003, vehicle manufacturers completed their voluntarily phase-out of these switches in an effort to reduce mercury emissions.
Through ELVS, participating auto recyclers collect mercury-containing switches from scrap automobiles and send them to a specialized waste handler, which dismantles the switches and recovers the mercury and other materials for recycling.
As of May 2007, more than 470,000 mercury switches have been received from program participants. The mercury from these switches is estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds. This is a very encouraging start to the program, considering that the majority of participating states joined the program in the fourth quarter of 2006.
