Regional Waste Systems Cuts Mercury Emissions by 85 percent with New Equipment

RWS also supports Mayor Cheryl Leeman's call to stop sale of mercury thermometers in Portland stores

PORTLAND, Maine - New equipment installed at Regional Waste Systems, Inc., has reduced by 85 percent the mercury emissions from items incinerated after being improperly disposed of in the trash.

The mercury reduction equipment is one component of an ongoing, comprehensive effort by RWS to reduce the amount of mercury that enters the environment. RWS, a non-profit municipal-owned organization that serves 27 communities in southern Maine, held an initial mercury thermometer exchange program with the Portland Water District late last fall. This spring, RWS is planning to hold a series of up to six mercury exchange programs in its member communities as a way to prevent items containing mercury from entering the municipal solid waste stream. Other common household items that contain mercury include fluorescent light bulbs, non-electronic thermostats and button batteries.

Buoyed by the new equipment, the mercury-reduction efforts to date at RWS have enabled it to meet state and federal guidelines for mercury emissions, RWS officials said.

"The new carbon equipment RWS has installed as well as efforts to keep mercury from entering the waste stream have reduced the amount of mercury being emitted from those products by hundreds of pounds over the past two years," said Mark Arienti, environmental manager at RWS. "Waste-to-energy facilities, on a national level, are no longer a major source of mercury pollution."

The new equipment, purchased from Amsterdam-based NORIT Americas, a world leader in carbon technologies, is a powdered activated carbon dosing system. Carbon is injected into the flue gases to absorb the mercury, reducing the emissions by 85 percent to less than 30 pounds per year. The new equipment has been online since the fall, well before the state's December deadline for mercury reduction compliance.

Maine state law, which is more stringent than federal law and also the most stringent in the nation, requires that waste-to-energy plants such as RWS must reduce mercury emissions by 85 percent or allow only 28 micrograms per cubic meter to enter the atmosphere. The federal law is less stringent that the state law, allowing up to 80 micrograms per cubic meter of mercury.

"We fully comply," said Kevin Trytek, RWS' chief engineer. "It's a simple system, very efficient and far more so than the other, more expensive systems we looked at." The carbon is injected into the flue gas at the rate of approximately 18 pounds an hour.

Mercury is emitted from waste-to-energy plants when products containing mercury are thrown away in the trash and enter the waste stream. It is not a byproduct of the burning process, but rather the result of products such as thermometers and some watch batteries not being disposed of properly.

RWS has publicly called for bans, or manufacturer-based collection programs, on such products in Maine. RWS officials fully support Portland Mayor Cheryl Leeman's call for stores in Portland to voluntarily discontinue the sale of mercury thermometers. Freeport, also an RWS community, enacted a similar ban. Community Pharmacies also recently voluntarily stopped selling mercury thermometers in its 11 statewide stores, including in Gorham, Raymond and Saco. The Portland City Council will discuss Leeman's resolution at its February 5 meeting.

"It's too bad that these products are still out there and for sale," Arienti said. "We collected almost 300 mercury thermometers at our exchange program last fall and expect to collect many more in the future, but not enough. We feel the laws should focus on the cause, not the end result, as that would be far less costly to the taxpayer. But in the meantime, we are fully complying with the new regulations and plan to continue to reduce emissions even further."

Regional Waste Systems, Inc. is a non-profit solid waste management corporation that is owned and controlled by 21 cities and towns, and also has six associate member towns. RWS is also the largest municipal recycling organization in the state. Established in 1974 after Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough decided to form a cooperative to handle their waste disposal, today RWS is governed by a 28-member board, consisting of officials appointed from member towns. RWS accepts solid waste and recycled materials from these communities and also has a comprehensive, state-of-the-art recycling program with more than 100 recycling bins in 60 locations. For additional information on RWS, visit the RWS web site, www.regionalwaste.com.

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