Environment Minister Announces Initiative to Reduce Mercury Pollution and Charts the Path for Clean Air

OTTAWA, June 11, 2006 – In recognition of the 35^th annual Environment Week, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment has announced that for the first time in Canada, the federal government is taking action to reduce the amount of mercury released into our environment from scrap cars.

Mercury is a highly toxic substance that can cause serious human health and ecological effects. In the environment, mercury can move between the air, soil and water. Mercury can be re-emitted from land and water, undergo long-range transport in the atmosphere, and be re-deposited elsewhere. This process of emission and re-emission is the reason why animals and people in remote areas with no local mercury releases may have elevated mercury levels. For the first time, Canada's new government is going to introduce a measure to ensure the automotive and steel sectors remove all mercury from scrap cars before they are recycled.

Historically, automakers have used mercury in switches for convenience lighting, antilock braking systems and active ride control systems. When vehicles are sent to recycling, their mercury components become an environmental threat. As a result of today's change, the automotive and steel sectors will now ensure scrap vehicles are free of mercury switches before they are sent to recycling.

The Minister of the Environment will be using the authority under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to issue a Pollution Prevention Notice in the coming weeks for the automotive and steel sectors that will prevent the release of mercury into the environment – mostly to the air – of almost 10 tonnes of mercury over the next decade.

"I am very pleased to chart our path forward to eliminate the uncontrolled disposal of mercury switches from the processing of scrap cars," said Minister Ambrose. "My message to Canadians during Environment Week is that the Government of Canada is working towards a 'Made-in-Canada' approach to deliver real change and real results for all Canadians, in our common campaign to clean up our air."

A voluntary program run by the Clean Air Foundation, Switch Out, successfully recovered more than 130,000 mercury switches in the past few years. A national program will do even more to prevent mercury from entering the waste stream and subsequently emitting into the environment.

"We have long called for a national automotive mercury switch removal program from the government and believe that is an essential step toward protecting people and the environment from unnecessary exposure to this dangerous toxic substance", said Ersilia Serafini, Executive Director, Clean Air Foundation. "We are very pleased that the government has decided to take action on this".

The mercury switch initiative is part of a broader strategy being developed by Environment Canada to reduce mercury content in a wide range of products. Consultations on this strategy are planned for the fall.

Other current initiatives include:

• A National Air Quality Health Index
  Minister Ambrose and the Honourable Minister Clement, Minister of Health, are consulting with the provinces and territories to introduce the world's first Air Quality Health Index, an Internet tool to help alert Canadians of bad air quality days and smog.
  
  
• Base Metal Smelters Pollution Prevention Notice
  Our government recently announced a pollution prevention initiative for base metal smelters which will reduce sulphur dioxide and metal pollutants, such as lead and mercury, from a major industrial source of these pollutants. As smelters address emission reduction targets, it is expected that the sector will reduce annual particulate matter emissions containing metals by over 3,000 tonnes (about 50 per cent) and reduce annual sulphur dioxide emissions by over 600,000 tonnes (about 70 per cent) by 2015.
  
  
• Federal Transit Tax Credit
  All Canadians are eligible to receive a transit tax credit, to offset part of the cost of monthly transit passes to encourage greater use of public transit.
  
  

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