SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): VLS Environmental Solutions announced that its storage and disposal facility at Deer Park, Texas will have the capability to dispose of elemental mercury. This will be the first and the only U.S. facility to offer elemental mercury disposal services. The facility is expected to start accepting materials later this month. The processing of materials is expected to begin by December 2025.
Several industries in mining, energy, chemical and manufacturing sectors have been storing elemental mercury at their own facilities indefinitely, owing to lack of permanent disposal opportunities. The new facility will be a huge relief for them, as well as for federal agencies that manage legacy mercury levels.
Elemental mercury is considered tricky to manage when compared with other mercury-containing materials, as they evaporate at at room temperature and become a toxic vapor or turn into a gas when heated, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorities.
Chris Lobue, VLS’s executive vice president of hazardous waste noted that the facility already had the infrastructure to safely treat and dispose of elemental mercury. It has now obtained permits from both the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. EPA to accept and dispose of the material, he added.
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