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I have about a Kg of mercury. In original lab supplies bottles and never opened. My late dad bought it years ago to repair a barometer (that I still also have) and my mum banned him from doing it in the kitchen… so he never got round to it.
It’s sitting in his old shed and I want to get rid of it. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to do so? Is there anyone out there who would want a few bottles of mercury?
its hazardous waste and theres pretty strict rules on disposal, your local council should offer a service of some sort
its also highly toxic, im not sure you can legally sell it to someone niw either
Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to do so?
It's hazardous waste and needs a licensed contractor. Most council tips will take things like old mercury thermometers, barometers etc, not sure they'd be happy about a kg of the stuff, that's well into industrial waste territory.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/controls-on-mercury
Even driving with it probably requires some sort of specialist container. A bottle of unsecured mercury rolling around inside a car that is involved in a collision is going to be a full biohazard disaster scenario, the fire brigade are unlikely to look favourably on that one.
No, you can't sell it. You can't even make or sell mercury containing equipment any longer, except for some specific exemptions
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/controls-on-mercury
I once found a similar quantity in the store cupboard of the school I was working in. A couple of emails to SSERC later and we had it safely bottled up so that kids could handle the bottles in class to feel the weight and see it flow. I was expecting to have to bin it at high cost.
If you’re in Scotland try contacting SSERC: https://www.sserc.org.uk to see if they could re-home it for you. Not sure if there’s an equivalent body elsewhere in the uk
CLEAPS in England but it more educational establishments. We found 170mercury thermometers they are £3.78 each to dispose of through a licenced disposerer. Their going to sit in a cupboard until we can afford paper and jotters and have changed left by February.
There's a place in... York I think? that resurrects barometers. They might be grateful of it.
I can't remember details, sorry.
If you live near a university with a chemistry department you could try asking them if they could help. They will have a contract for disposal of chemical waste and are usually willing to help someone in the local community dispose of materials like this. I chaired the safety committee in my department for a few years and we were asked to help with something along these lines, and we did what we could - it is surprising what can be found stashed in someone's cellar!
we had it safely bottled up so that kids could handle the bottles in class to feel the weight and see it flow
I am old enough to have been in school science lessons where dishes of mercury were brought out for us to try floating different metals in it. You can probably imagine that some of it ended up outside of the dish although we did use plastic gloves so that was obviously really safe….. I think we did it in fume cupboards but that might be me remembering something else. I also vividly remember using Geiger counters on different radioactive samples and them our physics teacher who had been an officer in the Dessert Rats bring out his old army watch that was much more impressive in terms of clicks than any of them.
Yeah, I remember school science class being passed round a 200-250ml size bottle of mercury. A very memorable lesson on material density!
I can picture the science lab in my mind, and that school would be about 1981, in 2nd year.
We used to roll mercury around the desk in science classes.
No gloves in the good old 1970s!
It was close run as to whether the asbestos in schools got you first
We used to roll mercury around the desk in science classes.
No gloves in the good old 1970s!
I remember that, lol
I remember having a good sized blob of mercury poured into my palm at primary school by the teacher. It was then passed pupil to pupil while we all prodded it with our fingers and pencil ends as it left little bits of white power behind before (most of) it was put safely back in the jar.
I'm sure we were encouraged to wash our hands before our packed lunch. I don't remember them doing so - but you've got to hope!
You could make a giant executive toy of a mercury football in a maze
I had a smaller version as a Christmas present once when I was a kid. Halcyon days
I think we did it in fume cupboards but that might be me remembering something else
I don't recall the exact details, something to do with sulphur maybe. But I do remember the fume cupboard shitting itself one time and the chemistry teacher shouting "run!"
We used to roll mercury around the desk in science classes.
No gloves in the good old 1970s!
It was close run as to whether the asbestos in schools got you first
TBF elemental mercury is poorly absorbed through the skin. a wee play isn't going to do anything. The danger is mercury vapour.
dimethylmercury on the other hand is very toxic and will go through clothing and latex gloves. couple of drops will kill you.
'Get rid of it'? What could be cooler than having a jar of mercury hanging around? Well, as long as it doesn't escape.
Maybe build an homage to this magnificent piece of art in Barcelona? https://www.fmirobcn.org/en/colection/catalog-works/11303/p-em-mercury-fountain-em-p
https://www.fmirobcn.org/en/colection/catalog-works/11303/p-em-mercury-fountain-em-p
I can remember playing with Mercury in science lessons at school, and I can also vividly remember the teacher dropping a piece of sodium or potassium into a bowl of water, whereupon it whizzed around at high speed before suddenly exploding and a burning piece went across the desk, before bouncing across the desk of one of my schoolmates and burning a hole in his tie! The marks across the desk were a permanent reminder of just how few safety precautions were taken back in the 60’s!
<tinfoilhatmode> I'm sure the vaccine industry will take it off your hands </tinfoilhatmode>
Cottage cosmetics industry?
Daughter is just finishing A level chemistry and occasionally gets to watch experiments with chemicals from a safe distance that I distinctly remember being things I was allowed to do back in the early 80s.
In which regiment would you find the Dessert Rats?
Contact a barometer restorers. They’ll likely take it off your hands and will know how to deal with it safely. I suspect they’re one of the few exceptions to handling it.
In which regiment would you find the Dessert Rats?
That would have been the tapioca regiment.
I blame predictive text on my phone, nothing to do with lack of proof reading.
For clarity he was in the Royal Engineers 8th Army
In which regiment would you find the Dessert Rats
The TRifles obviously.
I had a mercury maze as a kid, as it got older there were tiny globs of mercury stuck all round the inside of it. I'm pretty sure I dunked a mercury thermometer in a cup of tea too and it went up awful fast followed by a disappointing crack. Not sure if I drank the tea after but I was probably more worried about shards of glass (and getting caught) than the mercury jizzing out of the end of it.
How the heck have so many of us old farts managed to get through life this far? All of the above chemicals widely used in 1970s school close up no ppe or screens daughter teaches secondary science huge ppe usage
back to op they have just spent $1000 + getting rid of inherited Hg Na K etc
Most of the regs around handling mercury are for the protection of the school staff rather than the kids. A few whiffs of mercury vapour won’t do you much harm but handling it a few times a week for a couple of weeks a year means the teachers and technicians can accumulate a lot of Hg in their system.
The apocryphal story we got in teacher training was that chemistry teachers used to have a 10 year shorter lifespan than other teachers. Probably not 100% true but our teachers definitely took more risks with their health than modern teachers
<tinfoilhatmode> I'm sure the vaccine industry will take it off your hands </tinfoilhatmode>
There's no more mercury in vaccines than there is methanol in beer.
I assume you're joking, but it's not good to be giving morons ideas.
Have you considered taking up hatting?
My gran stirred her tea with a thermometer because it was handy. On day the bulb wasn't there. Loose leaf probably saved her take a slug of mercury.
My gran stirred her tea with a thermometer because it was handy. On day the bulb wasn't there. Loose leaf probably saved her take a slug of mercury.
Ah but she's (presumably) dead now, isn't she? Makes you think 🤔
it's not good to be giving morons ideas.
Unfortunately it's one of the things the antivax morons have actually latched on to
If you live near a university with a chemistry department you could try asking them if they could help. They will have a contract for disposal of chemical waste and are usually willing to help someone in the local community dispose of materials like this. I chaired the safety committee in my department for a few years and we were asked to help with something along these lines, and we did what we could - it is surprising what can be found stashed in someone's cellar!
Well I could go back to the Uni department from where it originated and say “my dad borrowed this… you better have it back?”
As for the waste bit… well it’s a new product in an unopened bottle, hasn’t yet left the chain of utility and hasn’t been discarded… yet.
I think it could be given to a barometer restorer and not be considered waste… but because it has virtually no other legal use, in any other circumstances it will probably be considered waste.
I know of a lighthouse that uses Mercury as a bearing to float 4 tons of fresnel lens but always wondered if it needed a top up. I think shipping it there might be a bit complicated tho. Hand or hold luggage?
My dad was a dentist back in the days when gold filings were still common. He must have made up thousands of gold / mercury amalgam fillings over the years. The mercury was handled quite carefully even then with dedicated glass mixing blocks and tools. No fume cabinet though.
My gran stirred her tea with a thermometer because it was handy. On day the bulb wasn't there. Loose leaf probably saved her take a slug of mercury.
Ah but she's (presumably) dead now, isn't she? Makes you think 🤔
nah - elemental mercury is poorly absorbed by the digestive tract. about 0.01%
Unfortunately it's one of the things the antivax morons have actually latched on to
Oh, I know. That was kind of my point. It's flat out wrong on two levels:
- Thiomersal is not what most people understand as "mercury." It's like comparing ethanol and methanol, one will get you blind drunk whereas the other will get you blind and dead, despite both being "alcohol."
- It hasn't been used in regular vaccines in the UK for over 20 years. And even when it was, it was only used in multi-dosage vials.
from where it originated
If it can be demonstrated that it originated or was procured through a chemistry department and was ‘borrowed’ they at the very least have a moral responsibility to help. There’s also a reputational reason they would want to (allowing people to walk off with chemicals isn’t a good look).
I would love some mercury, basically just to play around with really and do science experiments with the kids. Responsibly, of course.
I do think people go a bit OTT with dangerous substances sometimes. Yes it's dangerous and yes it should be a restricted product but really, some people need to get a grip. It's not going to poison you to death at a glance. (It should be noted I am not referring to anyone in this thread, just in general). It's like when I carried a small (well wrapped up, double bagged) sheet of asbestos to the dump to ask if they'd take it and the guy there backed off in a hurry like I was carrying a bomb 🙄
It may sound irresponsible to say I'd like some mercury to play with. But seriously, I think I am capable of looking at the stuff and handling it without feeling the need to drink it or poke my finger in it. Or spill it all over the floor, etc.
Speaking of being irresponsible... When I was younger (around 1990) the hospital actually gave us some to play with! A small blob of it in a urine sample pot, with the lid glued down. We had it for a long time but eventually it cracked and the mercury escaped...
There's no more mercury in vaccines than there is methanol in beer.
Point of order; there's quite a lot* of methanol in beer!
*relative to the zero mercury in most vaccines.
nah - elemental mercury is poorly absorbed by the digestive tract. about 0.01%
Not sure i would have picked up a 0.01% increase in old batty lady behaviour... She once put a gold fish down in the microwave.
Also this must have been thirty years ago and you only died a few. I am only just 40 🤣
Maybe she did it with ALOT of thermometers and kept on doing it.
Mercury from certain industrial process has to disposed of by mixing with sulphur and not recycled or reused. Your mercury can be used if you can find a legitimate buyer / user.
If you cannot donate it to a barometer restorer it might be worth contacting Mercury Recycling in Manchester to see if they will take it off you hands
https://mercuryrecycling.co.uk/recycling/mercury-waste
Or spill it all over the floor, etc.
We had it for a long time but eventually it cracked and the mercury escaped...
The problem is, that as you found, eventually entropy takes over and it ends up on the floor, in the earth and in the water.
Same with your asbestos anecdote. You might have managed to handle it safely, wearing a respirator, not generated any dust that your neighbours inadvertently breathe in, etc. The next person isn't so capable and multiply that across 70million you've got endemic asbestosis.
And bringing it back to the methanol point, same reason we don't allow distillation but do allow home brewing. On a population level people are idiots.
It's not even that interesting experimentally, it's heavy and liquid but that's about it. And it's chemistry is mostly only interesting at degree level with reactions in amalgam or chelation.
Point of order; there's quite a lot* of methanol in beer!
Only if you're making fruity beer and yes, even then it's trace but non-zero.
Methanol is the reason that home distilling is illegal.
The apocryphal story we got in teacher training was that chemistry teachers used to have a 10 year shorter lifespan than other teachers.
Of the 6 half dozen or so Chemistry teachers at my secondary school, all but one had *some* sort of scarring from incidents with chemicals. Or bunsen burners. So i could believe that, no problems at all.
TBF, the way we used to set fire/blow stuff up/melt stuff. I'm amazed any of us got past the first couple of years either!
We once had to abandon the entire science, math and languages block when someone in my class got their concentrations wrong and made several hundred litres of chlorine gas. That was only a couple of weeks after someone had managed to ignite something that burns clear in one of the sinks. The only reason it got noticed is that the tap started to char and there was a slowly spreading brown/smouldering rosette on the ceiling tiles above the sink.
I can not confirm or deny my involvement in either of these escapades, or any others. (Though the school doesn't exist anymore, so i'm not worried even if they do find out it was Steve, Ian and I who did these two.)
Point of order; there's quite a lot* of methanol in beer!
Only if you're making fruity beer and yes, even then it's trace but non-zero.
Methanol is the reason that home distilling is illegal.
Hmmmm. I suspect it's got something to do with excise duty, but yes the line is 'protect the masses'. I mean.... the bigger danger with a still would be a nasty fire, or a nasty bang, but methanol poisoning is the reason. Hmm.
Same with your asbestos anecdote. You might have managed to handle it safely, wearing a respirator, not generated any dust that your neighbours inadvertently breathe in, etc. The next person isn't so capable and multiply that across 70million you've got endemic asbestosis.
Then there’s all the buildings with asbestos roofing panels, asbestos fibre insulation, car brake shoes…
…a lot of it about when I was growing up, 50-60 years ago.
Hmmmm. I suspect it's got something to do with excise duty, but yes the line is 'protect the masses'. I mean.... the bigger danger with a still would be a nasty fire, or a nasty bang, but methanol poisoning is the reason. Hmm.
If I recall right for some/most yeasts is around 20:1 ethanol : methanol, so 5% alcohol beer has about 0.25% methanol. So distill a big batch of say 50l beer and your first 40% strength bottle is going to be almost entirely methanol. So going blind is a real risk.
Duty, yes the duty on spirits is higher than on beer, but only by about 50%. Which is diminished once you account for what's lost in tails, angels share, etc. So overall the government probably receives about the same duty whether you distill the beer or not. Especially once you add in the VAT and other taxes.
That and the high chance of dying in a fireball if the condenser fails.
Then there’s all the buildings with asbestos roofing panels, asbestos fibre insulation, car brake shoes…
…a lot of it about when I was growing up, 50-60 years ago.
And a lot of people died horrible, slow, painful early deaths as a result.
The difference between Ossify and the guy working at the tip is Ossify made a judgement that the risk to himself from a single exposure was acceptable when compared against the cost of paying a contractor to do it. The guy at the tip isn't getting several hundred quid in danger money each time someone drops off some panels. They're on minimum wage and have to deal with thousands of potential exposures every day.
That and they may not have facilities to process them at that tip. They can't go in with any other waste as as soon as you throw anything on top they get broken into a cloud of dust.
The difference between Ossify and the guy working at the tip is Ossify made a judgement that the risk to himself from a single exposure was acceptable when compared against the cost of paying a contractor to do it. The guy at the tip isn't getting several hundred quid in danger money each time someone drops off some panels. They're on minimum wage and have to deal with thousands of potential exposures every day.
... is a good point.
This is the X-Ray argument. There are memes about how it's supposed to be perfectly safe yet the dentist / radiologist leaves the room. What it overlooks is that you're having one whereas they're potentially exposed to multiples on a daily basis.
Isn't it obvious, surely you've got a mate that's too fast, pour it down their seat tube 🙂
I used to let my classes pick up the mercury bottle for density reasons. Also freezing it was a popular demo. The thing to avoid other than spillages is any chemistry with the stuff, anything that generated waste due to the cost of disposal.
Of the 6 half dozen or so Chemistry teachers at my secondary school, all but one had *some* sort of scarring from incidents with chemicals. Or bunsen burners. So i could believe that, no problems at all.
Made it to retirement without any. Can I get a better annuity if I was a chemistry teacher (and I played with asbestos as a child)
As per the title - shoot a sodding great rock at it and knock it into the sun. Nobody’s going to notice it’s gone anyway. 🤷🏼♂️