Contamination of the environment by the current disposal methods of mercury-containing lamps in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This survey describes the degree of environmental contamination resulting f rom the current disposal methods of mercury-containing lamps. The territory studied for this purpose is the federal state of Minas Gerais, one of the most populated areas in the Brazilian federation of states. The results of this survey derive in part from answers received to a questionnaire mailed out to industrial firms, commercial business enterprises, hospitals and dep artments of public work. The sampling technique used was a nonprobabilistic (purposive sampling). Three types of disposal were found to prevail: (1) a s an addition to corporate waste disposal (garbage), (2) recycling and (3) disposal by other methods. Overall, our study shows that the majority of me rcury lamps are being disposed in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, primarily by the public sector, followed by industrial, commercial and hosp ital sectors. Although recycling constitutes a relatively high fraction of the disposal methods, we find Federal regulations in Brazil regarding the d isposal of hazardous, mercury-containing lamps to be far behind the state o f technological achievement. This gap has permitted the adoption of disposa l measures that are obsolete, incorrect, and a primary cause for the extens ive contamination of the ecosystems with harmful effects to human health. 2 001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.