• Exposed mercury will give off vapors very slowly at room temperature and does not present an immediate health hazard, however, you should always error on the side of caution and ventilate the exposed area until the spill is cleaned up. A common clinical thermometer has enough mercury to contaminate a room 100 feet by 100 feet by 15 feet if not ventilated.
• When handling mercury you should wear hand protection such as latex or nitrile gloves. Use good personal hygiene. Do not eat, drink, or touch your mouth, nose and eyes until you have thoroughly washed your hands.

• Useful materials for clean-up include:
  A small sealable container.
  A piece of sponge or paper towel.
  A small piece of rigid paper or plastic to use as a scoop for larger droplets of mercury.
  A small amount of water.
  Notes: Use a minimum amount of materials to limit the amount of materials to be disposed of. Lab Safety Supply sells a mercury spill kit. Their phone number is 1-800-356-0783.
• Be sure there are no electrical hazards before starting the clean-up operation. Mercury and mercury vapors are electrically conductive in the correct environment.
• Remove any jewelry that may accidentally come in contact with the mercury. Mercury readily dissolves gold.
• Use a damp piece of sponge to guide larger droplets of mercury onto the paper or plastic scoop and deposit them into the sealable container.
• The small droplets of mercury can be picked up by the damp sponge or towel and deposited into the container.
• Place all the contaminated materials into the sealable container.
• Label the container as "Mercury Contaminated Waste."
• Any device containing mercury should never be sent to a land fill. It should be sent to an approved mercury recycling center. Contact your local solid waste management authority for instructions on disposal or recycling of mercury and mercury-contaminated materials.
  

Watlow Winona developed this procedure for properly disposing of MDRs to be a good steward of the environment and comply with applicable laws.

By returning your Watlow MDR to Watlow Winona, the MDR product team will properly dispose of the unit free of charge but asks for your cooperation in the disposal procedure.

Definition

Mercury Displacement Relay (MDR) - An electromechanical switching device having one or more poles that contain metallic mercury and a plunger which, when energized by a magnetic field, moves into a pool of mercury, displacing the mercury sufficiently to create a closed electrical circuit.

Procedure

• MDRs must not be placed in the waste stream until the mercury is removed for recycling.
• Please contact Watlow Winona at 507-454-5300 to establish an account and obtain authorization to return the MDRs.
• MDRs may be returned for disposal to:
  Watlow Winona
  1241 Bundy Blvd.
  Winona, Minnesota USA 55987
  507-454-5300
• Watlow will send the returned MDRs to a consolidator or recycler, who will remove and recycle the mercury and all other parts of the MDR that are recyclable or reusable. Watlow will pay for the cost of collecting and disposing of the MDRs made or marketed by Watlow Winona.
• MDRs eligible for this service are Watlow Series A, H, HG, KD, L, LD, M and MD relays.
• Proper disposal of MDRs is encouraged. Watlow will collect and dispose of MDRs made or marketed by Watlow Winona only. MDRs not made or marketed by Watlow Winona are the responsibility of other parties.

Hazardous Materials

If the MDR you wish to return has one or more breached (open) poles, you must seal it in a non-porous container to prevent the escape of liquid and gaseous mercury. Acceptable non-porous containers are composed of high density polyethylene, or equivalent.

Watlow recommends the relay(s) be double-bagged in sealed Zip-Lock^®-type storage bags and further sealed with heavy-duty packaging tape. Please ship the unit with adequate packing material in a corrugated cardboard box (minimum burst strength of 20 pounds). Breached relays must be shipped as hazardous material.

Please include the following information on the hazardous material shipping label: