Monitoring and Assessment of Mercury Pollution
233
development. Child hypotrophy and hypertrophy and the birth of twins have
been registered more often in the experimental group of women.
6
luminescent lamp Utilization
The wide use of luminescent lamps at home and in industry does not exclude the
probability of Hg input into the surroundings. This stipulates the necessity of
utilizing these lamps and establishing special companies to register, collect and
process mercury-containing lamps and other electrical engineering goods.
Companies involved in luminescent lamp utilization were set up in several
industrial regions of Russia during the past several years. One of the first Russian
regional demercurization stations operates in Novgorod with the support of the
Mercury municipal ecological company. This station serves some cities of the
country's northwest. The technology employed at this station is in no way
inferior and even surpasses some similar international technologies. Such
companies exist in Moscow, Mytishi, Dubna, st. Petersburg, Cheboksary, Kirov,
Naberezhny Chelny, Nizhni Novgorod, etc., and in some other cities of the CIS
(the Ukraine, Belorus, the Baltic states).
However, the absence of used mercury lamp stock-assessment and collection
and the absence of a governmental policy and laws significantly impede the
activities of these companies and do not favour the development of new
demercurization centres. Public education activities are organized on a weekly
basis for the public and for different organizations. There are no collection
stations for used lamps, and in most cases, a mercury-containing lamp is thrown
away as trash. This happens inadvertently, because of a lack of knowledge, or
because there is no other way.
The total amount of annually utilized luminescent lamps in Russia and the CIS is
not known. They constitute a small share of the total annual production and
consumption. Thus, 600000 luminescent lamps containing 60 kg of Hg were
utilized at the largest mercury lamp-processing centre in Cheboksary (the Volga
Region) in 1989 (Avrukh 1994). Annual utilization of luminescent lamps totals
300 000 in Novgorod (V.V. Bessonov, pers. Comm.). It may be assumed that the
total amount of processed lamps does not exceed 10% of their annual consumption. The rest find their way to dump sites that are not designed for the utilization
of such wastes. This leads to environmental pollution by this toxic metal.
7
Conclusion
The analysis of the data received shows that luminescent lamps are not the main
source of mercury pollution of the environment on a global scale. According to
233
development. Child hypotrophy and hypertrophy and the birth of twins have
been registered more often in the experimental group of women.
6
luminescent lamp Utilization
The wide use of luminescent lamps at home and in industry does not exclude the
probability of Hg input into the surroundings. This stipulates the necessity of
utilizing these lamps and establishing special companies to register, collect and
process mercury-containing lamps and other electrical engineering goods.
Companies involved in luminescent lamp utilization were set up in several
industrial regions of Russia during the past several years. One of the first Russian
regional demercurization stations operates in Novgorod with the support of the
Mercury municipal ecological company. This station serves some cities of the
country's northwest. The technology employed at this station is in no way
inferior and even surpasses some similar international technologies. Such
companies exist in Moscow, Mytishi, Dubna, st. Petersburg, Cheboksary, Kirov,
Naberezhny Chelny, Nizhni Novgorod, etc., and in some other cities of the CIS
(the Ukraine, Belorus, the Baltic states).
However, the absence of used mercury lamp stock-assessment and collection
and the absence of a governmental policy and laws significantly impede the
activities of these companies and do not favour the development of new
demercurization centres. Public education activities are organized on a weekly
basis for the public and for different organizations. There are no collection
stations for used lamps, and in most cases, a mercury-containing lamp is thrown
away as trash. This happens inadvertently, because of a lack of knowledge, or
because there is no other way.
The total amount of annually utilized luminescent lamps in Russia and the CIS is
not known. They constitute a small share of the total annual production and
consumption. Thus, 600000 luminescent lamps containing 60 kg of Hg were
utilized at the largest mercury lamp-processing centre in Cheboksary (the Volga
Region) in 1989 (Avrukh 1994). Annual utilization of luminescent lamps totals
300 000 in Novgorod (V.V. Bessonov, pers. Comm.). It may be assumed that the
total amount of processed lamps does not exceed 10% of their annual consumption. The rest find their way to dump sites that are not designed for the utilization
of such wastes. This leads to environmental pollution by this toxic metal.
7
Conclusion
The analysis of the data received shows that luminescent lamps are not the main
source of mercury pollution of the environment on a global scale. According to