Is Mercury Hiding In Your Electronics At Home?

You might not know it, but some of the items in your home could contain mercury. Within these items mercury is harmless, but if it were to leak that’s when you could see serious problems.

According to the EPA, if an item containing mercury breaks, it can spill out. Once it spills out it evaporates into an invisible toxic vapor. So which electronic items in your home may contain mercury?

If you have an LCD desktop computer monitor, or a laptop with a LCD display, you have an item containing mercury. What is the risk of this becoming deadly? None, if the units are intact. That’s why it’s very important to make sure that if you’re not using these they are disposed of properly. At ProTek, we accept these types of LCD monitors and can make sure that they are taken care of in accordance to the e-waste laws.

There are also other items that contain mercury that you might have in your house. Some laptop computers have mercury tilt switches. When you open and close the laptop, mercury swifts to one side either turning it on or shutting it off. Mercury is also used in backlighting in laptops and desktop computers. Again, as long as the product is intact there is no inherent risk.

For a full list of items that contain mercury that could be hiding in your home or office, check out the EPA’s full report.