Mercury Disposal Systems (MDS)

MDS is a family owned recycling business and services over 16,000 locations nationwide. Compare our prices and save up to 70% on bulb recycling, fluorescent light recycling, bulk recycling drums, and battery and ballast recycling  from one of our 13 locations serving commercial customers Nationwide.

Mercury Disposal Systems Inc. is a women owned California corporation.The president is Margaret Burnett. Our corporate office is located in Tustin, California and we also have branch locations in San Diego, Modesto, Santa Cruz and So. San Francisco.The company was established in June 2004 with the sole purpose of developing a vehicle in which spent fluorescent lamps and batteries could be stored and transported to a local recycle location, therefore diverting spent items from landfills.After several months of discovery and research we concluded that small business owners as well as homeowners were unaware that the spent lamps and batteries that they were discarding contained toxic elements such as mercury. It then became our goal to develop an awareness program that would also act as a transportation vehicle and containment system in the event of accidental breakage.Our studies indicate that approximately three million lamps and many more batteries are disposed of in landfills every day. Our current objective is directed at diverting 10% of these discarded items from homeowners and small businesses through an effective outreach program along with providing convenient drop-off locations throughout the State of California.

Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Drums

Reusable Drums Make Lamp Recycling Easy

• High capacity, cost effective fiber drums. Minimize your risk of breakage and lower your recycling costs. Great for schools, hospitals, universities, large factories and more.
• Specifications: Metal chime and pressed-in bottom add strength and life to drum to withstand repeat use and possible contact with moisture. Drums are clearly printed to alert handlers to use care and return drums after use.
• Pricing Includes: Container, Recycling, and Certificate of reclamation.

Proper stacking and shipping of pallets

• Approximately 35 four-foot lamps will fit into a standard manufacturers’ T-12 shipping box. (If you need boxes, contact us and we will provide them)
• When full, close and tape the end to prevent lamps from sliding out of the box
• Stack boxes of lamps on standard wooden shipping pallet five boxes across and no more than six boxes high (Limiting stacking height to six tiers prevents crushing lamps on the bottom tier)
• Place less than full boxes on the top tier to prevent crushing less than full boxes on lower tiers
• Each tier of filled boxes should be stacked perpendicular to the preceding tier if shrink wrap is not to be used
• Secure shipping pallet with shrink wrap
• IMPORTANT: ALL PALLETS MUST BE LABELED AS ‘UNIVERSAL WASTE’ AND INFORMATION MUST BE FILLED IN.

MDS accepts all Class (2) batteries such as, Alkaline, Heavy Duty, Button Cells,  Sealed Lead Acid And Rechargeables

It is important to use caution when combining large amounts of used alkaline batteries. Quite often these used batteries are not completely “dead.” Grouping used batteries together can bring these “live” batteries into contact with one another, creating safety risks.

Battery Types

• Alkaline batteries may be used in flashlights, radios, toys, calculators, remote controls, electronic games, portable radios, televisions, and garage door openers.
• Lithium non-rechargeable batteries used in cameras, computer memory backup, video equipment, remote controls, and garage door openers.
• Carbon zinc non-rechargeable batteries are used in clocks, garage door openers, pagers, smoke detectors, alarms, lighting and lanterns.
• Silver oxide non-rechargeable batteries are often used in cameras and invisible fencing.

What Makes Batteries Hazardous?

Alkaline button batteries are used in radios, toys, calculators, electronic games, watches, and electronic thermostats.Mercuric oxide button batteries are primarily used in hearing aids.
Nickel cadmium button batteries are found in computers and power tools.Silver oxide button batteries are used in hearing aids, watches, calculators, toys, musical greeting cards, and books.
Lithium button batteries are used in cameras, calculators, computer memory backup, hearing aids, digital thermometers, and smoke detectors.Zinc air button batteries are used in hearing aids, portable computers, and pagers.Button batteries may contain silver, lithium, zinc, lead, mercury, nickel, cadmium, and electrolytes. If batteries leak or explode, the chemical substances contained in these batteries can cause burns and/or contaminate the environment.The heavy metals contained in button batteries may accumulate in aquatic life, animals, and humans