If you have old mercury thermometers or thermostats hanging around your house and you’re not sure what to do with them – drop them off at OCRRA’s Rock Cut Road Transfer Station during regular hours of operation.

Covanta Energy is donating $5 Home Depot gift cards to residents who bring mercury thermometers and / or mercury thermostats to Rock Cut Road.

Mismanaged mercury can be toxic and under certain circumstances can have highly detrimental effects on the nervous system. Removing mercury thermometers from the trash or the sanitary sewers is of considerable benefit to the environment.

As an added bonus for keeping harmful mercury objects from the waste stream, OCRRA offers Onondaga County residents a mercury-free thermometer when they drop off their old thermometer. You will be asked to fill out a card with your name and address and OCRRA will mail you a new mercury-free thermometer.

The thermometer exchange program was made possible through a partnership between OCRRA and Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection, and Bristol Myers Squibb. A portion of the program cost is also underwritten by a grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.