Mercury

Learn about mercury and its impact on your health and the environment.

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Mercury is a naturally occurring silvery-white metal that's liquid at room temperature. Mercury and mercury compounds can be present in household, medical and industrial wastes.

Mercury is highly toxic and can have dangerous effects on people and animals.

Household items that can contain mercury include:

  • thermometers
  • batteries
  • computers
  • LCD computer monitors and TV screens
  • tablets and mobile phones
  • items that have printed circuit boards
  • barometers
  • thermostats
  • some medical devices
  • pendulum clocks
  • fluorescent tubes and globes.

Some industries release mercury as a part of their industrial processes, such as:

  • small scale mining
  • ferrous and nonferrous metals production
  • burning of fossil fuels and cement production.

Mercury can also contaminate land and air from thermal processes. For example, crematoria, incineration, smelting and power generation.

Elevated mercury can be found in waste soil sourced from contaminated land. For example:

Some freshwater environments contain mercury. This means some species of fish may contain high levels of mercury. This is more likely in fish that are predatory (eat other fish) and that live for a long time in environments that contain mercury.

Mercury and the law

Waste mercury and mercury compounds are pre-classified as reportable priority waste under schedule 5 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2021. The waste code is D120.

Under the Environment Protection Act 2017 there are duties that apply to managing, transporting and depositing reportable priority waste. These duties apply to the generator, transporter and receiver of the waste. To learn more, visit Understand your waste obligations and duties.

The general environment duty applies to the management of waste mercury and waste materials and substances containing mercury.

The duty to manage contaminated land] may apply if land or groundwater are contaminated by mercury.

There are permissions related to transporting, receiving and storing reportable priority waste:

Minamata Convention on Mercury

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty ratified by Australia. It seeks to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It covers the lifecycle of mercury, including:

  • mercury mining
  • manufacturing and trading mercury and products containing mercury
  • disposing of mercury waste
  • mercury emissions from industrial facilities.

Our role in mercury

We support the implementation of selected articles of the Minamata Convention on Mercury related to:

  • manufacturing processes that use mercury or mercury compounds
  • emissions of mercury and mercury compounds to the atmosphere
  • releases of mercury or mercury compounds to land or water
  • interim storage of mercury or mercury compounds
  • disposal of mercury wastes
  • management of contaminated sites.

For information on how the Minamata Convention on Mercury is implemented in Victoria, visit Minamata Convention on Mercury.

We regulate the management of waste mercury or mercury compounds. This includes transport, storage and disposal.

Impact of mercury on your health

Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that can have dangerous effects on people and animals. It can irreversibly harm the immune system, brain, heart, kidneys and lungs. Due to its unique properties, mercury has been widely used in products in the home, and in industrial products and processes.

Mercury is a risk to human health if:

  • it's ingested
  • the vapours are breathed in
  • it gets onto the skin or into the eyes.

Common exposure pathways include:

  • eating contaminated fish and shellfish
  • breathing in vapours from household items that have spilled mercury.

Learn how to clean up mercury spills in your home.

Visit the Better Health Channel website to learn about mercury exposure and poisoning. It also has information on Mercury in fish.

Manage mercury and mercury waste

Following the Minamata Convention on Mercury, mercury waste must be:

  • managed and stored in an environmentally sound manner
  • only recovered, recycled, reclaimed, or directly re-used for a use allowed under the Convention or for environmentally sound disposal
  • not transported across international boundaries except for environmentally sound disposal.

This applies to the interim storage of:

  • mercury (elemental)
  • mixtures of mercury with other substances – this includes alloys of mercury, with a mercury concentration of at least 95 per cent by weight
  • mercury compounds:
    • mercury chloride (known also as calomel)
    • mercury oxide
    • mercury sulphate
    • mercury nitrate
    • cinnabar and mercury sulphide.

To learn more about the requirements under the Minamata Convention on Mercury and for guidance, visit Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Visit storage and handling for information on how to store mercury to eliminate or minimise risk of harm.

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