2. Whether it is more cost-effective to recover mercury from mercury-added products through incinerator emissions controls than by collection and recycling of the product;

3. Whether manufacturer take-back should be universal for mercury-added products;

4. Whether a take-back program for fluorescent lamps funded by manufacturers, by increasing the purchase price of the lamp, will cause lamp users to abandon fluorescent lighting in favor of a less energy-efficient alternative; and

5. Whether disposal of mercury-added products in solid waste landfills is an environmentally sound practice and, if so, whether it is practical to establish a collection system for mercury-added products that captures only those products destined for incineration.

The council shall submit the report, together with recommendations to implement a system for ensuring that disposal of mercury-added products does not contribute to mercury emissions to the environment to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources by January 1, 2000.

SUMMARY

This bill does the following:

1. It requires manufacturers of mercury-added products to disclose the fact that a product offered for sale in this State contains mercury and to label the product accordingly;

2. It requires persons who sell mercury-added lamps for use in large applications such as industrial facilities to clearly inform the purchaser in writing that the lamps contain mercury, a hazardous substance regulated by state and federal law, and that the lamps may not be placed in solid waste.

3. It requires contractors who remove large quantities of mercury-added lamps to disclose, in writing, the arrangements made for management of the mercury in the removed lamps;

4. It imposes restrictions on the sale and distribution of elemental mercury;