Interstate Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC)

Starting in 1999 the states in the Northeast and other parts of the country actively began to pursue enactment of legislation focused on reducing mercury in products and waste. In the Northeast these efforts focused on enactment of provisions of the Mercury Education and Reduction Model Legislation. In 2001 the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA) launched the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) to provide:

• ongoing technical and programmatic assistance to states that have enacted mercury education and reduction legislation
  


• a single point of contact for industry and the public for information on mercury-added products and member states' mercury education and reduction programs
  

The IMERC state members include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

This IMERC Webpage includes the following information resources:

About IMERC: Covers more information about the services, structures, and functions of IMERC.

Guidance Materials: Provides guidance on requirements and compliance with IMERC-member state laws concerning Mercury-added Product Notification and Labeling; Phase-outs; Bans; and Collection Plans.

Fact Sheets & Reports: Provides a series of fact sheets on categories of mercury-added products that cover: the reason why mercury has been or continues to be used in the product category, amount of mercury in the products in that category, the manufacturers of those products, and other useful information from the Mercury-added Product Notification Forms submitted by manufacturers of the products. Also provides reports summarizing results of data analysis on mercury-added products data.

IMERC Alert: Provides access to IMERC Alert, which is published a few times per year by IMERC to provide quick and easy updates on the regulatory requirements of IMERC-member states concerning mercury-added products and other related developments and activities.

IMERC Links: Provide links to key IMERC-member states' websites.

Mercury Products Legislation: Provides a summary of provisions in the mercury education and reduction legislation of the IMERC-member states and others.

Mercury-added Products Database: Provides a searchable database of information submitted to IMERC-member states on the amount and purpose of mercury in products. The database is intended to inform consumers, recyclers, policy makers, and others about products that contain intentionally-added mercury; the amount of mercury in specific products; the amount of mercury in a specific product line sold in the U.S. in a given year; and manufacturers of mercury-added products.

Workgroups: Provides information on IMERC workgroups and their members.