Many of us have antiques around our house purchased as decorations or they have been passed down the family for generations. Most of these antiques are relics of their time, hand-crafted, and come from rich stories of professional craftsmanship with materials no longer used. They are collected because of their age, beauty, rarity, and emotional connection. But interestingly enough some of these antiques we have come to love can contain hazardous materials that can be dangerous to our health.
Recently Eastern Environmental Solutions responded to an emergency call for an antique mirror that was accidentally knocked over causing it to shatter. Luckily the homeowner recognized some liquid was dripping from the mirror so they called Eastern Environmental to come down to make sure the shattered glass was safe to handle. Below is a photo of the scene our expert technician Mac responded to:
Now it may seem strange to think liquid was dripping from a mirror and that’s because for contemporary mirrors it is. However, for hundreds of years mirrors were made of a different material to give the mirror reflective qualities. From the 16th Century to the early 20th century the use of tin-mercury amalgam was the primary method for producing glass mirrors. In this process, mercury is used in the mirror during assembly. The mirror in the photo above is from the 1800s. The homeowner luckily recognized the mercury and rightly called environmental experts to mitigate the dangerous situation.
Mac, one of our expert hazmat technicians, arrived at the scene and brought in his mercury clean-up kit. He carefully cleaned up any mercury and other hazardous materials. After all mercury and glass were safely removed Mac then used a simple yet interesting method to ensure he had not missed any mercury:
By turning off the lights and shining his flashlight he will illuminate any leftover mercury. Since mercury is essentially metal in liquid form it will shine when light is shined on it. Luckily Mac did a thorough job so no mercury was left.
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