Where to get rid of old thermostats

This is a short public service announcement in a similar vein of a previous post.

Upon moving into our new apartment (over a month ago! can you believe it?), we installed a new programmable thermostat in the hopes of saving ourselves a little on the power bill and maintaining a comfortable temperature in the new, larger place. In doing so, we removed the old thermostat and discovered that it had a glass tube with mercury in it (no surprise here). The problem is, no one seemed to know what to do with it. No one at Lowe's or Home Depot knew where to properly dispose of mercury from old thermostats. After over a month of wondering and wandering, I discovered the answer: the EPA.

Apparently, the EPA website links to the NEMA (Natl Electrical Manufacturer's Association) who gives a list of vendors who will accept old mercury-based thermostats and dispose of them. If you live in Birmingham and have one to dispose, you can do as I was finally able to do this morning at take yours to R. E. Michel & Company, just a hop, skip, and jump away from our place!

So, now you know.