AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine lawmakers are moving forward on bills to prevent the release of mercury and other toxic materials into the environment.

The Senate endorsed a bill on Tuesday to ban the sale of button cell batteries that contain mercury and consumer products that contain mercury button cell batteries. The ban would take effect on July 1, 2011 if the bill survives further votes.

Senators also took a preliminary step toward recycling of old cell phones, which contain lead, mercury and other materials that can pose health risks if released into the air, water and ground.

A bill that won initial Senate approval Tuesday directs the Department of Environmental Protection to report on the effectiveness of current cellular telephone recycling collection programs in Maine. It also calls for legislation next year.

The bill was weakened from the original version, which would have required retailers who sell cellular phones to accept them for recycling or proper disposal of hazardous components. California has a law that does that and other states are considering it.

While some carriers in Maine accept old cell phones, it’s not clear what happens to them once they’re collected, according to Rep. Chris Babbidge, D-Kennebunk, who sponsored the original bill.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency says less than 2 percent of the 500 million obsolete, broken or otherwise unused cell phones Americans possess are recycled. About 130 million more are added each year, the EPA says.

A bill calling for the collection and recycling of mercury thermostats is still in the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. John Martin’s bill follows up on a law that banned the sale of new mercury thermostats in Maine as of Jan. 1, 2006.

Maine’s DEP says at least 5,600 pounds of mercury are contained in old thermostats hanging on the walls of Maine homes and businesses, but less than 10 percent of the mercury in thermostats removed from buildings in Maine is turned in.

The bill sponsored by Martin, D-Eagle Lake, is modeled after a state law that requires automakers to pay $1 bounties to junkyards and scrap dealers for each mercury switch turned in. Martin’s bill would obligate thermostat manufacturers to pay a $5 rebate for each thermostat turned in at collection centers.

Maine already outlaws the disposal of products containing mercury products in household trash. On Tuesday, the House endorsed a bill requiring the annual reporting of the volume of mercury amalgam supplied to dentists in the state.

AP-ES-03-15-06 1347EST

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