An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Hazardous Waste

EPA's Mercury Lamp Drum-Top Crusher (DTC) Study

As part of ongoing efforts to encourage safe management of mercury-containing equipment and fluorescent lamps, EPA conducted the Mercury Lamp Drum-Top Crusher (DTC) Study. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of four DTC devices to contain the mercury released from crushed lamps in terms of preventing worker exposure to adverse levels of airborne mercury resulting from the operation of these devices. The scope of the study did not include evaluating other lamp handling methods or comparing other lamp handling methods to the use of DTC devices. This report presents the findings of the study; the purpose of this report is not to endorse or discourage the use of DTC devices.

You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.