Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Collects All Mercury Thermometers and Others from School Science Labs

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 24th that it will collect all 'mercury-containing waste measuring instruments' stored in science laboratories of schools at all levels to create a safe learning environment.

Accordingly, over a period of six weeks starting from the 25th, a total of 10,872 mercury-containing waste measuring instruments stored in 572 elementary, middle, and high schools in Seoul, as well as 2 institutions directly under the Office of Education, totaling 574 locations, will be collected and disposed of. The targets include thermometers, barometers, sphygmomanometers, and clinical thermometers that are no longer used but stored in school science labs.

Mercury is the only metal that exists in liquid form at room temperature and is highly toxic, so the use of related teaching tools has been prohibited in educational institutions.

However, because disposal is complicated, schools mainly stored the instruments sealed, and accidents involving mercury leakage due to broken instruments occurred occasionally.

For disposal, a contractor designated by the Ministry of Environment will visit schools and other locations in May and June to collect and transport the waste measuring instruments.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education surveyed the storage status last September and collected mercury-containing waste measuring instruments from schools within the Seongbuk-Gangbuk Education Support Office. This year, all remaining unprocessed items from schools under the other 10 Education Support Offices and directly affiliated institutions will be fully processed.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "We will strive to build safe and advanced science laboratories so that students can conduct scientific inquiry activities safely and healthily."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.