Since the early 1990s, U.S. environmental regulations have eliminated the development of mercury as a new product. Despite these changes targeting mercury use, alternatives have been slow to develop, and in cases such as precision measurement devices are not possible. As a result, mercury has been mined through reclamation and recycling processes.
The commercial environmental services industry has certainly been through its share of ups and downs, but at the moment seems to be in a more stable and predictable place than it has been during most of the last 50 years.