Heavy metals: main emission sources
Major anthropogenic (human) sources categories of heavy metals releases are:
- industrial processes (e.g. base-metal smelting, iron and steel production)
- fossil-fuel combustion (e.g. coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, cement kilns)
- transportation sources (e.g. on-road and off-road motor vehicles and engines, marine)
- waste incineration
- products (e.g. electrical switches, dental amalgams, fluorescent lights)
In Canada, national estimates of total annual emissions are available for select heavy metals. For mercury, the total national emissions were estimated to be 8,025 kg in 2000. The distribution of Canadian atmospheric mercury emissions among source categories is illustrated below.
