The nation's top environmental regulator was in town Friday to pull the one millionth —or so— mercury switch out of a junked car at an auto parts dealer in south DeKalb.

"This really is a landmark achievement, and it's worth celebrating," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. He was joined by Georgia's U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson at Pull-A-Part, an Atlanta-based, do-it-yourself, used auto parts dealer.

EPA and various industry groups, including auto manufacturers, steel makers and scrap recyclers, started the National Vehicle Switch Recovery Program in August 2006 to prevent toxic mercury emissions when cars are crushed and recycled for the steel. Mercury was used in some cars made before 2003 in hood and trunk lights and anti-lock breaking systems.

Nationally, the recovery rate of mercury switches in junked cars is about 20 percent, said Rich Bell, president of End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp., a nonprofit created by 13 automakers that facilitates the recovery program. There are still about 40 million mercury switches in cars on the road.

The program is voluntary. In Georgia, about 70 of the state's 200 junk yards and scrap dealers that handle older cars participate, said Steven L. Levetan, Pull-A-Part's senior vice president. Dealers are paid $1 per switch from a $4 million fund financed by the steel and auto industries.

Levetan unsuccessfully lobbied for state legislation in 2005 that would have paid dealers $3 a switch. Automakers opposed it.

"Incentive payment is crucial to the program," Levetan said. "We'd like to see more participation."