Recycling Used Lamps, why not?

Since I am not planning on blogging everyday, but rather at least once a week I have spent a little time on today’s topic. Recently the news has had many articles about how mercury is increasingly contaminating the environment. The main culprit is the increased use of compact fluorescent bulbs and correspondingly the lack of recycling options in the marketplace.

The main problem seems to me to be that it costs money to recycle these bulbs. This is because that materials generated by the process are not valuable enough to pay for the effort and labor required. I have read several analysis’s on this problem and the general consensus is that the cost of recycling is about 1% of the total life cycle cost of one of these bulbs. This considers the total cost of ownership and use which in large part is offset by the energy savings of the choice.

In my opinion we as property owners, and managers need to take action and do the right thing by recycling these items. The incremental cost is very small relative to the overall maintenance budget of most buildings and the legal restrictions are only going to get more strict as time and the attitude of non-compliance continues.

TFM August 2007 – Why Recycle Used Bulbs?
http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/tfm_07_08_servmain.php

Choose Renewables Website – great personal energy impact calculator
http://www.chooserenewables.com/

FacilitiesNet Oct. 2007 Lamp Recycling Step by Step
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/ms/article.asp?id=7569

LampRecycle.org is sponsered by National Electrical Manufacturers Association – Great resource for information on recycling rules
http://www.lamprecycle.org/

US EPA site to find local recycling resources
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/id/univwast/lamps/live.htm

Canada’s Website – Mercury and the Environment

http://www.ec.gc.ca/MERCURY/EN/index.cfm

Everything you ever wanted to know about Mercury but were afraid to ask!

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