Recycling

Your business should promote the safe recycling and disposal of lamps, especially fluorescent and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Start by preparing a plan that establishes a lamp recycling procedure. All fluorescent and most HID lamps contain mercury. A typical 4-foot fluorescent lamp contains roughly 23 milligrams of mercury; new low-mercury lamps contain about 10 mg of mercury. Lamps containing mercury must be properly managed to protect public health and the environment. You must be aware of federal and state hazardous and universal waste requirements for managing spent lamps. These requirements can differ, depending on the generator of the spent lamps, whether the lamp is a hazardous waste, and which state the user is in. This requires some understanding of federal rules and familiarity with state regulations. Even if you are exempted from spent lamp management regulations, you are encouraged to recycle spent lamps. Keep in mind that lamp recycling is not self-supporting. The recovered mercury has minimal value, and the spent lamps have no value. The cost of recycling lamps, however, is relatively small compared to the cost savings from using energy-efficient lighting. Fluorescent lamps are four to five times more efficient than incandescent bulbs.

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