The scheme, known as Sustainalite, has been agreed by the lighting industry and the waste management industry. It will see light tubes recycled for about 20p a tube and the scheme could become a model for other initiatives developed to meet the requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Directive.
But, although the recycling scheme has been agreed, much work still needs to be done on developing markets for the materials collected from the lamps with the glass in particular struggling to find end uses. And, it is unclear as to how exactly the funding structure will work in terms of where producer responsibility will lie for the recycling costs.
Dr Viv Goddard of GE Lighting’s environmental programs department said: The recycling cost can be handled in two ways, as a selling cost and at the end-of-life.” But, he conceded that it is still hard to find a market for the glass: “There are a lot of initiatives at the moment to find a new use for the glass. None of these at the moment are particularly successful.”
Explaining the work of the scheme, Dr Goddard said: “The disassembly and material separation of end of life lamps will only be undertaken by accredited lamp recycling companies. The recyclers will disassemble the lamps and, for those lamps containing mercury, separate the mercury fraction to deliver the highest practicable level of recycling and reuse of recovered materials.”
Welcomed
The scheme was unveiled at the House of Lords with a wide ranging audience from Parliament, the waste sector and the lighting industry. The view of many of those present was that generally the initiative was to be welcomed but still had some way to go as no specific targets had been set and landfill is still a cheap option compared to the recycling costs.
Sustainalite has been developed between the lighting industry and the Environmental Services Association and its members. It operates as a not for profit company founded by the Lighting Industry Federation and the Environmental Services Association.
A code of practice will be put in place to promote consistent, high and auditable environmental standards for the sustainable recovery of lamps, including fluorescent tubes and light bulbs containing mercury, sodium and metal halide. Companies wishing to join the scheme must have IS0 9000 accreditation.
Many of the tubes collected at present for recycling go to Mercury Recycling Ltd of Trafford Park, Manchester. The company, which is supported by the former MP Lord Barnett, takes in tubes for recycling. One of its schemes is to supply a container for tubes and it charges about 79 for the container which will hold about 140 tubes which it will then collect and for 79 supply another container. The Ministry of Defence, following pressure from within the DETR, has just awarded a contract for the recycling of its light tubes to the company via Biffa.
Simon Lebor, chief executive of Mercury Recycling, said that the recycling cost was about 20p per tube and that the company was keen to ensure all materials were recycled. Various projects are underway to find processes for the glass which the company generates at a level of about 40 tonnes a week.
Continued on page 2
Register for free to comment