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Recolight advice for householders
Advice for Householders on Disposal of Low energy CFL-I lamps (and Fluo' tubes)
Why do I need to be careful how I dispose of my CFL-I lamps and Fluo' tubes?
CFL-I lamps function in much the same way as a fluorescent tube and contain electronic components and a small amount of mercury to deliver their overall energy benefit* (see the note below). It's therefore much better not to put these lamps in the normal household waste bin. A more environmentally friendly and responsible way of disposal is to ensure that the lamps are recycled at the end of their life. New CFL-I lamps and tubes sold today now carry the following informative mark as a reminder:
What should I do to recycle my CFL-I lamps and Fluo' tubes?
- Don’t put them in the general purpose waste bin at home, keep them intact and put them carefully aside where they won’t get broken.
- Take them as soon as convenient to your local Civic Amenity household waste disposal centre and put them in the special container that is provided both for CFL-I lamps and for tubes as well. They will be sent on to a recycling plant. You do not have to pay anything to do this, at the CA site*.
- As an alternative, if you are buying new CFL-I lamps to replace standard bulbs, some retailers will be able to take back the intact old lamps if you take them with you when visit their store.
*From 1st July 2007, waste CFLs have been subject to the requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations. Those who manufacture and sell energy efficient bulbs provide information to the public about how to deal with waste bulbs and other WEEE. Some retailers take them back in store. However, most retailers have funded Designated Collection Facilities, in the main at local authority civic amenity sites. From this point, producers fund the transport, treatment and recycling, where most of the mercury can be recovered.
What do I do if the lamp breaks before I can take it to be recycled?
Treat these lamps just as if a standard bulb breaks, the same care is needed to avoid cuts from broken glass, so preferably wear gloves as you clean up. If a lamp is broken, there is not enough hazardous material involved to pose a significant health problem, but as a precaution ventilate the room for a few minutes (view more via the link below).You should then sweep up (avoid using a vacuum cleaner) all of the remaining lamp parts and debris and put them carefully into a container suitable for carrying broken glass and take it to your local Civic Amenity household waste disposal centre. If the lamp breaks in-situ in the fitting remove all broken lamp components from the fitting before reusing it and ALWAYS switch off the mains before removing the remaining lamp components.
*The case for changing from a household bulb to a Low-energy CFL-I
Changing from a standard household bulb to a Low energy CFL-I lamp saves you money on your household electricity bill. Each lamp changed can save you £9 per year or £100 over it's 1114 hour average life time*. About 300 million standard bulbs are sold in the UK each year and together over this life consume up to 100W each, or 3.3 billion watt-hours (3342 megawatt-hours) of electrical energy in total. By replacing a 100W standard bulb with a 20W Low energy CFL-I, 80% of the generating capacity needed to produce this amount of electrical energy can be saved, together with the greenhouse gases+ produced in the process, up to 38kg of CO2 per lamp, per year.
*(based on actual life data and 10.41p per kWh)
Source: The Energy Saving Trust, July 2007.
+Why is that important? - More and more information points to a link between increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere and the phenomenon of global warming:
- "CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have risen one third since the industrial revolution and are set to double in the next 100 years”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Climate Change 2007
- “Global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%”
Sir Nicholas Stern, Stern report
Further Links
DEFRA Website: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
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