Flourescent Lamps: Introduction

Mercury Recycling is proud to operate in partnership with J&G Recycling. The two market leaders in their own specialised field ensure a wholly compliant service for your particular waste streams.

Mercury Recycling Ltd began the total recycling of spent lamps and fluorescent tubes over 12 years ago; long before any legislation made it mandatory. The heavy metals within these lamps, such as mercury and sodium, were all recovered at the main recycling facility in Manchester. To date MRL now operate the largest dedicated lamp recycling facility in Europe and have unrivalled expertise in both the processing of fluorescent tubes and bulbs as well as toxic mercury recovery from other waste streams. Currently over 18 million lamps are processed annually at this site.

J&G saw an opportunity to offer a total waste package to their clients with hazardous waste streams. Not only would this prove to be cost-effective to the client but would also contribute to the reduction of the customer's carbon footprint. J&G therefore required a partner for the recycling element of lamps which were also collected when their vehicles visited site.

We are pleased that our Environmental Compliance, methodology and cost-effectiveness were recognised by J&G as vital to their own needs and those expected or demanded by their clientele.

Simply use any of the shortcut links beneath to jump directly to the desired topic.

• Lamp and Tube Disposal Options
• Full Load Service
• What is included in the full load system?
• Bulk Lamp Collection

1. Lamp and Tube Disposal Options

Up to now there have been three options used within the UK. These are as follows:

i. Crushing waste and disposing in UK landfill used to account for over 90% of UK lamp waste and hitherto the majority of service providers have been using this route. Some companies provide a crusher and will even come and crush lamps on your site for you. However on 16th July 2004 certain changes have been implemented as a result of The Landfill Directive particularly with regard to the (WAC) Waste Acceptance Criteria and the (EWC) European Waste Catalogue coding. The Environment Agency has determined that fluorescent tubes are now classified as hazardous waste and should only be taken for landfill at appropriately classified and licensed landfill sites. We believe that there are now less than 10 landfill sites in Britain able to accept this type of waste and waste producers have a Duty of Care to ensure that lamp residues are only taken to such sites unless all mercury contaminants can be first removed.

ii. Companies who transport the waste to Europe they recover the non hazardous parts such as glass and metal but may landfill the hazardous part (i.e. the mercury).

iii. Companies, who recover the waste, recycle all components and after removing the phosphor powder it is then distilled in-house for 16 hours to recover the mercury. All components are reused in industry and the service is carried out totally by the collector of the waste.

Current legislation has led to only category iii (above) being the most practical and cost effective option which meets both the requirements of the Landfill Directive and the WEEE Directive. This is the only option we operate under!

2. Full Load Service

The Full Load Service from J&G offers the following benefits:

• J&G do not charge any haulage or delivery extra for bringing this to you.
• Containers can then be loaded with as many lamps as can be contained, and there is no need to count or sort the contents into the different lamp types and the choice of packing and format is down to the customer.
• Once the container is filled, you call J&G.
• J&G will normally collect the container from any UK mainland post code within 4 working days of notification.
• We will remove your "full load" in the format of YOUR choosing.
• Another container will also be sited at the same time if you then want to book another full load.
• There are no hidden charges and no extra delivery charges. We only ask that you cover the cost of the container itself that can either be rented monthly or purchased on an outright sale basis.
• You will pay a single fee for your full load on the day you have your full load delivered, i.e. At the beginning of the contract and in similar fashion to ordering a waste skip at your home.
• There are two other benefits using this system. Firstly you can show a record and paperwork for receipt and transfer of the full load for waste audit purposes before the waste is removed, and secondly you may take as long as you wish to fill the containers.

3. What is included in the full load system?

From our experience customers prefer a more flexible approach with an option to mix lamps, not to have to sort the waste types, nor do they want to count them individually. Certainly they do not want to pay haulage charges extra every time they receive a delivery or a collection.

NB: When a client rents the container, it is delivered to site without a separate delivery fee and we then charge a single "full load fee" a month later with rental being a separate line item.

When we receive the filled containers at our factories we sort the waste into each type, and then count the waste for our returns. However, since we have a full load arrangement for the client there are no debates on numbers of lamps received.

Delivery charges are inclusive on the "Full Load System" whereby you acquire your containers through either a rental or purchase scheme, and then pay only one single fee each time the container is sited. This fee includes the following:

• Outward delivery.
• Waste Transfer Notes.
• Duty of Care tracking.
• Collection of waste.
• Haulage.
• Complete lamp sorting of different types at our plant.
• Full processing and recycling of lamps.
• Distillation of phosphor powder in house to recover mercury.
• Recycling Certificates relevant to each batch type.

Under this system the fee entitles you to fill the containers with as many lamps as possible, to mix the lamps between fluorescent and non linear and to take as long as you wish to fill them up.

4. Bulk Lamp Collection

The Bulk Lamp Collection Service from J&G offers the following benefits:

• This service is offered when storage containers are not required and a specific amount of lamps in excess of 1000 in quantity need removing.
• For example if you have 1000 mixed lamps of all different types J&G will travel to any UK mainland address within 4 days notification, in our own vehicles, uplift this waste with all documentation, and once again fully recycle the contents.
• We charge a price per lamp depending on the volumes and types of lamps and again prices include all haulage and delivery charges.
• The fee is invoiced at time of lamp collection.
• This service tends to be the best option for major re-lamping initiatives.

The learn more about the legislation and regulation of lamp recycling please see our Legislation Information page...