IAEEL newsletter 3/93

Mercury and lighting: Managing the problem

There are several ways to approach the problem of mercury in light sources. The most advanced lamp-collection and mercury recovery program is found in Germany, where soon 70 til 80% of all discarded lamps will be collected.

Manufacturers, consumers, and governments can reduce lighting-related mercury pollution in a variety of ways. As a start, energy-saving strategies that increase a lamp's service life or reduce the number and size of lamps needed for adequate illumination-such as lighting controls, task lighting, increased fixture efficiency, and daylighting-all lower lamp and electricity-related mercury. Also, it is important that lamp developers continue reducing the amount of mercury required for lamp operation. Mercury recovery and re-use are attracting substantial attention as well, which has lead to implementation of various collection methods.

GROWING CONCERN
Despite the progress towards reduced mercury content, mercury-containing lamps have been declared a hazardous waste in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and some parts of the US (California and Minnesota). Common guidelines are expected to be adopted by all 12 EC countries and the 5 EFTA countries within the EES area in 1994 or 1995. In some countries, mercury has already been banned from products such as thermometers and batteries.

The Dutch government has recently proposed a labeling system for lamps (and other household goods containing materials that should be treated separately from ordinary waste). Such a system, however, would not likely inform consumers of differences among various types of lamps. Labeling could also create a dilemma in the case of CFLs because the incandescent lamps they replace would not be labeled, even though mercury releases are also associated with their use (that is, with the electricity they consume). In any event, information alone will not solve the problem of what to do about mercury in consumer products.

RECOVERY AND REUSE
Although the mercury in power plant or incinerator ash or stack gases can not be realistically isolated, mercury recovery facilities for lamps-and the glass and other metals-are becoming increasingly common. The industry has been hailed by the Wall Street Journal as offering promising opportunities for entrepreneurs. Several countries have already established enough capacity to recover all their discarded lamps: Germany (20 plants), the Netherlands (3 plants), Austria (3 plants), and Switzerland (4 plants). Mobile lamp-collecting equipment is used in some countries. Belgium, Finland, and Sweden each have one plant, not yet sufficient to handle all domestic lamps. At least 17 plants are operating in the United States.

If recovered mercury is not reused it must be stockpiled or treated as hazardous waste. The feasibility of reuse depends on the ease (cost) of handling and processing old lamps, purity of the resulting mercury, competing disposal costs, and other factors. Some lamps are easier and less expensive to reprocess than others, e.g. modular CFLs are preferred to integral units ($0.75 vs. $1.50 per lamp). The average cost for collection, transportation, and recovery varies depending on the type of lamp. In most countries, processing long fluorescent tubes costs $0.20 to $0.50/meter, versus ~$4 to $5 for high intensity discharge lamps. The value of recovered materials is far less-$0.01 per lamp. According to the Minnesota Office of Waste Management, the waste disposal cost for long fluorescent lamps is $0.69 to $1-more than the cost of mercury recovery.

Recovery costs are significant compared to a lamp's first cost, but small compared to the money saved by switching to efficient lamps. For example, at $0.10/kWh, a linear fluorescent (32W vs. 40W) saves ~$15 over its life and a CFL (15W vs. 60W) saves ~$40.

In Sweden, Kvicksilveråtervinning AB (Mercury Recycling Inc.) claims to be recovering 14% of the country's domestic fluorescent lamp waste and 1% of other discharge lamps. This corresponds to 1.5 million long fluorescent lamps and 42 000 CFLs plus other discharge lamps each year. An additional 550 000 lamps each year are imported for processing from other Nordic countries.

After just two years, a program in the Netherlands has already by far exceeded a 50% lamp collection rate. A new trash-separation program for hazardous wastes accommodates household fluorescent lamps.

The collection rate in Austria is over 50% (~2.5 million lamps annually) and that in Switzerland is 60 to 70% (~5 million lamps annually).

With eight years of experience, Germany has the largest lamp-collection infrastructure in the world. Today there are about 220 locations for consumers to deposit old lamps, with subsequent transport to one of the country's 20 lamp mercury recovery plants. The national capacity will soon reach 90 million lamps per year (one working shift daily). In 1994, 70 to 80% of all used lamps are expected to be taken to recovery plants, representing about 50 to 60 million lamps.

In contrast to the European situation, only about 2% of all discharge lamps are recovered in the US. In California the value is reportedly 15%, about 7.5 million lamps annually. The Minnesota-based Recyclight company is currently processing at a rate of ~5 million lamps annually. All of the mercury (99.998% pure) is re-used by a Chicago-based instrument manufacturer.

WHO PAYS?
The question of who pays for lamp mercury recovery will become an increasingly important and controversial one. The National Association of Lighting Management Companies (NALMCO) in the US recommends a national program paid for by charging consumers a deposit on lamps. A deposit system already exists in Austria where consumers pay a refundable deposit fee of ~$1.25 (15 ATS) when they buy their lamps. In addition to this, consumers also must pay a non-refundable "lamp-recovery" fee of ~$1.25 to $2 depending on lamp type. The income from this fee is used for recycling of old lamps returned to retailers. Companies are excempted from the deposit and the recovery fee if they have a contract with a recycling firm. A deposit system is also being considered in Switzerland, where consumers already pay deposits when they buy batteries.

In an innovative program, the California-based Applied Materials, Inc. invites its 1 800 employees to bring in their old fluorescent lamps to be sent for processing along with the company's lamps.

Electric utilities promoting energy-efficient lighting can also play a role. In the US, Arizona Public Service and San Diego Gas and Electric have increased their lighting rebates to help with the costs of managing old lamps.

Some large lamp buyers (e.g. 3M Corporation) have considered requiring lamp vendors to take back the lamps after they burn out. Similarly, at the national level, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) is discussing a "cradle-to-grave" policy of placing economic liability for mercury management on the lamp manufacturers. The agency will intervene if they conclude that manufacturers do not make sufficient progress towards reducing the amount of mercury in lamps. The Swedish lamp manufacturer, Lumalampan AB voluntarily collects discarded lamps from its customers and pays for mercury recovery. They use the recovered materials to manufacture new lamps.

ROLES FOR GOVERNMENT
National and local governments can play a role beyond setting waste-management policy.

Legislation, incentives, and information programs that promote energy-efficient lighting will tend to help reduce the amount of lighting-related mercury.
Government-supported R&D can complement industry efforts to find alternatives to mercury-based light sources. An example of such efforts is underway within the US Department of Energy's lighting program.
As a large consumer of lamps for its own facilities, government can provide "leadership by example" by properly managing its own discarded lamps, and in doing so could help create the infrastructure and education programs for mercury recovery.
By providing independent testing and data collection, governments can play a much-needed role improving the often incomplete and mercurial statistics on mercury and lighting.

Evan Mills
Nils Borg

See also:
Mercury: a Broader Perspective (IAEEL 3/93)
More on mercury (IAEEL 1/94)
Drastic cut in mercury (on low-mercury HPS lamps; IAEEL 3/94)
Mercury-cut increases efficiency (0n reduced Mercury fluorescent lamps, IAEEL 4/94)
New HPS lamp not in Europe (IAEEL 1/95)
0% mercury retrofit HPS (IAEEL 1/95)

The German case

Assuming that all discharge lighting has an average efficacy of about 75 lm/W and incandescent lamps one of about 15 lm/W, it would require an additional 150 billion kWh-equal to the output of 30 large power plants of electricity annually-to replace all of Germany's mercury-containing lamps with incandescents.

This happens to be almost equivalent to the combined production of Germany's nuclear power plants. If the power were generated by coal, another 145 million tonnes of CO_2 would be emitted to the atmosphere each year-corresponding to a string of coal train cars stretching from Germany to Australia. In addition 4.5 tonnes of mercury would be released from the extra coal combustion. This is more than three-times greater than the 1.4 tonnes of mercury in the discharge lamps replaced by incandescents.

(Source: ZVEI, Fachverband Elektrische Lampen, Germany)

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