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By: Diane Sampson
Web site: http://www.lamps-n-lighting.com
After years of deliberations, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency last week released new, relaxed
rules for the handling of fluorescent lamps.
Under the new rules, end-users no longer will
be required to handle mercury-containing fluorescent
lamps as hazardous waste if they send the fluorescent
lamps to be recycled. Instead, discarded lamps
will be classified as a universal waste and thereby
subject to less-stringent standards for storage,
transportation and collection.
As a universal waste, fluorescent lamps may be
hauled to recycling facilities in regular trucks
rather than by hazardous waste vehicles, and the
responsibility of detailed record keeping transfers
to the recycler from the end-user.
Once a fluorescent lamp reaches a collection
facility, however, hazardous waste requirements
for recycling, treatment or disposal must be complied
with fully, the EPA said. The new rules apply
to fluorescent, mercury vapor, sodium vapor and
metal halide lamps.
fluorescent lamp and mercury recycling companies
have been fighting for the rules for years. The
EPA has estimated that 1 billion fluorescent lamps
are discarded annually. If the streamlined regulations
improve collection rates to the degree EPA expects,
it "will be an incredible shot in the arm
to the lamp recycling industry," said Michael
Bendor, a consultant to the newly formed Association
of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers (ALMR).
About 30 companies involved in fluorescent lamp
and mercury recycling met in Chicago last month
to elect an interim board of directors and discuss
the association's mission, said Paul Abernathy,
interim executive director of ALMR. Now that the
EPA's rule changes are official, he said, the
association would focus on promotion and enforcement.
"One of our main thrusts is going to be
to assist the EPA in getting the word out,"
Abernathy said. He and other ALMR members are
scheduled to meet with EPA officials in the next
few weeks to discuss how to carry out the revisions
to the federal universal waste rule on fluorescent
lamps.
About 40 states have adopted regulations which
place lamp disposal under state universal waste
rules or local regulatory policies, he said, ensuring
a wide base of support for lamp recycling programs.
Abernathy criticized fluorescent lamp manufacturers
for delaying changes at the federal level through
aggressive lobbying. Several home and industrial
lighting companies said in recent reports that
recycling fluorescent lamps was cost-prohibitive
and that lamps presented a minuscule threat to
the environment.
But just one day after the EPA announced the
changes, major lamp maker Philips Lighting Co.,
Somerset, N.J., issued a statement applauding
the regulation. The company went on to tout its
new Alto low-mercury lamps, which it said were
not hazardous waste under EPA guidelines.
Although fluorescent lamps recyclers anticipate
a jump in mercury waste recovery under the new
rules, few expect to make much money through the
sale of mercury alone, Abernathy said. "From
a financial standpoint, mercury is not a hot commodity.
None of the members derives their principal income
from the resale of used mercury"
The EPA regulates mercury waste because of its
tendency to accumulate in fish and other animals.
In humans, the neurotoxin can slow fetal and child
development and cause brain damage.
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