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What To Do With Old Fluorescent Light Bulbs: A Recycling and Disposal Guide

December 10, 2023

As business & industry converts from the widespread use of fluorescent lighting to more energy‑efficient and eco-friendly LED technology, the need for environmentally-sensitive strategies to discard or recycle what can amount to hundreds or even thousands of retired fluorescent tubes & lamps comes to fore. Q&As in this entry include:

  1. Why is business & industry converting from fluorescent to LED tubes & lamps?
  2. Why have fluorescent tubes & lamps been in such widespread use?
  3. What is the economic case for converting from fluorescent to LED tubes & lamps?
  4. Must retired fluorescent tubes & lamps be managed as hazardous waste?
  5. What are the legal liabilities relative to retired fluorescent tube & lamp disposal?
  6. Where can you get help with the safe & legal disposal of retired fluorescent tubes & lamps?

 

Why is business & industry converting from fluorescent to LED tubes & lamps?

Fluorescent tubes & lamps emit light by ionizing mercury vapor. This induces ultraviolet light that becomes visible when it contacts a phosphor coating on the tube’s inside, thereby rendering that horribly bright & harsh fluorescent hue that turns potatoes green (as well as your complexion).

Trouble is, while moderately toxic in liquid form, mercury becomes extremely noxious in its gaseous state, as it’s easily respired by the human body, entering the bloodstream to contaminate any number of vital organs that you’ve grown to know, love, and rely upon.

Such toxicity has encouraged ever-increasing levels of federal, state, and local legislation. Among them are stricter product-labeling requirements; sale prohibitions on certain products containing mercury; and in many jurisdictions, outright bans on mercury disposal, along with mandates for mercury recycling.

Also, the economic case for converting from fluorescent to LED tubes & lamps is compelling. (See Q.3)

 

Why have fluorescent tubes & lamps been in such widespread use?

Consider that lighting requirements across industry, medicine, and business are manifold and complicated. Hospital operatories and treatment spaces need high-quality light with certain characteristics. So do industrial workspaces, where ambient light must be good enough for task completion, but not so intense as to be visually fatiguing.

Until the advent of LED technology, fluorescent tubes & lamps have been best at meeting these requirements. So, it’s no mystery why commercial & industrial enterprises are awash in the things, and why their hazardous waste disposal and/or recycling is a major operational concern.

 

What is the economic case for converting from fluorescent to LED tubes & lamps?

LEDs last longer than fluorescent tubes & lamps—and by no small sum. Wherein new LEDs can last roughly six-to-eleven years in service, the typical fluorescent tube or lamp is ready for the trash bin between .80 and 1.9 years—except you can’t put them in the trash bin. (See Q.4).
LEDs are directional. This means they emit all their light downward within 180 degrees. This minimizes energy loss from the need to reflect light. In contrast, fluorescent tubes & lamps are omnidirectional. They emit light over 360 degrees, so fully one‑half of the illumination needs to be reflected downward from the fixture, requiring it to be more complicated and expensive, which effectively squanders light and energy.

 

Must retired fluorescent tubes & lamps be managed as hazardous waste?

Per the EPA, retired fluorescent tubes & lamps can be managed under standard RCRA rules as a hazardous waste. Or they can be managed under the EPA’s Universal Waste Rules, which are less stringent than hazardous waste regulations, making it prudent to get expert advice before proceeding apace.

That said:

If you have industrial amounts of retired fluorescent tubes & lamps that are persona non gratae on your premises, you can manage them as a universal waste. These are a specific set of EPA rules that are less onerous than standard RCRA regulations and are ostensibly designed to encourage and streamline the management of certain kinds of garbage that are commonly generated by businesses and “non-households,” fluorescent tubes & lamps among them.

However, be mindful that state and local regulations about hazardous waste disposal are often more stringent than those imposed by the EPA. So, you could wind up needing to conform to standard RCRA requirements anyway. For example, Washington, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine, and (surprise!) California completely forbid mercury‑containing tubes & lamps from being discarded into landfills. You can get an update about your own bailiwick here.

If you only need to get rid of relatively few fluorescent tubes & lamps, you can’t just toss them into that dumpster out back. This is because they’ll definitely shatter when that dumpster gets dumped, releasing mercury that will be vaporized into the atmosphere during garbage incineration. Instead, take heart that there are probably retailers in your area who accept old fluorescent tubes & lamps for recycling. (As a rule of thumb, if a store sells fluorescent tubes & lamps, it must also accept them for recycling.)

 

What are the legal liabilities relative to retired fluorescent tube disposal?

Retired fluorescent tubes & lamps are regulated as a hazardous waste by the EPA for containing mercury. Remember the RCRA stipulation that any entity that generates a hazardous waste is legally responsible for it—from the metaphorical “cradle-to-grave.”

This includes not only your onsite management of a hazardous waste; but also, its subsequent transportation to a properly “permitted” or licensed offsite storage, treatment, or hazardous waste disposal facility.

Don’t take chances. Get expert advice.

 

Where can you get help with the safe & legal disposal of retired fluorescent tubes & lamps?

Replacing your fluorescent tubes & lamps with LED ones makes solid economic sense. But depending upon location, retired fluorescent tubes & lamps might be considered a hazardous waste requiring hazardous waste management, or a universal waste that must be discarded at a universal waste handler facility.

Contact us today. Or call 877-200-2029. And thank you for reading our blog!

 

Disposal of hazardous waste doesn’t have to be painful.