WASTE MANAGEMENT
E Easy lamp disposal
nergy efficient lighting in hospitals can help to reduce the carbon
footprint and, increasingly importantly, save costs through accessing free of charge recycling services.
However, this type of lighting must be recycled in a sustainable way and hospitals must make sure they are complying with the law when it comes to disposing of this waste
The 2007 WEEE Directive - designed to minimise the amount of hazardous waste going to landfill and encourage re-use and recycling – is important legislation putting requirements in place for the recycling of electrical equipment. The regulations apply to a variety of products in everyday use within the sector including medical devices, IT and telecommunications equipment and lighting.
For lighting, it’s crucial that recycling is carried out in the proper way. Lighting used in commercial buildings is classed as hazardous waste due to the small amount of chemicals they contain which provide the lamps’ light-generating capability.
Known collectively as GDLs (gas discharge lamps), this category of lighting includes compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs – or energy-saving light bulbs), fluorescent tubes, metal halide lamps, mercury and blended lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps and low-pressure sodium lamps – all of which must be recycled in accordance with the WEEE regulations.
GDLs offer reduced energy and maintenance costs but as hazardous waste they must be dealt with in accordance with
Sep/Oct 10
strict safety requirements. In large quantities the chemicals they contain could potentially cause a risk to human health and the environment if sent to landfill sites or otherwise not disposed of properly.
As organisations which naturally utilise a lot of lighting, hospitals should find the most economical way of recycling their waste lamps. Those paying for their recycling could save a significant amount of money and at the same time benefit the environment by sourcing a better option.
A number of compliance schemes have been established to deal with recycling. Recolight is the only specialist lighting compliance scheme – established by the lighting industry for the lighting industry – and offers a number of free of charge options for recycling waste lamps.
Recolight recommend that NHS purchasing specify that
GDLs must be purchased from a producer that is a member of a producer compliance scheme within their procurement procedures so that when buying new GDLs they know that the producer is legally registered and already conforming to the WEEE regulations. In doing so, the management of end- of-life lamps should be easier whilst also improving the green credentials of the organisation.
Recolight has funded the recycling of over 50 million lamps in the last two years and can help solve lamp recycling problems. They work with organisations to arrange for easy lamp disposal ensuring the
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To find out more about Recolight and how they can help you fulfill your recycling needs:
T: 0845 601 7749 E:
info@recolight.co.uk W:
www.recolight.co.uk
More general information on WEEE and recycling is available from DEFRA
www.defra.gov.uk, BIS (formerly BERR)
www.bis.gov.uk, the CIWM
www.ciwm.co.uk or the Environment Agency
www.environment-agency.gov.uk
nhe 73
lamps are recycled effectively and currently have over 1,000 collection points throughout the UK. You can register to become a collection point through the Recolight website.
Their priority is to ensure as many lamps as possible are collected and recycled and that no lamps go to landfill where they could cause risk to the environment and human health. To do this they are committed to raising awareness of the importance of recycling and to continue to build their collection point network to provide a robust recycling scheme, meeting the needs of all hospitals and businesses alike.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92