Fluorescent lamp recycling is the reclamation of the materials of a spent fluorescent lamp for the manufacture of new products. Glass tubing can be turned into new glass articles, brass and aluminium in end caps can be reused, the internal coating can be reprocessed for use in paint pigments, and the mercury contained in the lamp can be reclaimed and used in new lamps. In the United States, about 620 million fluorescent lamps are discarded annually; proper recycling of a lamp prevents emission of mercury into the environment, and is required by most states for commercial facilities. The primary advantage of recycling is diversion of mercury from landfill sites; the actual scrap value of the materials salvaged from a discarded lamp is insufficient to offset the cost of recycling.
Read more about Fluorescent Lamp Recycling: Mercury in Lamps, Phosphors, Mercury Containment, Disposal Methods
Famous quotes containing the words lamp and/or recycling:
“As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,
So nobleness enkindleth nobleness.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
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