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:
“Men’s hearts are cold. They are indifferent. Not all the coal that is dug warms the world. It remains indifferent to the lives of those who risk their life and health down in the blackness of the earth; who crawl through dark, choking crevices with only a bit of lamp on their caps to light their silent way; whose backs are bent with toil, whose very bones ache, whose happiness is sleep, and whose peace is death.”
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