Closing the Production Circle by Recycling their CFLs, MaxLite Keeps Mercury Out of the Environment

RECYCLING MERCURY BENEFITS THE ATMOSPHERE!

MaxLite CFLs clean up the environment two ways; by reducing energy requirements and by using recycled mercury!

Fairfield, NJ, October, 2009 - By using recycled mercury in the manufacture of their Compact Fluorescent bulbs MaxLite is taking one more step in protecting the environment. Now instead of the bulbs going into the landfill, and depositing their mercury, the bulbs are recycled, the mercury extracted and the mercury put back into new bulbs. The circle of manufacture is closed and the mercury is contained.

Of course the amount of mercury in an individual bulb is very small; less than 5 milligrams; about the size of the tip of a pen. A thermometer, in contrast uses 500 milligrams. But together we are all using more and more compact fluorescents each year. So the growing numbers mean that recycling will become even more important, and keeping mercury in a closed process even more significant.

Of equal significance is the mercury that is kept out of the atmosphere by using compact fluorescents in the first place. CFLs save up to 70% of lighting energy, which means that power plants can produce 70% less power, which means 70% less mercury in the atmosphere. Generating power is the number one contributor of mercury in the environment. In 1999 the EPA reported that 75 tons of mercury was found in the coal delivered to power plants each year, and about two thirds of that was emitted to the air. That’s 50 tons annually. Hence the Clean Air Act was amended in 1999, and the EPA given authority to control hazardous air pollutants, including mercury.

Mercury is an element. You can’t make any more of it and you can’t destroy it or get rid of it. Basically what exists on the planet now is what there has always been and what will remain.

The environmental problem began when mercury became a very useful heavy metal in the manufacture of all sorts of products. It was used in the electrical industry in compact fluorescent light bulbs, in linear fluorescent lamps, in wiring devices, switches, navigational devices, and in instruments that measure temperature and pressure. It was also used in batteries, in wood processing, in dental amalgam, in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda, and in paint. It has been used as a solvent, as a catalyst, as a preservative and even as an ingredient in fertilizers.
The result is that the mercury which was locked harmlessly in layers of rock and earth was extracted and used in these useful products. And then it was dumped into the landfills when the products were discarded. Thus the mercury, freed from the earth, entered our waste stream. It washed down to the sea; to be lifted up by evaporation and to be re-deposited around the globe in a continuing cycle.

One of those cycles is mercury traveling through the sea. It is absorbed by plankton, and then zooplankton, then small forage fish, and then to larger surface fish and then to us; as well as to eagles, otters, and bears. This free floating mercury affects all birds, plants and mammals.

In the United States alone, advisories have been issued in 39 states against eating certain species and quantities of fish. And 87% of mercury free floating in the US environment comes from combustion sources; 33% from coal fired utility boilers and 37% from municipal and industrial boilers.

The #1 mercury polluter on earth is fossil fuel burning plants; #2 is Chlor-Alkali Plants; and #3 is Portland Cement plants. Fluorescent lamps, batteries, and thermostats make up only 1% of the mercury waste stream.

Recycling CFLs won’t solve all the mercury in the atmosphere problems but they can do a lot. Firstly, reducing lighting power consumption up to 70% will immediately result in a 70% reduction in the release of mercury into the atmosphere by the power plants. Secondly, closing the circle of manufacture and recycling the CFLs and linear lamps when their life is finished ensures that even that small amount of Mercury will not get back into the environment. It is yet one more way compact fluorescent lamps are assisting the environment.

And MaxLite is continuing to do its part.

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About MaxLite: MaxLite is a New Jersey based global manufacturer and marketer of energy efficient lighting products. The company is a leading innovator in the development of functional LED lighting, holds a variety of patents in the competitive field of fluorescent technology, and is one of the leading brands in the United States. MaxLite is an active ENERGY STAR partner.