It appears that the Government plans to hide behind the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations when it comes to the safe disposal of energy-efficient light bulb which each contains mercury. According to Ben Bradshaw it is the responsibility of "producers to finance the collection, treatment and recycling of WEEE, including energy efficient light bulbs".Well that's sorted then. Slight problem though. How on earth do ordinary consumers deal with the disposal? How do they get them back to the "producer"? Are the producers, of which there are many, going to work with the local Council waste teams? How exactly can such a ruling be enforced when most people will just chuck the light bulbs in the bin?
I just spoke to my local Council waste disposal and recycling site about what I was meant to do with energy-saving lightbulbs. "Just put them in your refuse, they're not recyclable, they just get dumped in landfill". Yay! Mercury in the land! All this at the same time as the EU ban mercury barometers.
9 comments:
Yep, I was thinking the same too when I heard Mercury was now banned from use in EU Barometers.
On the radio report where I heard about the ban, they said one reason was to protect firemen from Mercury vapour. Surely a home fitted with energy efficient light bulbs is also a Mercury hazard area in case of fire?
Of course the banning of the Mercury free incandescenct Light bulb will only make matters worse.
There's only one solution:
Gas lamps.
Interesting Dizzy - though doesnt shock me. When I worked for a leading UK retailer and we were dealing with the Batteries directive which effectively meant retailers should take back used batteries I asked teh question of our scietific expert as to what would happen to them.
Apparently at that stage (I hope things have changed now) the cover made of tin/aluminium or whatever could be recovered - but all the nasties would go to land fill as there were no processes in place to do anything else. Great eh!
GAS!? VERY atmospheric, mood-wise. WOuld also get rid of those pesky moths that fly in while you put the rubbish out. Mind you, the firemen (and women) would be busier than they are now. So fatigue rather than poisoning...
What about LEDs? Can someone fashion a bunch of LEDs into a shape with, like thread or bayonet on back. Is it true LEDs last for long time? It would be easy to put a little switch in the base so that you could change the brightness or slecta range of different flashing sequences.
Can you give us an idea Dizzy how much mercury waste there is in one of these? How much in a barometer or traditional thermometer? How much these are going to bulk in our rubbish compared to say AA batteries? What the saving is in steel and other materials, transport CO2, and power CO2 in switching to them? And whether there are other low energy technologies sans mercury on the way?
Questions, questions, questions.
are you trying to be clever? I've written about six posts on the subjects with all the details. Including the calculations for how much mercury we're talking about in comparison to the mercury output of a coal fire station into the atmosphere.
Answer, answer, answers are here already.
Chris Paul
I'll make it very simple so you don't have to fry a synapse thinking about it too hard.
An energy efficient light bulb contains little mercury when compared to A barometer or A thermometer. The difference is most households do not throw away several barometers or thermometers every year!
What does "How much these are going to bulk in our rubbish compared to say AA batteries?" mean, its a bit incoherent!?
"What the saving is in steel and other materials, transport CO2, and power CO2 in switching to them? "
Certainly some CO2 is saved in usage, but why would you think transport CO2 would be saved, are these bulbs going to be made locally? They are heavier than normal bulbs so would actually use MORE 'transport' CO2 if transported the same distance.
What has saving a little steel got to do with anything?
"And whether there are other low energy technologies sans mercury on the way?" is a question for another day! ;)
LED bulbs are the future. They contain no mercury and are more efficient than compact fluorescents. I can't comment on their light output, but the main hurdle at the moment seems to be cost.
I've included a few links to LED bulbs:
Selection of LED bulbs
Spotlight LED bulbs
Comment on LED Bulbs
StickUpBulb
They still approve the use of mercury in fillings however! Far more dangerous than barometers, we are walking around with a mouth fullof poison which slowly leaks into our bloodstream over years.
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