An article appeared in the Toronto Star on the weekend entitled, Saving Energy: Maybe it's time Canada got serious on energy conservation. The article touts the energy benefits of replacing incandescent bulbs with compact florescent lights (which are 6 times as energy efficient as regular incandescent bulbs). The article also describes the technology behind the compact florescent lamps noting that they use mercury (which when ionized releases UV light which is converted to white light by the coating in the lamp).

Of course energy efficient lighting promises to relive our demand for electricity. Specifically the goal is to reduce our dependence on coal-fired electricity which releases significant amounts of mercury upon combustion.

But how ironic would it be if we reduced coal-fired generation by using fluorescent bulbs only to release mercury to environment as those bulbs are sent to landfill (or incinerated) at their end-of-life? Clearly, we need to be thinking about a closed loop recovery system now.

Well the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO) is doing just that and is starting by addressing long fixture type fluorescent lamps used in the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (IC&I) sector. In May of 2005, the RCO and the Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB) in partnership with Florescent Lamp Recyclers (FLR - a recycler), participated in a pilot project to recovery and recycle spent florescent lamps. In total, 5968 lamps were collected of which 958 were recovered through random replacement methods and 5010 through retrofits. In all 18,000 mg of mercury was recovered. (To put this into perspective that is the amount of mercury that would be emitted by burning coal to generate the electricity necessary to light 67 compact fluorescent bulbs for about 115 years).

According tor Jo-Anne St. Godard, Exectuive Director of the RCO, the RCO is working to develop a provincial-wide stewardship program aimed at IC&I sector (schools, hospitals, government buildings, shopping malls, factories). RCO has received funding from the Standards Development Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Environment (which has been involved in the development and implementation of Canada-wide Standards (CWS) for mercury including mercury-containing lamps), to test the model. In addition 2 school divisions have agreed to participate in its initial rollout. RCO will be working with lamp manufacturers, distributors and the MOE to ensure environmental performance and economic efficiency.

Anybody interested in florescent lamp stewardship issues can call Jo-Anne at (416) 657-2797 Ext. 1