Old fluorescent bulbs and tubes can be recycled
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
IF YOU’VE been wondering what to do with the fluorescent light bulbs and tubes that have petered out, why not recycle them?
Hutt City Council has initiated a programme through several of the city’s electrical and lighting companies to accept anyone’s old lights so they can go to a recycling plant. Because there is a cost to the companies for recycling, some of them charge for accepting the lights.
Council Environmental Sustainability Officer Symond Ross says fluorescent lamps should never be put out in the rubbish or in general recycling bins.
“They contain mercury that can be toxic when released into the environment,” he says. “Fortunately, every component can be recycled at the InterWaste plant in Seaview.”
InterWaste is the only company in New Zealand offering a zero-to-landfill 100 per cent recycling service for all forms of mercury lamps.
Pictured is Phil Newson of Egley Electrical in Petone with some fo the bulbs and tubes that the company takes for recycling.
You can drop off your spent fluorescent lamps to:
- Advance Electrical (Lower Hutt),
- Cory’s Electrical (Alicetown),
- Egley Electrical (Petone),
- Ideal Electrical (Petone),
- MasterTrade (Lower Hutt),
- Shady Lady Lighthouse (Alicetown).