Metal halide, fluorescent bulbs, ballasts and some LEDs - recycling kits.

[A. grandis]

One of the negative aspects, and among the major excuses used by many reefers, helping their decision to avoid and sometimes to preach against the use of the amazing metal halide technology in favor of LEDs, is the fact that the metal halide bulbs contain some mercury.
There is a choice for all those metal halide users that want to take the recycling of their bulbs seriously.
I just fund out about this nice service that is for the continental United States use only.
Would be so great if we could have such service for the rest of the world. Please post below if you know of any other service like this.

This service is also for some LED lamps, T5s, batteries, ballasts, and more.

16″ x 16″ x 24″​

LampMaster’s Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kits can be used for any type HID bulbs.

Acceptable Materials:​

• All Sizes of Metal Halide Bulbs
• All Sizes of High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

$119.95

LampMaster’s 5 Gal Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit is for all types of HID bulbs.

Acceptable Materials:​

• All Sizes of Metal Halide Bulbs
• All Sizes of High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

$94.95

How Does It Work?​

Each LampMaster Recycling Kit includes everything you need to recycle your lamps, batteries, or electronic waste. We will ship you a container with a prepaid return label. Fill the container and request a pickup from FedEx or set it out for your daily FedEx delivery driver. Once received, we will send you a Certificate of Recycling so you know your Universal Waste was handled and recycled responsibly. Continental U.S. use only. Not available in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Cost Effective and Safe Lamp Disposal with LampMaster's Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit​

The LampMaster Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit is a simple, but effective way to make sure you are staying in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency. It is important and environmentally responsible for households to recycle metal halide or high pressure sodium lamps and all types of mercury waste. It is also required for many businesses as part of the EPA Universal Waste recycling regulations. Recycling your metal halide or high pressure sodium bulbs instead of throwing them in dumpsters or trash compactors prevents mercury from being deposited into our communities’ landfills and allows for the reuse of glass, metal, and other materials. Virtually every component of metal halide and HID lamps can be recycled.
With the purchase of our 16" x 16" x 24" Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit, you can collect, package, and safely ship any size HID bulbs including metal halide and high pressure sodium. After ordering your metal halide recycling kit, you are another step closer to keeping your home or business environmentally responsible.
If you don't have enough to fill the full kit or have smaller wattage lamps, we also offer our metal halide recycling kit in a 5 gallon pail version.

Fast! Easy! Convenient!​

All of our recycling kits come with instructions, packing materials, and a prepaid return shipping label, making it simple to return your materials to one of our recycling centers.
The EPA allows collection of Universal Waste for up to one year. So even if you don't have enough to fill your kit right away, you can hold on to it and continue to collect for up to a year after your initial collection date.

FLUORESCENT LAMP RECYCLING:

Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Kits - LampMaster Mail-Back Recycling

Recycle your fluorescent lamps responsibly with LampMaster. Order your container online, pack your lamps, and ship with prepaid FedEx label.

lampmaster.com

LED RECYCLING:

LED Recycling Page - LampMaster

lampmaster.com

BALLAST RECYCLING:

Lighting Ballast Recycling Kit 5gal - LampMaster Mail-Back Recycling Kits

LampMaster's Lighting Ballast Recycling Kit 5gal provides everything you need to safely and conveniently collect and recycle your Non-PCB Lighting Ballasts. The one upfront price covers the container, processing of the materials, and shipping both ways.

lampmaster.com

Since 2004, LampMaster Recycling has strived to make recycling easy and efficient for businesses and consumers nationwide.
[email protected]
CALL US 888.470.4835
LAMPMASTER RECYCLING
419 Northland Blvd Suite B, Cincinnati, OH 45240


FROM:

Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit - LampMaster Mail-Back Recycling Kits

LampMaster's Metal Halide Bulb Recycling Kit provides everything you need to safely and conveniently collect and recycle your metal halide, HID, or high-pressure sodium lamps. The one upfront price covers the container, processing of the materials, and shipping both ways.

lampmaster.com

 

[Reefahholic]

Thx for posting this!

 

[jda]

The next town over from me recycles bulbs, thermostats, thermometers and anything else with mercury in them. They have a bin out front that you can drop them in.

You can check locally first, but I imagine that some areas are more likely to do this than others.

 

[PeterErc]

https://www.epa.gov/mercury/recycling-and-disposal-cfls-and-other-bulbs-contain-mercury

 

[Nonya]

Or avoid having to deal with mercury by switching to 100% LED.

 

[jda]

Or avoid having to deal with mercury by switching to 100% LED.

If somebody switched to LED, wouldn't they have to recycle some mercury bulbs? How is this comment helpful to this topic? It seems that these kids might be most helpful to people switching to 100% LED.

 

[Nonya]

If somebody switched to LED, wouldn't they have to recycle some mercury bulbs? How is this comment helpful to this topic? It seems that these kids might be most helpful to people switching to 100% LED.

You're absolutely correct. I have a feeling (no actual numbers to support it) that the bulk of people using LEDs no longer have any mercury-bearing bulbs, having thrown them into the landfills, OR they started with LEDs and never had mercury-based bulbs.

But safely recycling is definitely a good idea.

 

[Nonya]

If somebody switched to LED, wouldn't they have to recycle some mercury bulbs? How is this comment helpful to this topic? It seems that these kids might be most helpful to people switching to 100% LED.

You've run rings around me logically. I'll change my statement. How is it helpful? When people avoid hazardous materials from the beginning, don't you think?

 

[Nonya]

Or avoid having to deal with mercury by switching to 100% LED.

Correction: Or having to deal with mercury at all by avoiding mercury-based products that have to be replaced periodically due to spectrum shift.

 

[A. grandis]

If there is a thread that shouldn't have to deal with any of the differences between metal halides and LEDs is this one!

Metal halide, T5 and LEDs all SHOULD be recycled for different reasons.

Plastic is among the major problems in this world today.
We should concentrate on finding new recycling centers and stop promoting LEDs as they were an example of "green advantage".

 

[jda]

That is a big correction.

Let's don't pretend that LEDs don't have an environmental impact. No mercury, but lead on boards, plastics and shipping from China needs diesel fuel not to even speculate on what a China factory does to the world. I recycle my bulbs, but there is also something to all of my fixtures being 10+ years old.

In the end, nobody in this hobby probably needs to cast stones about environmental impacts to others.

 

[A. grandis]

Certainly!

 

[Nonya]

Ok. Pretty sure all LEDs, fluorescents and halides have components with lead.

 

[jda]

I don't know if ballasts contain lead, or not. They likely do not, but that is not the point. The point is that cherry picking one thing or another from one source or another is a fools errand. If somebody just want to grind an axe, then OK, but it is not helpful in any form. I do not own any MH stuff with boards in them.

With any new things, there is waste. It is foolish, IMO, to just say that X went down, so it is better. It costs a LOT of money and has a large environmental impact to crush a perfectly good gasoline car to replace it with an electric car - gas is less but recycling and manufacturing costs are not free. Better to wait and replace at end of life. It has a large environmental impact to replace all of the perfectly working lighting the world with LEDs. At least in general lighting most people are using the current stuff until end of life which does lower the environmental impact as a whole even if wattage is more in some cases. Hobbyists could perhaps be the most wasteful if they throw out a perfectly good ATI fixture and replace it prematurely with a handful of panels... wasteful. In most cases, electricity does not go down much, if at all, but you have recycling costs, manufacture and shipping costs to replace stuff that is working.

Mercury is legit and I recycle all of my bulbs. Anybody who is bashing people who use T5 or MH about mercury also on this trip about recycling thermostats or thermometers? Average thermostat 3g of mercury. Light bulb at 4mg - modern MH reefing bulb at 10-25mg - T5 about 1-1.5mg per foot - it varies. Some of the older MH bulbs could be at 100mg and T12 was higher than T5. Seems like you should be concerned about both or neither.

It seems that anybody who replacing a panel probably does more harm to the environment that somebody who recycles a few bulbs. People who just throw away a bulb are not helpful, IMO, but neither are people who throw away a panel or fixture.

In the end, nobody gets out of this unscathed. Anybody who do a good job with recycling is doing as good as they can.