US firm pioneers gear tray upgrade unit

A luminaire manufacturer which has been pioneering sustainability in the United States has unveiled a standardised LED gear tray for upgrading fluorescent office lights.

Wisconsin-based Apprime Lighting, which launched in 2024, unveiled what it terms the Modular ReLite Chassis. The company says it’s the first tool-less replaceable light engine on the North American market.

Apprime says that the chassis ‘offers a seamless upgrade solution, ensuring minimal waste and maximum efficiency’.

The company is including the removable chassis in its luminaires so that they can be upgraded at end of life.

Co-founder Wes Fanning says that, although the US market is behind Europe in sustainable lighting, he believes that there is increasingly a receptive audience for lighting which is upgradable.

Fannin says that in the USA so-called ‘troffer’ lights – recessed modular office luminaires – were often ending up in landfill within five to eights years ‘and nobody was talking about it’.

Apprime Lighting has also pioneered one of the first take-back schemes in the lighting industry in America.

 Every luminaire sold by Apprime Lighting is automatically eligible to enroll in what it terms its R3 Earth+® product sustainability programme.

As a customer’s luminaire reaches its end of life or requires a performance upgrade, the company will send out a new MRC to install within the existing luminaire housing.

The customer will see energy savings as more efficient LEDs are included in the new chassis.

Apprime will then take back the original MRC from the luminaire. It says it will reuse its metal chassis, fasteners, and connectors.

Adam Chetakian, vice-president of business development at Apprime, says that the program ‘will revolutionise how the lighting industry will account for end-of-life and performance upgrade procedures.

‘For far too long, lighting has been a part of a wasteful, linear product economy, and we believe that our focus on moving lighting into a sustainable, circular product economy aligns with the vision of many specifiers and builders across the globe.’

The company was founded by Wes Fanning, Adam Chetakian and Don Verkuylen.

• Learn more about sustainable lighting at Circular Lighting Live 2025, Recolight’s flagship conference and exhibition, which takes place on Thursday 25 September 2025 at the Minster Building in the City of London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2025 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live