City of London and Recolight partner to bring free lamp recycling to residents
Today, officially launched a new recycling scheme providing low energy light bulb recycling facilities to the people of the City of London as well as a battery recycling scheme run by ERP.
Working in partnership with recycling specialist Recolight, the City of London has installed specially designed containers where old low energy light bulbs can be recycled by residents in the City’s 6,000 residential properties and over 300,000 office workers who commute daily to the City. The 11 containers are located at eight convenient sites across the Square Mile of the City.
All low energy light bulbs collected will be sent for recycling at approved treatment facilities. Modern low energy light bulbs typically last over six times as long as, and use a quarter of the power of an equivalent incandescent bulb. Most importantly, low energy light bulbs save energy and reduce costs. In order to generate their energy saving properties low energy light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury which can be harmful to the environment and must, therefore, be recycled rather than thrown away in the household rubbish.
Launching the scheme, the Chairman, John Tomlinson said: “We were receiving increasing requests from residents who wanted to know how and where they could recycle their light bulbs. It is a City commitment to recycle more items where possible and provide a high quality service to our residents. We have, therefore, installed these recycling points at a number of convenient locations across the City. Importantly the scheme offers additional materials for residents to recycle whilst keeping operational resources and issues to a minimum for the council.”
Recolight’s Customer Service Manager, Lyndsey Smith, said; “This is an important and exciting partnership which will open up vital new channels for the public to recycle their old low energy light-bulbs. People want to recycle their old bulbs but are often unsure of where the nearest facilities are. These containers will be visible to hundreds of consumers every week, and we hope that this will help make a difference to recycling in the local area.”
Notes to Editors
Why do low-energy light bulbs need specialist recycling?
Low energy light bulbs, or Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), are a type of Gas Discharge Lamp (GDL) and contain a small amount of mercury. If handled sensibly this poses no hazard to the user, but it does mean that like many other household products, CFLs should be recycled to avoid the negative effect they could have on our long term environment and health prospects.
CFLs are technically similar to a fluorescent light bulb that has been compressed to the size of a standard-issue incandescent light bulb. Modern CFLs last typically over six times as long as, and use a quarter of the power of an equivalent incandescent bulb. Most importantly, CFLs save energy and reduce costs.
