Recycling of old lamps
Under waste lamps recycling refers to the recycling of compact fluorescent lamps ( "energy saving lamps") and LED lamps . The BUND describes this as costly.
Disposal regulation
The Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) has been in force in Germany since March 24, 2006 . It expressly stipulates that gas discharge lamps may no longer be disposed of in the residual waste, as they contain electronic components in addition to mercury.
For this reason discarded compact fluorescent lamps and fluorescent tubes must be collected separately from other rubbish and disposed of properly. Although LED lamps do not contain mercury, but electronic components do, they must also be disposed of separately.
The collection is organized in Germany by the return logistics company Lightcycle and takes place, among other things, in more than 2,500 municipal collection points (recycling centers, hazardous waste vehicles, etc.) and 5,500 collection points in retail and trade (drug stores, hardware stores, electrical workers, etc.). More than 400 bulk collection points are available for commercial quantities. Quantities of one ton or more (around 5,000 old lamps) are picked up by the logistics company. The search for the nearest collection point, registration for the collection service and registration as a collection point is carried out on the logistics company's website.
Eva Leonhardt from the Association of German Environmental Aid said in 2007 about the recycling of old lamps that, despite the regulation from households, only a worrying ten percent of the lamps have been returned to the specially set up collection points and "here ... there is an urgent need for information and action, especially because of the current EU regulation with a boom towards energy-saving lamps can be expected. "
The recycling of mercury is not required by law in Germany. However, in view of the general scarcity of resources, increased efforts are being made to increase the recycling rate. In the meantime, 90 percent of the components of an LED or energy-saving lamp can be returned to industrial production (e.g. for the manufacture of new lamps).
Recycling process
There are different processes for lamp recycling. Basically, however, all lamps are dismantled into their individual components so that they can then be properly processed and either returned to industrial applications or disposed of. The single-type glass from fluorescent lamps goes straight back into lamp production, while mixed glass from energy-saving lamps is used in other industrial applications. The metal of the base is recycled and also reused in industry.
Cut-and-cut process
The “Kapp-Trenn-Process” is mainly used for fluorescent tubes - special shapes such as energy-saving lamps have to be pre-sorted by hand. A sensor system recognizes the different types of luminescent materials - the prerequisite for being able to detect the luminescent materials separately and to be able to reuse them later in lamp manufacture. First, the ends of the lamps are cut off and the metal and lead glass components they contain are recovered. The mercury-containing phosphor is blown out of the remaining glass tube in blow-out stations and collected. The cleaned tube is crushed and the broken glass is separated from metal residues with the help of a metal separator. If the glass is worked up very carefully, it is cleaned even further so that it contains practically no mercury residues. Then it is used again in the manufacture of new fluorescent tubes. The lead-containing glass parts go to a lead smelter. The metal parts are used in metal recycling. The luminescent layer, which also contains the mercury, is disposed of as hazardous waste.
Broken glass washer
All types of lamps can be processed in the “broken glass washing machine”. In a first step, manual sorting takes place, whereby contaminants are removed. Special forms such as energy-saving lamps etc. can first be sorted out and then processed separately in the same system. In a “crusher” the lamps are crushed to an average grain size of approx. 25 mm. After this process, the components of the flask glass and metal caps at the tube ends can be separated more easily. 80% of the end caps are separated from the other materials in a magnetic drum. The remaining 20%, which are made up of non-magnetic non-ferrous metals, are then removed with the help of a scrap metal separator. The glass is placed in a “vibro basin”: Here the broken glass is separated from the fluorescent components by vibrations. Finally the glass is rinsed clear with water. Over 90% of the fluorescent powder and fine glass contained in it settle in a sedimentation basin. Most of the mercury used in the lamps is also in condensed form in the fluorescent powder. In order to recover the mercury, the processed fluorescent powder must be subjected to a “rotary kiln distillation” together with other residual materials containing mercury. Water, mercury and hydrocarbons are completely evaporated and then separately condensed. With this process, the mercury is 99.99% pure at the end . The cleaned glass from the vibro basin is treated further. So-called "soda-lime glass" and the impurities it contains can be separated from one another via a vibrating sieve using various sieve inserts.
Shredding process
This process also allows the recycling of all types of lamps, lamp breakage and production waste. These are recycled in three steps using the shredder process. First, the worn out lamps are shredded. Then the fragments are divided according to grain size. There are three fractions: the coarse fraction, the middle fraction and the fine fraction. The coarse fraction contains the lamp ends or lamp bases, the middle fraction comprises glass and plastic with a grain size of around 5 mm and the fine fraction comprises fluorescent powder and glass dust. Metal parts are recycled so that they can be used again in industry. The mixed glass shards are used for glass products with low purity requirements or as an aggregate, for example for glazing or foaming.
Centrifugal separation process
This process can be used to recycle all non-rod lamps. The lamps are separated into two fractions in a centrifuge: glass and metal / plastic (i.e. glass and lamp sockets). While the two components are separated from each other, the light source is extracted and separated using filter systems. The glass parts are then subjected to a thermal treatment so that they can be returned to the production cycle. The remaining sockets, metal and electronic parts are ground up in a shredder. A magnet is used to filter the metals out of the small parts. The metal then goes to metal recycling and can be used for technical applications in lamp manufacture or other industrial branches.
Recycling and disposal
When recycling old lamps, the following output fractions are separated:
• 80-90% glass. This is mainly soda-lime glass, which is used in the production of new lamps.
• 7-14% metallic components and plastics. These are separated and sent for industrial recycling or waste incineration .
• 1–3% The mercury-containing fluorescent powder is disposed of in Germany as hazardous waste due to a lack of economic processes . In the current processes, the gaseous part is also released into the atmosphere.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.lightcycle.de/verbrauch/sammelstellensuche.html
- ↑ Energy-saving lamps ... for the sake of the environment ( Memento from October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Information on the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act and a film to illustrate how to dispose of old lamps
- ↑ Lightcycle prototype spot: The need to dispose of compact fluorescent lamps and fluorescent tubes is presented in a charming way
- ↑ Collection point search for LED and energy saving lamps
- ↑ Registration for the pick-up service for compact fluorescent lamps
- ↑ Registration as a collection point for old lamps
- ^ Official website Lightcycle
- ↑ http://www.presseportal.de/pm/22521/949557/deutsche_umwelthilfe_e_v
- ↑ An overview of the different recycling processes ( Memento from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Energy-saving lamps: hazardous waste for the salt dome. In: Spiegel Online Video. Retrieved June 10, 2018 .