Sample article on The Environment

An effective means of ridding the environment of mercury from spent fluorescent lamps

As compared to other forms of lamps, fluorescent lamps are recognized for their ability to cut down on energy consumption. This particular quality has been credited with reduced electricity bills as well as a decrease in the volume of harmful emissions released to the environment. On the downside of these lamps is the fact that when they break, as they may quite often, considerable amounts of mercury are released into the environment.

The mercury contained in lamps is both volatile and invisible. When this mercury gets airborne it is easily dropped onto land and in water. In the latter case there is a possibility that methyl-mercury, a highly toxic compound of mercury, is accumulated in many edible fish. In the event that these fish are consumed with the levels of the said compound having accumulated quite considerably, there are very high risks of getting damage to the lungs, brain, kidneys, heart, and the immune system. When the levels are not as high consumption of the fish has been known to result in the impaired development of fetuses and babies as well as young children.

It is undeniable that an efficient way of reducing the release of the mercury into the environment has to be sought. This is in light of the fact that to date there is no viable alternative for mercury in as far as lighting fluorescent lamps is concerned. It’s estimated that a lamp free of mercury would require as much as three times the energy required by a mercury-lit lamp in order for the same intensity of light to be achieved.

Industry experts are of the opinion that fluorescent lamps should be recycled as much as possible to effectively manage the release of mercury to the land and water. There are several ways in which lamp recycling can be done. Pick-up services are by far the most used. This option is composed of both lamp recycling and lamp crushing. Spent lamps are stored in fiber drums or boxes until they can be recycled. This option is cost friendly but quite slow as well as lamps can be stored for as much as a year in the absence of the requisite permits.

A more convenient alternative requires the use of shipping containers in which the spent lamps are packed and dispatched to recyclers. The shipping aspect of this option is obviously more cost intensive but lots of convenience is enjoyed through the freeing up of storage space and the fact that the procedure is more immediate. Prior to sending spent lamps to recyclers’, facilities have the option of using controlled emissions lamp crushing systems to crush the lamps. It has been observed that doing this saves up lots of storage space and the cost of transportation is also reduced significantly.

Recycling of fluorescent lamps is seen as a better thing to do instead of options like using landfills. This latter option is obviously hazardous to the environment and undoing the damage to the same is guaranteed to cost quite a hefty amount. Recycling is far much cheaper and friendlier to the environment.