Recycling fluorescent lamps saves potential mercury poisoning

Ontario has launched Canada’s first fluorescent lamp recycling program for the industrial, commercial and institutional sector. The “Take Back the Light” program aims to recycle 10 million lamps by the year 2012.
Currently 30 million lamps end up in landfills in the province every year. The mercury they contain amounts to almost 312 kilograms, enough to contaminate a body of water the size of Lake Erie to the point where its fish would be unfit for consumption.
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal and the Recycling Council of Ontario are sponsoring the recyling program, which will work with both suppliers and users of mercury-containing lamps.
The program will provide a cost-effective and streamlined approach to handling the bulbs. Besides recovering the mercury, the program would reclaim the glass, metal and phosphor from the lamps.
Organizations can register with the program online at www.takebackthelight.ca