New figures released by the Environment Agency this month demonstrate a year on year increase in lamp recycling rates. In 2012 the tonnage of waste lamps recycled by all Producer Compliance Schemes in the UK was 39.5 per cent of the tonnage of all lamps put on market.This compares favourably with the figure from 2008, the first full year of recorded data, of just 23.2 per cent.
The lighting industry performance in business recycling rates is particularly strong – the 2012 data shows that the recorded UK business recycling rate for all WEEE sectors is just 5 per cent, compared to the lamp industry result of 39.5 per cent.
Nigel Harvey, Recolight CEO said: “The lighting industry has set the benchmark for business WEEE recycling. We already know that our sector accounts for a higher proportion of business WEEE recycled over put-on-market EEE than any other industry.Now the 2012 figures demonstrate that we are well on the way to meeting the first set of higher targets outlined within the recast WEEE Directive.
“This success is testament to the commitment of all our lamp producer and importer members, and also to the foresight of our founding members who created Recolight’s unique model. The continued commitment of our members ensures that the lighting industry maintains the highest levels of compliance with the WEEE Regulations now and in the future.”
The increase in recycling rates has been caused in part by a reduction in the tonnage of new lamps put on the market, but without a corresponding reduction in tonnages of lamps recycled, resulting in a higher capture rate. Harvey suggested that newer technologies such as T5 fluorescent lamps are lighter than older T12 and T8 tubes, which also helped the figures.
YearRecycling rate 200823.2% 200924.1% 201026.0% 201129.4% 201239.5%
Table 1 – WEEE recycling rates of gas discharge lamps in the UK calculated by comparing the tonnage of recycling recorded by all PCSs with the tonnage of all new lamps put on the market by all UK producers, aggregating household and business figures.
