Light Bulb Recycling Increases Year-On-Year According to New Report

According to Recolight, a specialist WEEE compliance scheme for the lighting industry, there has been a huge increase in the number of light bulbs which are being recycling across the UK. New figures released by the Environment Agency demonstrate a year-on-year increase in light bulb recycling rates since 2008, when data on the topic first started being collected. The percentage of waste lamps recycled by all the monitored schemes in 2012 was 39.5% of the tonnage of all lamps put on the market in that year. The figure was just 23.2% in 2008.

Steven Ellwood, Managing Director of BLT Direct, one of the UK’s premier suppliers of energy-saving lighting solutions which can be recycled at many points across the country, says, “It is fantastic news that recycling rates are up on the last few years, as more and more British consumers start to adopt a more eco-friendly attitude. With new recycling points popping up and being expanded across the UK, and more information widely accessible about recycling all kinds of light bulbs, the British public are reducing the strain on landfill and disposal companies and contributing to creating a greener environment.”

An example of the higher demand for recycling facilities has been found in Huddersfield, where waste company Electrical Waste Recycling Group recently increased the amount of lamps they can put through their recycling and processing plant. The expansion of their premises also included a new feature, which allows greater recovery of plastic and metal lamp bases, which can then be sent to an e-waste processing facility to be turned into saleable parts or materials. The £500,000 investment reflects the amount of people who are now turning to recycling as a viable, accessible and responsible way to dispose of their lighting solutions at the end of their life span.

Many people nowadays are finding that their old incandescent bulbs are reaching the end of their life span and it is not appropriate to simply throw them in the bin or dispose of them haphazardly. An increasing number of people are simply switching their incandescent lighting solutions for compact fluorescent lamps or LEDs, and this has resulted in many older light bulbs needing to be disposed of. The growth of these recycling plants and the increase in recycling year-on-year in the UK is great news for the environment and for individuals trying to reduce their own carbon footprints and adopt a more ethical stance.