Mercury Policy Project

Efficiency Vermont Donated Bulbs

MPP and VPIRG are holding Bring Back the Light, an event where Vermonters can trade in their spent bulbs for new CFLs while supplies last. The event is to highlight long term, sustainable funding solution needed for a comprehensive bulb recycling program.  100 Free bulbs generously donated by Efficiency Vermont at each participating store. Participating stores are Nelson Ace Hardware, 190 N. Main St, Barre, VT 05641, and  S. Burlington Ace Hardware, 1961 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT 05403. Links for rationale on why to recycle bulbs, and locations in Vermont where there is free bulb recycling.

At the request of New York State’s Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, MPP provides expert testimony regarding methods to reduce mercury exposure. MPP stressed the state government’s responsibility to reduce and eliminate mercury uses and releases, and also to take steps to protect its population from mercury exposure risks.  Recommendations included to (1) expand risk communication for consumption of high-mercury fish, (2) strengthen mercury phase-out legislation, (3) pass new legislation requiring incentivized collections for mercury thermostats, and (4) establish maximum mercury-content standards for light bulbs.

Today, the Natural Resources Counsel of Maine (NRCM), the Green Lighting Campaign, and the Multi-State Mercury Products Campaign celebrate the passage of LD 973, “An Act to Provide for the Safe Collection and Recycling of Mercury-Containing Light Bulbs.”  Passage of this “model” lamp legislation, which requires bulb manufacturers to share the costs and responsibility of recycling mercury-containing light bulbs, sets a precedent that the Multi-State Mercury Products Campaign intends to press for other states to follow. “Final passage of the lamps legislation will send a clear message out nationally (and globally) that a new day is dawning for total life cycle management and shared responsibility– from ‘the cradle to the grave’ for products containing mercury and other hazardous substances,” said MPP Director Bender in a statement.  For additional information, see the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators website.

Today, the Green Lighting Campaign along with others submitted comments in response to the DOE’s proposed Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Fluorescent Lamps and Incandescent Reflector Lamps.

We are concerned that this proposed rule will allow a significant amount of outdated lighting equipment to continue to be sold in the US marketplace even though more energy-efficient, cost-effective replacements are readily available.  At a minimum, according to our comments, the DOE should adopt lighting-efficiency standards at least as stringent and broad in scope as those adopted under the European Union’s Eco-Design Standards for Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive.

“Failure to do so will place the US further behind on demonstrated leadership regarding climate change and other related environmental policy issues,” said  Alicia Culver of the Green Purchasing Institute and Co-Coordinatorof the Green Lighting Campaign.  “Moreover, adoption of the current proposal will run the risk of turning the US into a dumping ground for inferior lighting products that do not meet the EU’s stronger energy-efficiency requirements.”

Environmental groups from New York to California are taking a pledge to consider only the “greenest” CFLs when making purchases for office use and during compact fluorescent lamp giveaways. The new “Green Lighting Campaign” intends to promote more sustainable lighting practices such as recycling, rather than throwing lamps containing mercury in the trash. Toxic levels in lamps have created concerns when the lamps are produced, transported, installed, broken or disposed of, say advocates. Absent mercury content reductions and manufacturing dosing improvements, global mercury use will increase with expanding fluorescent lighting use, and negate dramatic mercury reductions anticipated in most other sectors. Offered by a coalition of groups (see press release), the guidance and pledge have other organizations considering steps to include more than energy efficiency when determining their lighting purchases.

Millions of lamps are purchased every year, a decision typically made by a handful of people. Many work with or in non-profit groups, who then distribute them to the public. Lamp giveaways are held to help educate and motivate the public around issues of energy efficiency and climate change. By making these purchases influence more than the climate change issue, the Green Lighting Campaign seeks to influence the overall market for lighting products. “As we choose compact fluorescent lamps to combat global warming, we can and should reduce toxic pollution at the same time,” said Bill Magavern, Director of Sierra Club California. “The Green Lighting Campaign seeks to protect households and workers from both mercury pollution and climate change.”

Tests conducted by the State of Maine (see FAQ and Clean-Up Instructions) confirm earlier states findings suggesting that under certain conditions mercury vapor released from a broken compact fluorescent lamp can pose a health risk. As a precaution, states like Vermont and Massachusetts are now suggesting removal of carpeting where breakage has occurred where there are infants and pregnant women present. A report MPP released today recommends that sensitive populations should take extra precautions to reduce risks associated with breakage, but says that CFLs generally can and should still be used in everyone’s homes until a nontoxic light bulb becomes available. The report also recommends the adoption of more comprehensive environmental and human health guidelines by decision makers that, in addition to energy-efficiency, address other concerns, including:

• Reduced toxicity while maintaining performance;
• Improved breakage resistance and longer lamp life (which can reduce manufacturing, transportation and disposal impacts);
• Sustainable manufacturing processes (such as the use of encapsulated mercury-dosing technologies);
• Responsible end-of-life management (particularly through producer responsibility in funding lamp collection and retailer collection programs)
• Innovative technologies such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that use less- or non-toxic materials, that have significantly longer life, are much more efficient for certain applications, and/or that offer other measurable environmental benefits.

In response to the Maine CFL breakage study, the US EPA has made some changes to its CFL clean up guidance.

However, according to MPP Director Bender, the EPA advice could be readily improved through following new state guidance which 1) recommends against vacuuming and 2) instead favors cleaning up the debris with cardboard and sticky tape and quickly removing it from the home, so as to 3) minimize vaporization of mercury.