Technologies > LAMP AND BALLAST DISPOSAL

Introduction: Planned lighting maintenance and lighting upgrade operations can result in wholesale changeouts of lamps and ballasts. Once lamps and ballasts are destined for disposal, they become “waste” and state and Federal regulations may come into effect.

Lamps: Fluorescent, high pressure sodium, metal halide, mercury vapor and neon lamps that contain mercury may be considered hazardous waste when they have failed and are ready for disposal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a hazardous waste lamp as a lamp that is characteristically hazardous, meaning it fails EPA’s Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) for mercury.

Disposing of hazardous waste has significant regulatory requirements. In 2000, EPA changed the rules for mercury-containing lamps to allow them to be classified as universal waste, with fewer regulatory requirements, if they are recycled. A number of companies in the U.S. provide lamp and ballast recycling services.

Options for managing the disposal of mercury-containing lamps according to Federal requirements, therefore, include treating them as hazardous waste, treating them as universal waste (recycling), or to use a type of lamp that is not characteristically hazardous. Recycling typically costs more than hazardous waste landfill costs, but with less regulation and paperwork, and lower storage, collection and transportation fees. The owner also benefits from reduced liability.

In recent years, however, the major lamp manufacturers have voluntarily reduced the amount of mercury in their lamps and made other changes in the operating design of their fluorescent lamps so that they pass the TCLP test and therefore can potentially be disposed of in a municipal landfill, depending on state laws.

It’s important to note that while the Federal government mandates minimum requirements, state governments may create stricter requirements. California, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Vermont, for example, have banned all mercury-containing lamps from solid waste landfills. And Pennsylvania has eliminated the small-quantity exemption. Check with your state and local requirements before disposing of any mercury-containing fluorescent lamps.

For a list of lamp recyclers and links to lamp disposal regulations that can vary from state to state, visit www.lamprecycle.org, a web site produced by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

PCB Ballasts: PCBs are a hazardous waste regulated by the TSCA Section of EPA regulations and were once used in the capacitor of rapid start magnetic ballasts. The U.S. banned the manufacture and distribution of PCB-containing ballasts in 1978, but they are still found in older light fixtures.

When a PCB ballast is encountered, it must be disposed using strong precautions; EPA requires that it eventually be disposed in a Federally approved incinerator. If the ballast is not leaking PCB-containing fluid, often the surest and simplest method of disposal is to bring in a ballast recycler. If the ballast is leaking, then it must be treated as hazardous waste and incinerated.

In short, when a PCB ballast is encountered, whether the ballast is leaking or not, a qualified disposal contractor should handle its disposal.

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