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Used CFL bulbs create mercury mountain in Lanka
The collection of used compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in Sri Lanka has stopped because the sole recycler in the country has amassed a container load of hazardous mercury powder which it has been unable to ship abroad.
This means homes and businesses that have been saving their used bulbs and routinely passing them off to Asia Recycling (Pvt) Ltd, an Orange Electric (OREL) subsidiary, are now either tossing them in the bin or sitting on a growing pile.
CFLs were heavily promoted in Sri Lanka in the recent past. But chemicals inside the bulbs include mercury, a heavy metal, which causes serious environmental damage if disposed of incorrectly.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers mercury to be one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern. Exposure to even small amounts of mercury may cause serious health problems, the WHO warns, and is a threat to the development of the child in the womb or early in life.
Asia Recycling, the only CEA-licensed entity to handle CFL waste, now has about five tons of mercury powder stored in barrels inside an air-conditioned container in compliance with Central Environmental Authority (CEA) regulations. This has been collecting since 2013.
When the company was set up, it had a Swedish partner which was to have taken over the mercury waste left over from ‘bulb breakdown’ for processing in its own specialised plant. However, Nordic Recycling AB has since pulled out of the venture, leaving its local partner with no avenues for safe disposal.
Sending the mercury waste abroad requires a Government-to-Government agreement as mandated by the Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, said Upali Indraratne, the CEA’s Deputy Director General of Waste Management.
“There are only three countries in the world that recycle mercury waste and Japan is the closest to us,” Mr Indraratne said. “As the BASEL focal point, we wrote to Japan about six months ago for approval to send the mercury powder. But there is still no consent. Japan is also governed by the Minamata Convention on Mercury; so it is a long process and Japan can’t take it at once.”
Asia Recycling has found a local third party which is willing to take the mercury waste but it needs a CEA licence and a location in which to dump it, here or abroad.
“The CFL peak in Sri Lanka is over now and it’s LEDs (light-emitting diodes) that are in the market,” Mr Indraratne said. “But it is only now that the waste from the CFL peak is coming out and there is a problem of disposal.”
In the past, businesses such as garment factories–which go through large quantities of CFLs–would collect their used bulbs and hand them over the Asia Recycling which hast the only plant in the country that can process such waste. It took OREL bulbs for free and bought the others at Rs 10 a piece. Domestic households were less likely to gather and hand them over for recycling although steps were taken to publicise collection points.
At present, however, Asia Recycling is only accepting CFLs sold by its mother company and not others. And vendors selling different brands of CFLs have never had any mechanism for safe disposal of used bulbs.
The absence of a collection and recycling mechanism for nearly one year has also placed businesses in a quandary, particularly those in investment zones for whom there are strict international compliance requirements. Asia Recycling–whose machine is now idle–receives daily calls asking when the operation will resume as they have environment audits and must prove through certification that they are getting rid of hazardous waste safely.
Mr Indraratne said the CEA plans to have a private discussion with the Basel Convention Secretariat. Till the issue is sorted out, he recommended that institutions store their bulbs in a safe place. “We are also looking at the possibility of encapsulating the mercury waste and burying it in a safe inland location and of high-end solutions like diluting it,” he said.
But these options come at a cost and OREL, with the general economic downturn that has hit most businesses in the country, does not have the finances to keep pumping into Asia Recycling. Even breaking even has proved unattainable.
Another concern Asia Recycling has is that the Japanese entity will charge US$ 9 per kilogram of powder that it accepts. OREL cannot afford it under prevailing circumstances, sources said. Nor was it feasible to pass the cost on to the customer. Mr Indraratne said, however, that this fee might be waived if the process is successfully completed.
The dangers of improperly disposing of CFLs are well documented. Mercury must not enter landfills. Data interpolated from Stanford University research shows the amount of mercury in one CFL “is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels.” A study funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency found that one gram of mercury deposited in a 20-acre lake is enough to contaminate the fish and make them unfit to eat.