Fluorescent Tube Recycling & Disposal Services

A lighting tube made from glass and coated with phosphor, containing a small amount of mercury to create illumination. Due to their mercury content, fluorescent tubes are classified as hazardous waste and must be recycled properly.

You can recycle most light bulbs and fluorescent tubes from your home at some household waste recycling centres. However, you can’t recycle incandescent or halogen light bulbs. Businesses can recycle light bulbs by arranging commercial waste collection of old bulbs, separate from your glass recycling collections.

Recycling light bulbs must be done separately from other glass recycling and you should never put them in your household recycling bin. This is because light bulbs often contain chemical elements that need removing before the glass can be recycled.

Learn how to dispose of light bulbs

While they serve the same purpose, the main difference between light bulbs and fluorescent tubes is that fluorescent tubes are more energy efficient. This is because they produce significantly less heat than a regular bulb.

They also produce light in different ways. For example, in a traditional light bulb, a metallic filament is slowly heated until it produces light. Whereas the light in a fluorescent bulb is derived from gasses.

The tubes are processed in sealed chambers to:

• Remove and recover mercury
• Separate glass and metal for reuse
• Clean and process phosphor powder

Recycling protects the environment and avoids mercury entering the air, soil, or waterways.

No, fluorescent tubes should not go in landfill. This is because the mercury contained in them may release into the atmosphere and contaminate the environment – including water supplies and wildlife.

As a business you must abide by the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013, which requires safe and proper disposal of fluorescent tubes. They class as hazardous waste, so this means arranging disposal by a licensed carrier, who should recycle the tubes and ensure they do not end up in landfill.

The white powder in new and used fluorescent tubes is phosphor. This substance emits light that’s visible when it absorbs ultraviolet energy rays. It determines the colour and temperature of the fluorescent light. However, this can emit mercury, which is hazardous.

The amount of mercury in a fluorescent tube depends on its size. For example, many four-foot fluorescent tubes today contain around 12mg of mercury. This may sound a lot but is a lot less than similar sized tubes that had around 40mg of mercury in the 1980s. However, you can also find low-level mercury fluorescent tubs that only contain around 4mg, so check the manufacturer’s information to be sure.

They must be stored in secure WEEE containers, collected by licensed waste carriers, and sent to an authorised recycling facility for treatment. They must not be placed into general waste or glass bins.