100% Recycling of Compact Fluorescent Lamps

Why 100% of domestic CFLs should be recycled...

The Ban The Bulb campaign is delighted that the phasing out domestic incandescent light bulbs across the EU is now almost complete; with the final 25W and 40W bans taking place in Sept 2012.

However, much remains to be done, especially when it come to ensuring that it is simple and normal for all used CFLs to be recycled.

Compact fluorescent lamps offer 60% energy savings compared to their incandescent equivalents and have become the cheap, mainstream energy-saving technology of choice, yet they still contain 1 - 5mg of mercury.

Mercury is a toxic substance so it is extremely important that it's always disposed of responsibly.

Until mercury-free, energy efficient alternatives such as LEDs (which use 90% less energy than their incandescent alternatives) take over, by falling further in price, new and universal recycling systems need to be put in place, which consistently ensure that 100% of CFLs can be quickly and easily recycled by everyone.

Countries such as Sweden manage to recycle 75% of their domestic CFLs (rising to 90% within their commercial sector) whilst other countries such as Bulgaria recycle 0% of their domestic CFLs (ref: Project EnERLIn, "Report on CFL Recycling Across Europe", 2008).



The Ban The Bulb campaign has called for the recycling of CFLs for many years (see Campaign Goal 4 on the top left of this website), so it is extremely frustrating that so little progress has been made in this important area.

The Ban The Bulb campaign would like to propose two possible solutions, which should either be implemented or bettered:

OPTION 1 would be the return of a small 5p or 5 cent deposit every time a CFL was handed in to a shop or recycling centre.

This system has worked exceptionally well in relation to incentivising the recycling of beer and/or soda bottles in many European countries and could similarly help to build a usable light bulb recycling system in countries instituting a ban.

OPTION 2 would be for cities, councils and countries to offer the doorstep recycling of CFLs. This option might be made possible through the use of specially designed boxes, which stored CFLs safely and could be collected at the same time as other recycled waste.

It is unacceptable that most people face no convenient options, other than to dispose of their used CFLs via general waste bins and thus landfill.

The quantities of mercury contained within each CFL are relatively small and safely contained within intact CFLs, but breakages within the present disposal system are inevitable and need to be addressed.

Over the next 2 - 4 years many millions of used CFLs will need to be disposed, as they come to the end of their useful lives, so before this happens it would be wise to put in place usable and accessible disposal systems for this waste.

In the UK, Recolight has done a highly commendable job of recycling CFLs, via retailers, but it remains the case that the majority of people are unaware of this system and/or not using it.

This means that new recycling systems, which reliably dispose of 100% of used CFLs need to be organised in the UK and every other country instituting a light bulb ban.

We still have time to act, but we now need to act without any further delay.

Labels: CFLs, convenient and accessible., EU, mercury collection, recycling, RoHS, safe, universal disposal systems, WEEE

Phase out of 100W light bulbs begins in the UK

Yesterday, 1 Jan 2009, a voluntary agreement between the UK government and the country's retailers came into force, which will see 100W (<60W) domestic incandescent light bulbs being phased out by many of the UK's biggest shops, as suppliers cease to replace their stock of inefficient light bulbs.

Once the existing stock has been used up incandescent light bulbs will be replaced by halogen lamps (which use 25% less electricity) and compact fluorescent lamps (which use 65-80% less electricity to produce an equivalent amount of light).

Although the making of this agreement was little noticed it has already resulted in 150W (<100W) light bulbs being phased out and will be extended to include 60W (<40W) light bulbs next year...

In addition, a legally binding EU-wide ban on 100W light bulbs will also come into force in September 2009 and a similar ban is due to come into force in Australia in Nov 2009 (although BTB has been unable to find any of the relevant legislation from Australia online yet).

In a recent review of the performance of compact fluorescent lamps, which the Ban The Bulb campaign conducted for The Guardian newspaper, Tesco (81p), GE (£4 each) and Philips (£4 each) were found to offer the best energy saving alternatives to 100W incandescents.

Following recent improvements in LEDs, Ban The Bulb campaign believes that before long incandescents, halogen lamps and CFLs will all be replaced by domestic LEDs, which offer 90% energy savings and 25x -50x longer lifetimes are the future.

This campaign is certainly very pleased with the performance of the domestic table lamp 4W LED substitute for 40W incandescents made by ECOLED.

Apart from offering massive energy savings and much longer lifetimes, LEDs offer instant full brightness, dimmability and zero mercury content.

LEDs are still rather expensive to buy, so Ban The Bulb would like to see governments taking rapid and firm measures to ensure that this functional and available technology is brought to the mass market as quickly as possible, so that it can benefit from the economies of scale.

Making full use of LEDs would help consumers to save money on their energy bills, help energy companies to build fewer power stations and enable the environment to benefit from significantly fewer lighting associated carbon emissions than is currently the case (if the whole of the EU used CFLs instead of incandescents this would save 23 - 53 Million tonnes of CO2 per annum across Europe or put another way 10 power station's worth of electricity).

Anyway, the Ban The Bulb campaign is glad with the progress that has been made since it was set up in Feb 2005, and invited to write an article for BBC News Online in Feb 2006, so let's see whether LEDs can be made the new target within 2009!

Labels: Australia, EU, LEDs, UK, voluntary agreement

EU import tariff on Chinese CFLs extended

Thanks to Andy Ball for letting me know that the 66% tariff currently being charged on energy saving light bulbs imported into the EU from China has been extended for another 12 months.

Interestingly, it appears that Osram has not built any factories in China, unlike companies such as Philips. It also relies most heavily on the stick designs of CFL which the Chinese tend to make. Taken together these factors seem to have made Osram the most vulnerable to Chinese competition.

EU will retain light bulb tariff

Two thirds of energy-saving bulbs are imported from China
The European Commission has decided to retain import tariffs on Chinese-made energy-efficient light bulbs for up to another 12 months.
The decision was made even though only one of Europe's four energy-efficient light bulb producers, Germany's Osram, had called for more time to adjust.

The tariffs, introduced to stop cheap Chinese imports entering Europe, can add up to 66% to the price of bulbs.

The tariff extension will require the majority backing by EU member states.

They now have a month to decide.

'Severe contradiction'

A Commission spokesman said the extension of anti-dumping duties was needed to give European bulb producers time to adjust.

"In the overall Community interest, there are grounds to leave the possibility to continue in these anti-dumping measures for up to another year, mainly to allow in a changing reality a soft transition," said Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.

Osram's rivals, including the Netherland's Philips, which already makes bulbs in China, had wanted the duty cancelled.

Environmental group Worldwide Fund for Nature said the Commission was displaying a "severe contradiction" in extending the import tariffs at the same time as lecturing consumers on the need to save energy.

Replacing old light bulbs with energy-efficient ones has long been hailed as a particularly effective way of reducing energy consumption.

Environmentalists say this would be easier to achieve if the tariffs were removed, since consumer would be more likely to buy energy-efficient bulbs if their price was lowered.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said: "This case has once again shown the complexities of managing antidumping rules in a global economy and against the broad range of EU interests."

Less than 20% of energy-saving bulbs on sale in Europe are made within the European Union, with more than two thirds imported from China.

While we are on the issue of taxation, if would like to support the reduction of VAT on energy-saving products inside the EU (one of this campaign's founding goals) you might like to sign this online petition which has been set up on the Downing Street website.

Labels: 66%, China, EU, import tariff

EU to lift 66% trade tariffs on Chinese light bulbs

According to the Associated Press the EU has said that it plans to lift trade charges on Chinese light bulbs despite German complaints.

At present energy saving light bulbs made in China have a 66% trade tariff added to their cost when they are imported into the EU.

This "tax" has protected EU-based light bulb manufacturers from Chinese imports for several years, but this protection mechanism has looked vulnerable ever since the EU's leaders announced that they wanted to make the carbon savings associated with using more energy efficient lighting.

The following AP article suggests that Philips (in Holland) has prepared for this eventuality by setting up manufacturing capacity in China whilst others manufacturers, such as Osram (in Germany), have not built any manufacturing capacity in China and will therefore suffer a loss of market share when this tariff is removed.

Issues which will now come to the fore include the quality of the energy saving light bulbs made in China (especially in relation to mercury content, life-time and light quality) and the carbon emissions associated with transporting light bulbs from China to the EU. The minimum standards set by the EU when they phase out traditional domestic incandescents in 2011 will therefore have added significance.

The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Charges that raise the price of Chinese-made energy-efficient light bulbs should be scrapped, European Union regulators said Thursday.

The European Commission said it planned to lift antidumping duties on power-saving bulbs made in China that raise prices for European customers by two-thirds. The commission came out against Germany's Osram AG, which has pushed to keep the duties in place, claiming below-cost imports are unfair to European manufacturers.

EU spokesman Peter Power said Osram was trying to damage Dutch rival Royal Philips Electronics NV, which makes bulbs in China. The EU will suggest lifting the duties in the coming months, he said.

"Osram is seeking to continue antidumping measures because they hit Philips proportionately harder," Power told reporters. "It is a question of commercial competition between two European companies."

It is also a question of saving power and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lighting is a major drain on the power grid, and the EU aims to cut both energy use and carbon dioxide releases by a fifth by 2020.

Shifting to eco-friendly bulbs will soon be mandatory, as the EU plans to set new efficiency standards for all lights used in homes and workplaces and on streets. Most lamp manufacturers have agreed to phase out standard incandescent light bulb within eight years.

But the higher cost of greener bulbs has deterred customers. Since 2001, the EU has slapped a 66 percent duty on imports of fluorescent bulbs from China because European producers claimed they were unfairly hurt by low-cost bulbs being dumped on the European market.

Those fees were due to expire July 19, after five years. But they are still in place while the EU's executive arm holds talks with national trade experts — including Germany, which wants to keep the duties in place.

Power said a meeting Thursday would discuss the problem, but would make no final decision. A definitive proposal, including the suspension of the duties, was expected within months.

He said Osram was not the voice of besieged European manufacturers, and noted that Philips, General Electric Co. and Havells Sylvania together make more bulbs in Europe than Osram does. To complicate matters further, like Philips, Osram also makes bulbs in China that are sold at dumped prices.

A group of EU importers, the Foreign Trade Association, called on national governments this week to lift the duties.

The EU has investigated a host of complaints from European companies in recent years claiming their shoes, furniture and DVDs have unfairly lost ground to a wide range of Chinese-made products sold below cost in Europe, breaking world trade rules.

Thanks to Antony Froggatt for passing on this article.

Labels: China, EU, Osram, Philips, tariff

EU-wide light bulb ban becoming possible

Ban The Bulb has heard that incandescent light bulbs have been added to EU's list of technologies under consideration as part of the EU's Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (increasing the number of technologies from 14 to 20) since 21 Feb.

Together with the EU's recent announcement of an intention to cut the EU's carbon emissions by 20% by 2020, and calls of leadership by the EU, it looks as though a a de facto ban (using changes to incentives such as VAT, technology neutral minimum standards such as lumens per watt and/or the phased ban of specific technologies) could be in the offing.

A late addition....

The Following Written Declaration was put together by Caroline Lucas MEP and was submitted prior to the EU leaders meeting in Germany. I'm afraid it's written in the political equivalent of legalese, but I hope you'll get the drift of it.

WRITTEN DECLARATION

pursuant to Rule 116 of the Rules of Procedure

by Caroline Lucas, Mojca Drcar Murko, Karin Scheele and Jens Holm

on introducing a prohibition on the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the European Union

Written declaration on introducing a prohibition on the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the European Union.

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas energy-saving is an essential part of the EU’s strategy to reduce CO2 emissions and improve security of supply,

B. whereas 80% of home lighting today uses highly inefficient incandescent bulbs that convert only 5% of energy used into light,

C. whereas these bulbs could be rapidly replaced, saving €5-8 billion across the EU in fuel bills and around 20 million tonnes of CO2,

D. whereas there is a growing worldwide move for legislation to ban incandescent bulbs, including in Cuba (May 06), Venezuela (Nov 06), California (Feb 07), Australia (Feb 07) and Ontario (Feb 07),

1. Calls upon the Commission to initiate legislation to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the European Union by 2010;

2. Calls upon Member States, with EU encouragement, to immediately launch public information campaigns on the economic and environmental advantages of efficient lighting systems; and to maximise existing legislation to facilitate the phase-out of incandescent bulbs;

3. Urges the Commission to use the proposal for a new international energy efficiency agreement to launch a global ban the use of incandescent bulbs;

4. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Commission and Member States.
 

Labels: EU, incandescent light bulb ban imminent?