• What kind of bulbs should be recycled?
What kind of bulbs need to be recycled?
Lamps that can be disposed of as mixed waste:
• Incandescent bulbs
• Halogen lamps (including car headlights)
• Infrared lamps
According to Finnish law, the following lamps must be returned to collection points for recycling:
• Fluorescent tubes
• Energy saving lamps and other compact fluorescent lamps
• LED lamps
• HID lamps
• LPS
• Lamps
How are lamps recycled?
Ceramic
According to Finnish law, all LED lamps and lamps containing mercury should be taken to collection points for recycling. There are more than 500 collection points in Finland.
Collection points can be found in almost all stores that sell lamps.
You can check the nearest collection point at: www.kierratys.info
Handling
From the collection points, the lamps are delivered to a recycling plant. In the treatment process, the fluorescent tubes are crushed in a chemical solution that binds the mercury in the tubes. Metallic mercury is converted to harmless mercury sulfide, which is also its most common occurrence in the bedrock.
The metal and glass are washed and screened. Only mercury sulphide ends up in final disposal. The mercury content of metal and glass is analyzed regularly.