Cape Town Proposes CFL Disposal Legislation
Cape Town, South Africa is looking to enact legislation holding retailers and manufacturers responsible for proper disposal of compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
According to a report presented to the City of Cape Town’s Utility Services Portfolio Committee on Aug. 3, “the strategy would have to be multi-pronged to address different stakeholder groups that include residential users, Council departments, industrial and commercial users.”
The proposed program would cost the city approximately $375,555. The report called the “additional financial burden on a single municipality and its ratepayers” an unsustainable one.
An initiative by Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, distributed roughly 5.3 million CFLs free to residents following the rolling blackouts that swept Cape Town in 2006. South Africa continues to struggle with an energy crisis and depends on the energy-efficient bulbs to ease some of the burden.
In 2006, Cape Town suffered a massive blackout. As a result, CFLs were given away for free. Now proper disposal is a major issue for those with burned out bulbs. Photo: English.la.psu.edu
However, there is a trade-off to be considered. Though CFL bulbs use less energy, improper disposal threatens the environment due to their mercury content.
According to the EPA, bulbs contain an average of five milligrams, or approximately one-hundredth of the amount of mercury found in a mercury thermometer. Mercury can be released into the environment through leakage and breakage when bulbs are discarded with other solid waste.
This may be avoided by recycling bulbs or treating them as hazardous waste. Currently, there are no systems in place to safely dispose of the bulbs in Cape Town. As an interim solution to the problem, Pick ‘n Pay and Woolworths have both recently implemented take-back programs for bulbs.
The report also outlined concerns about the future effects of only taking local action. “It will be detrimental to the local economy. An acceptable solution should, therefore, be transplantable for replication elsewhere.” There are also concerns about the transport of hazardous waste back to Cape Town.
“We’re lobbying to get Water and Environment Affairs to promulgate legislation that will make retailers and lighting manufacturers take responsibility for their products. For that to happen we need national legislation,” said Clive Justus, mayoral committee member for utility services as reported by the Cape Times.
- "Report To Utility Services Portfolio Committee" http://tinyurl.com/nukp3u.
- "FAQ and disposal guideline" Eskom http://www.eskomdsm.co.za/?q=mercury_qa.
- (02/22/2006). "Blackouts Sweep Cape Town, South Africa" Transmission & Distribution World http://tdworld.com/news/South-Africa-blackouts/.
- "Mercury-Containing Light Bulb (Lamp) Basic Information" U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/basic.htm.
- Melanie Gosling. (08/03/2009). "Cape cracks down on careless CFL disposal " The Cape Times http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=nw20090803200623492C641357.
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Silent Spring
posted on August 14th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Strange how one environmental-friendly action quickly becomes an environmental hazard. The energy efficiency of compact fluorescent lights could be quite costly in terms of the amount of mercury it releases into the environment.
It seems ill considered to allow these kinds of lights to be made available to the public. It seemed that more urgent immediate problem of cutting back on energy superseded the longer-term environmental effects of mercury poisoning.