What are the rules concerning disposal/recycling of LED lightbulbs where you are ?

[Tubetec]

Just wondering what the policy in various places is for disposal of LED lightbulbs when they breakdown ?

Here we have a gobshite minister for the environment , who talks about how great the green revolution is and how were going to save the planet ,
yet the advice from the companies who have the contracts for private waste disposal say , low energy lightbulbs are to be thrown into landfill waste just the same as old fashioned incandesant bulbs .

We have overbearing regulations about the use of certain stuff in electronics , like for instance the rules that essentially make the opto units in compressors illegal ,
yet were dumping LED lightbulbs into the ground without a thought .

I'm thinking of writing a letter to a local member of parliment , and have them ask the minister for environment WTF is going on .
In the midst of saving energy to run data centres , were poisoning the ground under foot , this has to be ineptitude of the highest order .

https://www.eamonryan.ie/

 

[Brian Roth]

What about CFLs? As I recall CFLs contain mercury and who knows phospors.

Bri

 

[hodad]

As I recall CFLs contain mercury

Correct. Where I live there are a few recycling facilities that take fluorescent bulbs. I'm not clear on whether they take mercury vapor lamps as well. One positive with LED lamps is that they typically last quite some time, so not as many are being discarded. The one in my bedside lamp has been going strong for 10+ years. I'm also not sure which metals are present in a typical LED bulb, so it's quite possible there's less concern about them that about things like cadmium and mercury.

 

[cyrano]

The metals (gallium, arsenic, phosphor...) present in LEDs are only there in minute quantities. It's mainly the solder that needs to be "caught", even if it is lead-free.

Frankly, I haven't got a clue if we already have a recycling program specific for LEDs. So I looked at the rules. It's electronics. And there's a recycling tax on them when you buy them, so bringing them to the recycling station is free. I suppose from there, it's the same as most electronics.

 

[Tubetec]

There is recycling for CFL's , typically their tossed into a skip , so breakages are common place , and that means the chemicals escape into the environment .

LED's contain a compound of gallium and arsenic , old fashioned plastic encapsulated LED's are fairly well sealed until the copper legs rot out ,
Modern glass LED lightbulbs are a serious environmental hazzard , as soon as the glass envelope is fractured that chemical genie is out of its box .

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/led-lightbulb-concerns/

 

[Tubetec]

Somehow the powers that be have classified LEDs as non toxic ,

Theres a reason why LED screens and televisions only became common place after China took over production ,
insurance wont cover people working with these chemicals in a western workplace .
So not only is there an issue after the products useful life is over ,but on the production side as well .

Its clear a massive weight has been lifted off the electricity grid by the change to LED bulbs , which are about 10 times more energy effecient in usage than incandessants ,
Theres no plans to try and reduce our electrical energy consumption as a country here ,
what they are doing is giving the surplus energy to data centres at a knock down price for the foreseeable future , meawhile the consumer faces energy price rises .

 

[cyrano]

Theres no plans to try and reduce our electrical energy consumption as a country here ,
what they are doing is giving the surplus energy to data centres at a knock down price for the foreseeable future , meawhile the consumer faces energy price rises .

Mmmm...

I've seen no significant change in price to data centers for a long time over here. We do have a few small scale projects to use the heat from the HVAC to heat houses, that's all.

Now I know Ireland has been trying to get data centers to Ireland for years, so it could very well be different...

 

[Tubetec]

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/...te-centres-energy-electricity-climate-policy/
good article here explaining the issues were facing .

 

[cyrano]

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/...te-centres-energy-electricity-climate-policy/
good article here explaining the issues were facing .

It's a bit thin. Not much real data. I also suppose private data centers aren't counted, but they don't even mention that. At least IBM had a private data center in Ireland. Don't know today or how they come to 8.000 data centers. Seems like a lot.

Data centers seem to reside in areas where electricity prices are lower. That's natural. That's why, fi Iceland has a lot of data centers per capita or per square km. They've also started using the excess heat, despite having enough natural (volcanic) heat.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Lately bitcoin miners have co-located with low cost electricity generation but now AI servers are turning into the huge new energy consumers.

Maybe AI can solve global warming, feel lucky?

JR