SWANA Joins Lamp Recycling Alliance to Divert Mercury from Landfills

Lynn Schenkman

Silver Spring, Md. -- The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers (ALMR), Calistoga, Calif., and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va., have formed an alliance to increase the national lamp recycling rate from 20 percent to 40 percent over the next two years. The alliance will use an $815,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C., for an educational campaign aimed at business and industry that teaches the proper recycling of mercury-containing lamps.

Building owners, demolition contractors and what SWANA is calling "disposal decision-makers" also will be the targets of the campaign. One of the program’s goals is to make decision-makers aware of proper recycling methods of lamps containing mercury.