Kindly refer to my earlier ambassador report dated 30-Mar-14 CFL Lamps in landfill! Potential Danger.

I am happy to report that a local UAE company has made plans for safe disposal of CFL lamps. CFL lamps contain a tiny portion of hazardous mercury which can ruin our environment further, through landfills. Currently they are all thrown in the landfills.

Remember July14 onwards UAE will shun the Sale & usage of incandescent light bulbs. the traditional filament lights should no longer be available for purchase in the country. Among the efficient technologies that will be allowed instead are halogen bulbs, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) and CFLs.

This company has developed solutions for large waste generators as well as for consumers. For establishments that use a lot of light bulbs, it is is offering machines that can crush the lights, extracting the mercury in them and separating the glass, plastics and metal waste. Two such machines have already been bought by establishments in Dubai.

It also offers specially-designed boxes for the collection of old lights, they may be adopted in collection schemes by shopping malls, retailers and other public premises. It is also planned to include general consumers by encouraging them to throw their used lightbulbs into specially-designed aluminium bags, which can hold up to four CFL lights.

The project is still in its infancy as it is hard to predict how many bulbs would be collected. At present, the company is just storing the used lightbulbs at its Dubai warehouse. Soon it will begin reprocessing them in a machine with a capacity of up to eight million bulbs per shift per year.

The ultimate goal of the company is to collect all the [CFLs] so no mercury will escape into the environment.

It is an excellent initiative & we all in UAE must support this to the maximum. Regional ambassadors may spread the word around in their regions & encourage the private & public sector into the similar campaigns. Remember it is easy to launch a campaign but it requires mass participation to make it a success.

Source: The National