Is there a law that requires fluorescent lamp recycling?
YES! There are many laws, regulations, and legal liability issues that require lamps to be recycled. Consider the following: • All generators of spent fluorescent lamps are responsible for their proper disposal (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA). The act specifies that unless you are a household, you are liable for proper disposal of your hazardous waste. Using a specific type of lamp, i.e. a low mercury lamp, does not satisfy the requirement. Only proper documentation, TCLP analytical tests, done by approved EPA methods by an approved EPA laboratory, will satisfy the legal requirement of proof that your waste is not hazardous. • If you do not have proper documentation then you will need to show where you have been sending your waste lamps. Note that if you do not have documentation showing your lamps as non-hazardous, then the law requires you to assume that they are hazardous waste. Once this assumption is made, then you will be required to prove that you have disposed of
