Disposal of Fluorescent Lamps and Ballasts

The benefits of fluorescent lighting are well known. Fluorescent lights convert electricity into illumination three to five times as efficiently as incandescent lights. Lamp life is far longer. And improvements in fluorescent lighting technology—electronic ballasts and high-quality, tri-chromatic ballasts—make fluorescent lighting a fully acceptable substitute for incandescent lighting in nearly all applications.

While offering tremendous environmental advantages through energy savings, the disposal of used fluorescent lighting equipment raises serious environmental concerns. Fluorescent lamps contain the toxic heavy metal mercury. Magnetic ballasts made prior to the late 1970s contain highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
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