An assessment of the recyclability of waste luminaires appears to show that over 83% of a typical batch of these lighting components can be recycled.
To carry out the analysis, recycling firm Recolight contracted SWEEEP Kuusakoski, a large-scale waste electronics recycler based in Kent, to treat a mixed sample of 3 tonnes of luminaires to establish the recycling and recovery rate of materials through their recycling process.
Recolight CEO Nigel Harvey said it was “encouraging” to learn that 83% of material recovered from the sample could be recycled. The other 14% comprised the plastic content, which was sent to a waste-to-energy plant. Only 2% went to landfill – the material being neither recyclable nor suitable for waste-to-eneryg.
