Energy-efficient Christmas lighting is a must!

But what to do with the old one?

Light bulbs contain valuable raw materials that can be recycled. Lamps therefore do not belong in the residual waste, but must be collected separately from other waste in a break-proof manner.

Just like old electrical appliances or batteries, used lamps must be handed in at waste collection points (garbage dumps, recycling centers) or at specialist retailers. Retailers in Austria with a sales area of 150m² or more are obliged to take back lamps if a new lamp is purchased at the same time.

Lamps contain valuable and toxic substances

LED lamps contain valuable electronic components. These can be recycled. Diodes, semiconductors and transformers can be recycled, just like any standard electronic device.

LEDs also consist of glass (88 %), various metals (5 %) and other materials (7 %). Some of the metals they contain are very valuable for recycling, such as indium, gallium and rare earth elements (REE), which decay in the earth's crust.

To make it easier to reuse the individual components, the light fittings are broken down into their individual components for recycling.

In addition to recyclable materials such as copper, aluminum and tin, energy-saving light bulbs also contain 2 to 5 mg of toxic mercury. They must therefore be disposed of in a shatterproof manner at municipal collection points (waste disposal sites, stationary and mobile hazardous waste collection points).

To prevent the energy-saving light bulb from breaking and the toxic mercury vapor from escaping, it is advisable to keep the energy-saving light bulb as break-proof as possible until it is disposed of.

Dispose of conventional light bulbs correctly

The old "light bulbs" do not belong in the used glass collection, which is limited to the collection of packaging glass, because they contain fine wires that remain almost invisibly attached to the fragments in the glass processing shredders.

When melting down and forming new glass objects, they lead to inclusions that would make bottles and jars unusable and must therefore be disposed of in residual waste.

pro-earth conclusion:

Whether LED, halogen or energy-saving lamps - modern light sources of all kinds should be collected separately and not disposed of with residual waste. They can be handed in at one of around 2,000 municipal collection points or at retailers, where they can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. 💚

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