Light Bulb Recycling Firm Eyes Pease Spot

A businessman seeking to create a light bulb recycling center at Pease International Tradeport, Portsmouth, NH, will first have to demonstrate the project will have no negative impact on the environment.

The Pease Development Authority board postponed action on a proposal by UniWaste Services Corp. to use 10,000 square feet of space. The start-up business will primarily store, process and recycle fluorescent light bulbs.

The business also will accept other materials for recycling such as computers, lamp ballasts and batteries.

These materials will not be processed on site, but shipped off to processors elsewhere in New England and in Canada.

UniWaste needed a decision from the PDA as to whether this type of activity is permitted in the airport industrial zone.

The PDA’s land use regulations permits "light industry and manufacturing, including but not limited to communications, electronic and data processing equipment manufacturing and assembly."

City Manager John Bohenko, one of Portsmouth’s representatives on the board, said he had concerns about mercury from the bulbs escaping and polluting the aquifer through floor drains.

UniWaste’s founder, Robert Nicholson said the light bulbs contain only a very tiny amount of mercury.

This mercury is pulled out through the use of "negative pressure."

This material is kept in 55-gallon drums. He also believes there were no floor drains on the property.

He pointed out that there would be no liquids, only solid materials handled.

"It would be very difficult to introduce that into the aquifer," he said.

Bartlett said he would prefer an independent audit stating there are no problems with pollution at the facility, which currently houses several industrial uses.

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The PDA will revisit the issue at its June meeting. Fosters (Dover, New Hampshire) Democrat