Northeast Lamp Recycling, a hazardous waste recycling facility in East Windsor, CT, is promoting its services as a handler and recycler of products containing mercury or other hazardous materials.
A specific list of household items to look for includes: used fluorescent lights; used incandescent lights (regular bulbs or flood lights); glass thermometers; thermostats; mercury switches; batteries (small button batteries for watches and hearing aids, nickel-cadium rechargeable batteries usually found in cell phones, lithium batteries used in computers and cameras, car batteries
Mercury is used in liquid, vapor and solid form depending on the particular item and can contaminate through skin absorption or inhalation. It can lead to toxicity of the human nervous system, poisoning of wildlife and pollution of fish and water.
NLR recommends the following safe and environmentally friendly ways to remove such items from your home: store used lamps in a box or case to prevent breakage and take to a municipal recycling center; store batteries in a secure dry place out of the reach of children and pets; when storing rechargeable batteries for collection, keep them in a vented non-metal container in separate plastic bags.
When someone brings one of these products to a retail collection location or a municipal recycling center they the NLR also states that consumers should hold lithium batteries for household hazardous waste collection day in your town; using leather gloves, keep automotive batteries right side up and carry in a non-metallic leak-proof container. Take to automotive battery retailer, service station or repair garage or community recycling center.
Take mercury containing devices such as thermostats and mercury switches to a community mercury collection center
NLR provides comprehensive universal waste management services to the commercial, industrial and residential sectors throughout New England. It is Connecticut's only Department of Environmental Protection permitted lamp recycling center.
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