Recycling Program Established for Fluorescent Tubes

The state Department of Environmental Quality says the tubes contain mercury and should not be dumped in the trash. But, it also notes, the trash is where 80 percent of the tubes wind up.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says health care facilities are the fourth largest source of mercury in the environment.

But the recycling program, aided by DEQ and the City of Milwaukie, Ore., aims only at fluorescent tubes.

The goal is to keep the tubes out of landfills, where they could leach into groundwater or surface streams. Mercury is highly toxic to the human central nervous system, kidneys and liver.

The project addresses barriers to recycling at Oregon hospitals and provides incentives for urban and rural hospitals to participate in the program.

Sponsors aim at recycling as many as 50,000 tubes from 10 to 15 hospitals in the first year of the program and plan to expand it in the future. – The Hillsboro (Oregon) Argus