Technical Recommendations Document on the Management of End-of-life Mercury-containing Lamps in Canada

In Canada, the responsibility and management of solid waste is shared by all three levels of government.  The introduction and successful implementation of new policies and programs can therefore be achieved through inter-governmental collaboration. However, to ensure the effectiveness of new initiatives, governments must work closely with other stakeholders including targeted businesses, distributors, retailers, recyclers and environmental groups.

Government interest in the issue of mercury containing lamps has occurred for three reasons:

1. The implementation of Regulations Amending the Energy Efficiency Regulations⁵ by 2012 that specifies minimum energy performance standards for lamps will provoke a transition towards mercury-containing lamps. The Office of Energy Efficiency (Natural Resources Canada) is working closely with manufacturers and distributors to ensure that they understand the regulatory requirements.⁶
2. The CCMEWorking Group on the Extended Producer Responsibility has proposed a Canada-wide Action Plan (CAP) on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Under the "Proposed Targets" section, Canadian jurisdictions would agree to consider developing EPR framework legislation and/or regulations to allow for implementation in accordance with the phases outlined in the document:…."Compact fluorescents and other lamps containing mercury – in accordance with the Environment Canada Mercury Containing Products Strategy and the deliberations of the National Mercury Containing Lamp Recycling Technical Working Group." (p12). This report is to provide a more detailed action plan within the context of the CCMEproposal. It will strive to maintain consistency with the principles of EPR and ensure we are working in parallel with the CCMEproposal.
3. Fluorescent lamps have become commonplace in their usage, mostly in the work place but also more recently in the home, with the development of smaller lamps.  The mercury content of these lamps is widely recognized as an environmental hazard whenever and wherever these products are improperly disposed of.  At present, there are regulations in place or in development in a minority of provinces for the proper end-of-life management of mercury-containing lamps.

This document summarizes the discussions of the working group concerning end-of-life management options for mercury-containing lamps. Eleven subjects have been analyzed and the objective was to harmonize responses to these diverse topics.

For each of the eleven subject areas, the following summaries are provided: background information, recommendations and a list of actions to be implemented by stakeholders.  The timelines for action items are:

• Short  →  6 months
• Medium  →  6 to 18 months
• Long → 18 months or longer

5. See http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/regulations/amendment10/publication.cfm?attr=4 for more information.

6. The Regulations will only affect incandescent lamps and lead to increased sales of CFLs to residential users.  The regulation will not affect sales to ICI users whose use of fluorescent and HID lamps have been relatively constant over the last few decades and is expected to stay relatively constant with no large increases in the near future.