Recolight has been working with the lighting industry for several years to help drive a more sustainable, circular economy approach.
Nigel Harvey, Chief Executive of Recolight explains why a WEEE Compliance scheme, that offers a free recycling service for lighting, has taken this approach.
All too often, we assume that if old lighting is replaced with new lighting, we are meeting our environmental obligations if we get the waste fittings recycled. We need to change that thinking.
The principles within the waste hierarchy mean that reducing the amount of new product, and reusing or extending the life of existing product, should take priority over recycling.
We must fully explore those options for each project first, before going down the ‘replace and recycle’ route. Recycling degrades value, and much of the embedded carbon within a used product is lost.
At Recolight, we put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. In practical terms, that means more actions to support the lighting industry in transitioning to a more circular, low carbon economy.
More webinars, more training workshops and more events to give companies the tools they need to get involved.
Circular activity plans for 2023:
Remanufacturing Lighting Conference 27th April:
We asked all those who attended Circular Lighting Live 2022 what they wanted to see as a next step.
The answer was clear – more information about the practical steps companies should take to get involved in the remanufacture and reuse of lighting equipment.
So our April conference in remanufacture in the lighting industry took shape. Our speakers and panel members will take delegates through real world projects, how to handle the compliance of remanufactured product, and how to make the case for remanufacture when talking to customers. Attendees will receive a CPD certificate.
Circular Lighting Live Conference 21 September:
After a hugely successful inaugural event in 2022, Circular Lighting Live returns this September and is moving to a bigger venue.
The packed agenda will include authoritative updates on UK and EU legislation, and a discussion of some of the key specifications, including those for circularity, embedded carbon, and lifecycle assessment, such as the CIBSE TM65 and TM66.
We will also hear from end user panels on the steps they expect lighting producers to take.
Workshops: Lighting product design for the circular economy:
Recolight will run an updated series of training workshops to help lighting manufacturers understand how to design products to meet some of the most relevant environmental specifications.
Circular Lighting Report: Ray Molony will continue to edit the Recolight news and information service covering all aspects of sustainability in lighting.
Webinars: One-hour sessions that include an overview of sustainability metrics for the lighting industry, case studies from lighting manufacturers that are taking big steps to become more sustainable, a session dedicated to making cat A fit-outs more sustainable, and a session focused on forthcoming changes to the WEEE regulations.
TM66: Recolight will launch an independent certification service to the CIBSE/SLL TM66 specification. This will help manufacturers demonstrate the extent to which products comply with circular economy principles.
Circular Place: To help reduce unnecessary recycling, and promote a more circular outcome.
This is a web based service to help companies willing to donate surplus lighting stock, or lighting products that could be reused, to connect with other companies and organisations that may be able to use those products. Circular Place will launch in the summer.
Fluorescent phase out
At the beginning of this year, the Government announced that it would phase out many fluorescent lamps by February 2024. Although the dates are slightly later than those adopted in Europe, this does nevertheless mean that the transition to LED will accelerate.
There has been a steady gradual decline in the tonnage of waste gas discharge lamps arising, and we expect this to continue. The percentage of waste lamps that are LED will gradually increase, but there will be a long ‘tail of fluorescent lamps well into the 2030s.
WEEE changes for lighting
During 2023, the Government will consult on major changes to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations. We will be working closely with our members to ensure that changes will work well for the lighting industry.
And, very pleasingly, one of the changes is likely to be one that Recolight has been working towards for some time; to make online marketplaces responsible for the WEEE compliance of product sold via their platforms.
Once this becomes law, the large scale WEEE avoidance that has so characterised product sold online should become a thing of the past – ensuring a level playing field for those producers that are already compliant.
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