Waste Management xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Waste Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions Hassan Taghipour a,⇑, Zahra Amjad b, Mohamad Asghari Jafarabadi c, Akbar Gholampour a, Prviz Norouz d a
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Medical Education Research Center, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran d Environmental Health Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran b c
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 5 January 2014 Accepted 19 March 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Heavy metals Spent compact fluorescent lamps Management Challenges Strategies
a b s t r a c t From environmental viewpoint, the most important advantage of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is reduction of green house gas emissions. But their significant disadvantage is disposal of spent lamps because of containing a few milligrams of toxic metals, especially mercury and lead. For a successful implementation of any waste management plan, availability of sufficient and accurate information on quantities and compositions of the generated waste and current management conditions is a fundamental prerequisite. In this study, CFLs were selected among 20 different brands in Iran. Content of heavy metals including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was determined by inductive coupled plasma (ICP). Two cities, Tehran and Tabriz, were selected for assessing the current waste management condition of CFLs. The study found that waste generation amount of CFLs in the country was about 159.80, 183.82 and 153.75 million per year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran was determined to be 2.05 per person in 2012. The average amount of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was 0.417, 2.33, 0.064, 0.056 and 0.012 mg per lamp, respectively. Currently, waste of CFLs is disposed by municipal waste stream in waste landfills. For improving the current conditions, we propose by considering the successful experience of extended producer responsibility (EPR) in other electronic waste management. The EPR program with advanced recycling fee (ARF) is implemented for collecting and then recycling CFLs. For encouraging consumers to take the spent CFLs back at the end of the products’ useful life, a proportion of ARF (for example, 50%) can be refunded. On the other hand, the government and Environmental Protection Agency should support and encourage recycling companies of CFLs both technically and financially in the first place. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Although compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have been available for more than three decades, in Iran they have become a popular lighting choice instead of incandescent lamps only during the recent years, which was due to payment of governmental subsidies, efforts of Ministry of Power, lower energy consumption of CFLs (approximately 75% less energy compared with incandescent lamps) and their longer life and lower retail price (Travis, 2011; Nance et al., 2011; Shao et al., 2012). It is estimated that, in the coming years, as a result of eliminating energy subsidies by the government, increasing electricity price, implementing new ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 411 3357581; fax: +98 411 3340634. E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Taghipour).
policies of energy consumption reduction and encouraging and educating people for using CFLs, applying CFLs will rapidly increase in Iran (Nance et al., 2011; Travis, 2011; Sadeghzadeh, 2012). From environmental viewpoint, the most important advantages of CFLs over incandescent lamps are reduction of green house gas emissions (especially CO2), decreasing calamite change rate and also decreasing mercury entry into the environment due to great reduction in energy use (A power plant will emit 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time). On the other hand, the main disadvantage of CFLs is the waste disposal of spent lamps because of containing a few milligrams of toxic components, especially mercury and lead (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Nance et al., 2011; Travis, 2011; USEPA, 2014). Using mercury (elemental and inorganic forms) in fluorescent lamps is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010 0956-053X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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H. Taghipour et al. / Waste Management xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
essential for their proper working and a suitable replacement has not been found yet (Éder José Dos Santos et al., 2010; Nance et al., 2011). The amount of mercury content in spent CFLs has been reported from 0.1 to 50 mg/lamp. The CFLs that have been produced recently contain on average 1.5–3.5 mg/lamp mercury (Shao et al., 2012; Travis, 2011; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008; Boughey and Webb, 2008; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008). Values of lead content of each lamp were reported between 0.07 and 0.75 mg (Dos Santos et al., 2010). Mercury content of each compact fluorescent lamp, according to European Community Regulation, should not exceed 5 mg/lamp. By disposing spent CFLs in municipal solid waste management system and breaking them during handling, placement/storage, hauling and final disposal, its content toxic element such as mercury and lead is released into the environment (Travis, 2011; Dos Santos et al., 2010). Mercury is one of the most toxic elements on the earth and its release into the environment, its introduction to the biochemical cycle and finally its entrance to the food chain are among the great concerns worldwide (Raposo and Roeser, 2001; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). Moreover, global warming and climatic changes are expected to accelerate mercury remobilization and bioaccumulation in the environment and ecosystem with subsequent risk increase of human exposure (Raposo and Roeser, 2001). Mercury can accumulate in brain and kidneys and cause changes in neurological and renal functions. Central nervous system is known to be the most sensitive target for exposure to mercury. Exposure to mercury has caused neurological and behavioral disorders in humans (Nance et al., 2011). Lead is among the most important environmental pollutants. Among the potential of heavy metals for human health and safety which is highlighted by their ranking, first arsenic (As), second Pb and third Hg are on the priority list of substances found in hazardous waste sites (ATSDR, 2007). Other heavy metals like nickel and chromium are important from environmental and health viewpoints. Waste of spent CFLs is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in Iran, as it is in the other countries. Nevertheless, waste management of spent CFLs has not received sufficient attention. Therefore, planning a waste management program for spent CFLs is necessary to prevent the above-mentioned effects on human health and the environment. For successful implementation of any waste management plan, availability of sufficient and accurate information on quantities and characteristics of the generated waste and the current management conditions is one of the fundamental prerequisites (Taghipour et al., 2012). Currently, in Iran, there is no available and accurate information describing actual practice of management and handling of waste of spent CFLs. Also, the data available to date on characteristics of CFLs, especially from heavy metal content viewpoint and waste production rates, are rare in Iran. Determining the amount of heavy metals content including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium in CFLs was one of the key objectives of the present work. Another objective of this study was to assess waste handling of CFLs and their final disposal. This study also aimed to assess the existing policies on waste management of spent CFLs; in addition, it had some practical recommendations about waste management of CFLs in Iran, in order to improve the current situation.
2. Methodology 2.1. Sample preparation In this study, the spent CFLs from 20 different brands (domestic and international) being sold in Iran’s market, were collected from various household or office consumers in the year of 2013 (of which most being produced after 2008, and some before that).
Then, contents of heavy metals (mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium) were determined by inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES). Following the methodology described by Jang et al. (2005), in this study in order to determine the studied heavy metals, each lamp was being wiped clean with deionized water. After cleaning, each lamp was placed on a 140 25 cm laboratory bench paper. Then, the lamp was separated into two parts (end caps and glass) by pliers and each part was weighed. Afterward, the inside of each lamp was washed with about 50 mL of deionized water for 30 min (for separation phosphor powder (fluorescent) from glass). The solution was then collected in a 100-mL volumetric flask. The mixed acid solution of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid was added to this solution to be 5% (v/v) for each acid solution. Next, total volume was adjusted to 100 mL with additional deionized water. The solution was stirred at room temperature for 24 h before the analysis by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer. The lamp glasses were dried under vacuum at room temperature for 4 h and wrapped in laboratory bench paper and then shattered into 2–3 in. pieces by a hammer. The glass was gently pulverized by a grinder into small particles in order to obtain more homogeneous samples for the analyses. The pulverized particles were collected in a pre-cleaned 300-mL capped vessel. Before the analysis, the samples were preserved in a refrigerator at 4 C. For analyzing, 25 g of the pulverized glass from each lamp was added to a pre-cleaned 100-mL capped-vessel and digested by a mixture of 12.5 mL reagent water, 12.5 mL aqua regia and 6.5 mL potassium permanganate solution, which could be designated as the digestion mixture. Aqua regia was prepared immediately before use by carefully adding three volumes of concentrated HCl to one volume of concentrated HNO3. Potassium permanganate was prepared at 5% according to weight to volume basis. The capped vessel was mixed using a shaker for 18 ± 2 h at room temperature. The supernatant was then filtered by a 0.45-lm pore size filter and diluted by mixed acid solution of hydrochloric acid (5%, v/v) and nitric acid (5%, v/v) to stay within the range of the standard curve. The prepared laboratory samples for metal testing including Hg, Pb, Ni, As and Cr were subjected to ICP-OES (German SPECTRO Company, Spectro Atcos Model) instrument to quantify composition of the given samples. The detection limit for mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium were 0.1, 0.1, 0.5, 0.1 and 0.2 lg/L respectively 2.2. Estimating waste of CFLs and current condition of waste management Waste resulting from obsolescence of CFLs was estimated by considering both domestic production and imports minus the export of those lamps during 2007–2012. The CFLs that were probably illegally imported were not included in the study, owing to the data uncertainty. The methodology used in this study for estimating generation rate of spent CFLs was based on the data collected from National Statistics Organization, Ministry of Industry and Mining. The amount of annual CFLs (number/year) was estimated based on average mass of each CFL and average lifespan assumptions (2.5 years for each lamp according to average lifespan announced by lamp producers). A multilayer perception artificial neural network using batch training method and gradient descent algorithm was used to predict production of spent CFLs. The analyses were performed utilizing SPSS 17 statistical software. Multilayer perception (MLP) procedure is an artificial neural network that produces a predictive model for one or more dependent (target) variables based on values of the predictor. It consists of a network of neurons which map predictor to dependent variables. In this procedure, each artificial neuron consists of a linear combination of weighted predictors, passing though a non-linear activation function and hidden layers to produce the neuron’s output.
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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H. Taghipour et al. / Waste Management xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
This structure of the network is called Architecture. The hidden layer contains unobservable network nodes (units). Each hidden unit is an activation function of the weighted sum of the inputs (predictors) and values of the weights are determined by estimation algorithm. An MLP can have one or two hidden layers. If the network contains a second hidden layer, each hidden unit in the second layer is a function of the weighted sum of the units in the first hidden layer. Activation function ‘‘links’’ the weighted sums of units in a layer to values of the units in the succeeding layer. The output layer contains the target (dependent) variables (Fine, 1999; Taghipour et al., 2012). To assess current management conditions, two provinces located in the center and northwest of Iran, Tehran and East Azerbaijan, respectively, were selected from among 31 provinces. Assessment was then performed in cities of Tehran and Tabriz in the selected provinces. Tehran, the capital city, with population of 7.08 million people, is the largest city, and Tabriz, with population of more than 1.57 million people, is the fifth largest city in Iran and the largest in the northwest of Iran (S.C.O.Iran, 2013) A combination of methods was used to assess current management conditions. These methods included completing checklists, site visits and observations, conversations with authorities, using scientific databases and making contacts with municipalities, local and national environmental protection agencies and other organizations. Handling, recycling, final disposal and the existing policies of CFLs were also assessed. In accordance with the current conditions in Iran and with reference to other countries’ relatively successful experiences, some practical management strategies are presented below to improve waste management and disposal of spent CFLs in Iran. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Generation rates The amount of produced or imported CFLs minus the exported amount from country during 2007 through 2012 (according to report of National Statistics Organization, Ministry of Industry and Mining of Iran) is presented in Table 1. The amount of waste represented by CFLs was predicted by considering typical lifetime of 2.5 year. A multilayer perception artificial neural network using batch training method and gradient descent algorithm was used to predict the amount of waste production of CFLs from 2010 through 2020 (Table 2). The results of this study indicated that waste generation rates of CFLs in Iran were 159.802, 183.822 and 153.756 million per year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Estimation of the generation rates in 2013–2020 indicated that this rate would probably vary from 163.621 million to 174.431 million annually. Considering those figures (population of 75 million people in Iran), waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran was determined as 2.05 per person in 2012 while consumption of mercury-containing lamps in Brazil and the USA was reported 0.3 and 2.9, respectively (Raposo and Roeser, 2001). As mentioned above, the research team was not able to properly collect certain data on probably illegally imported CFLs to the country. Therefore, illegally Table 1 The total amount of CFLs produced or imported, minus exported from country during 2007 through 2012. Year
Number of CFLs (106)
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
122.295 162.456 170.010 159.802 183.822 153.756
Table 2 The estimated number of generated waste CFLs (by artificial neural network estimates for Iran for the years 2010–2020). Year
Number waste CFLs (106)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
159.802 183.822 153.756 163.621 166.375 168.857 174.431 172.191 164.143 171.262 170.835
imported compact fluorescent lamps could not be included in estimating waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran. 3.2. Determining heavy metals in CFLs Results of determining heavy metals including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium are presented in Table 3. As indicated in the table, the average amount of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was 0.417, 2.33, 0.064, 0.056 and 0.012 mg per lamp, respectively. Maximum amounts of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium were 1.01, 8.23, 0.407, 0.255 and 0.028 mg per lamp, respectively. Also among the studied metals averagely 14.48%, 80.93%, 2.22%, 1.96% and 0.42% of them (in the whole each lamp) were mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium. The result comparison of this study with the other reported research is presented in Table 4 (Boughey and Webb, 2008; Dos Santos et al., 2010; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008; Star, 2008; Technology, 2004; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008). As revealed in the mentioned table, while maximum and minimum amounts of mercury have been reported 0.1 and 50 mg per lamp by other authors and researchers, maximum and minimum amounts of mercury was determined 0.064 and 1.013 mg per lamp, respectively. The determined amount of mercury per lamp in the present study was approximately in agreement with results of Rey-Raap and Gallardo (2012). Mercury content of CFLs sold in Iran was less than 5 mg per lamp according to European Community Regulation. According to the results of this study and also survey of the scientific literature, it was concluded that the amount of mercury per lamp decreased in newly produced CFLs in comparison with those produced in the previous years (Boughey and Webb, 2008; Dos Santos et al., 2010; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008; Star, 2008; Technology, 2004; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008). Maximum and minimum amounts of lead per lamp were determined 0.017–8.23 mg per lamp while Dos Santos et al. reported maximum amount of lead as 0.75 mg per lamp (Dos Santos et al., 2010). The amount of nickel, arsenic and chromium has not been determined in the previous available studies; so, comparison of the results was not possible. Table 5 shows the average percentage of the studied heavy metals in phosphor and glass of CFLs and compares it with those reported by other authors such as (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). As indicated, the mercury, nickel and arsenic were mostly found in the phosphor powder while other two metals (lead and chromium) were mostly found in glass. The higher amount of mercury in phosphor powder was in agreement with other reported results (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). This subject is very important in disposal and also in recycling of the glass of CFLs, because by washing and removing all the phosphor powder
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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Table 3 The studied spent compact fluorescent lamps specification and amount of heavy metals include in the CFLs (lg per lamp). Type of CFLs
Made in
U-26 W SP-23 W SP-45 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-35 W SP-40 W SP-40 W U-23 W U-18 W SP-40 W SP-23 W SP-50 W SP-40 W SP-23 W Average Max Min
Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran Spain Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran China Germany Iran China China Unknown Iran Iran – – –
Weight (g)
Mercury
Lead
Lamp
Glass Glass
Glass Phosphors Total
132.94 126.21 133.43 107.11 93.44 81.98 106.16 197.04 117.70 144.89 146.61 86.55 96.42 98.65 121.08 72.90 85.77 209.73 92.29 104.42 117.76 209.73 72.90
52.46 80.48 32.9 64.8 44.37 81.84 79.9 204.1 59.69 73.74 122.8 400.1 38.87 68.24 176.0 681.9 35.26 58.18 44.9 632.1 34.63 47.35 140.5 56.5 37.79 68.37 89.8 188.2 79.78 117.26 98.0 124.3 52.18 65.52 36.4 125.0 53.72 91.17 118.6 894.6 62.48 84.13 6.3 58.5 33.77 52.78 113.8 760.6 36.66 59.76 236.4 121.3 40.67 57.98 16.5 53.6 60.90 60.18 13.0 107.8 37.64 35.26 50.6 196.5 29.34 56.43 10.0 70.7 94.84 114.89 158.3 784.3 35.55 56.74 196.0 399.2 41.94 62.48 64.3 617.2 48.12 69.64 90.3 327.1 94.83 117.26 236.4 894.6 29.33 35.26 6.3 53.6
97.7 284.0 522.9 858.0 677.1 197.0 278.1 222.3 161.4 1013.2 64.8 874.4 357.6 70.1 120.7 247.2 80.7 942.6 595.2 681.5 417.3 1013.2 64.8
Nickel
Arsenic
Chromium
Glass
Phosphors Total
Glass Phosphors Total Glass Phosphors Total Glass Phosphors Total
23.1 4771.9 44.6 3209.7 1230.0 1402.2 4861.9 4154.9 165.3 3382.6 79.5 2008.3 3275.8 33.9 29.2 324.4 15.3 8140.0 2546.9 4088.9 2189.4 8140.0 15.3
4.9 72.0 34.2 243.0 242.2 386.8 41.1 58.2 107.6 47.1 3.3 278.9 340.5 4.7 1.8 33.6 1.8 90.5 863.0 48.0 145.2 863.0 1.8
12.1 6.8 23.2 8.9 10.2 5.6 5.7 12.9 6.0 7.0 2.0 6.0 7.4 8.8 2.9 6.7 3.3 10.2 3.4 3.7 7.6 23.2 2.0
attached to the glass surface, it is possible to categorize the glass as a non-hazardous waste. The result obtained in this study showed that mercury percentage in the phosphor powder was 78.4% while, in the other works, it was found 85.76–89.35 (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). It should be mentioned that mercury amount of vapor phase of CFLs was not determined during this study; nevertheless, the mercury amount of vapor phase has been reported by other authors between 0.02% and 0.58% (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). 3.3. Current regulation and management conditions Currently in Iran, there is a general legislation concerning waste management, which also applies to E-waste (electronic waste) such as CFLs (Shaeri and Rahmati, 2012). This legislation was proposed by the government and approved by the parliament in 2004. According to clause 12 of the executive instruction included in the legislation (approved in 2005), all the electrical and electronic equipment (including CFLs) producer and importer companies are responsible for recycling their waste. If they do not recycle their all electrical and electronic equipment (including CFLs), they have to pay 0.005% of value of the produced and/or imported goods to a special fund. The money in that fund should be used for recycling CFLs. According to the notes of clause 12 of the cited executive instruction, the companies that do not accept their responsibility must pay financial penalties, the companies that use recycled materials in their production processes are granted an exemption and manufacturers and importers that
28.0 4843.9 78.8 3452.7 1472.2 1789.0 4903.0 4213.1 272.9 3429.7 82.8 2287.2 3616.3 38.6 31.0 358.0 17.1 8230.5 3409.9 4136.9 2334.6 8230.5 17.1
12.0 6.0 9.9 50.4 105.8 15.2 29.2 14.1 18.3 100.2 12.3 95.2 9.3 11.2 26.6 29.8 8.5 397.4 15.6 159.7 56.3 397.4 6.0
24.1 12.8 33.1 59.3 116.0 20.8 34.9 27.0 24.3 107.2 14.3 101.2 16.7 20.0 29.5 36.5 11.8 407.6 19.0 163.4 64.0 407.6 11.8
0.4 59.6 0.4 27.9 0.3 0.3 42.4 56.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 57.7 68.1 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.2 8.2 80.9 6.6 20.6 80.9 0.2
0.6 195.5 38.4 26.0 7.3 28.4 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 121.0 20.2 0.6 0.6 237.0 0.6 1.2 35.9 0.6 35.8 237.0 0.6
1.0 255.1 38.8 53.9 7.6 28.7 43.0 57.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 178.7 88.3 0.9 1.1 237.3 0.8 9.4 116.8 7.2 56.4 255.1 0.8
26.6 2.3 11.1 0.8 15.7 5.8 11.9 2.5 9.1 1.3 5.5 0.3 4.9 0.7 11.8 1.6 12.3 8.1 7.8 4.7 7.3 2.5 7.3 1.0 7.6 1.0 6.0 1.0 10.7 10.7 6.0 1.9 7.3 0.2 10.6 0.8 4.2 2.8 5.7 4.1 9.5 2.7 26.6 10.7 4.2 0.2
28.9 11.9 21.5 14.4 10.4 5.8 5.6 13.4 20.4 12.5 9.8 8.3 8.6 7.0 21.4 7.9 7.5 11.4 7.0 9.8 12.2 28.9 5.6
voluntarily take back products at the end of their useful life or those which export their products are also granted an exemption. Ministry of Health and National Environmental Protection Agency are responsible for applying pressure for implementation of the legislation (Shaeri and Rahmati, 2012; Taghipour et al., 2012). Results of the assessment of the current condition for waste management of CFLs in cities of Tehran and Tabriz revealed that the current waste management legislation about E-waste such as CFLs only consisted of rules at national level. The rules were not yet put into effect in the studied area (the same conditions existed in other provinces and cities). In practical terms, no definite policy or plan existed for allocating funds to prepare suitable equipments and facilities for management and recycling waste of CFLs at the end of the products’ useful life. Collecting the waste of CFLs is generally handled and discarded by municipalities along with domestic wastes. This practice can create health risks for municipal workers, the public and the environment. When CFLs are broken, people or municipality workers can be directly exposed to elemental and inorganic mercury compounds, especially through inhalation pathway. It should be noted that most of other cities and provinces in Iran have the same conditions in terms of waste collecting and disposal of CFLs. 3.4. Reviewing collection and recycling programs in other countries and proposing waste management strategy of CFLs for Iran There are many experiences in other countries in terms of waste management of CFLs. For instance, since 2005, in the state of Maine of the USA, disposal of all mercury containing items (including
Table 4 Amount of heavy metals include in the CFLs (mg per lamp). Study
Mercury
Lead
Nickel
Arsenic
Chromium
Current study Dos Santos et al. (2010) Rey-Raap and Gallardo (2012) Boughey and Webb (2008) Culver (2008) Star (2008) Technology (2004) Li and Jin (2011) NEWMOA (2008)
0.064–1.013 1.6–27 0.425 ± 0.046 0.1–13 1–6 Average 4
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Waste Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions Hassan Taghipour a,⇑, Zahra Amjad b, Mohamad Asghari Jafarabadi c, Akbar Gholampour a, Prviz Norouz d a
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Medical Education Research Center, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran d Environmental Health Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran b c
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 5 January 2014 Accepted 19 March 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Heavy metals Spent compact fluorescent lamps Management Challenges Strategies
a b s t r a c t From environmental viewpoint, the most important advantage of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is reduction of green house gas emissions. But their significant disadvantage is disposal of spent lamps because of containing a few milligrams of toxic metals, especially mercury and lead. For a successful implementation of any waste management plan, availability of sufficient and accurate information on quantities and compositions of the generated waste and current management conditions is a fundamental prerequisite. In this study, CFLs were selected among 20 different brands in Iran. Content of heavy metals including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was determined by inductive coupled plasma (ICP). Two cities, Tehran and Tabriz, were selected for assessing the current waste management condition of CFLs. The study found that waste generation amount of CFLs in the country was about 159.80, 183.82 and 153.75 million per year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran was determined to be 2.05 per person in 2012. The average amount of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was 0.417, 2.33, 0.064, 0.056 and 0.012 mg per lamp, respectively. Currently, waste of CFLs is disposed by municipal waste stream in waste landfills. For improving the current conditions, we propose by considering the successful experience of extended producer responsibility (EPR) in other electronic waste management. The EPR program with advanced recycling fee (ARF) is implemented for collecting and then recycling CFLs. For encouraging consumers to take the spent CFLs back at the end of the products’ useful life, a proportion of ARF (for example, 50%) can be refunded. On the other hand, the government and Environmental Protection Agency should support and encourage recycling companies of CFLs both technically and financially in the first place. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Although compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have been available for more than three decades, in Iran they have become a popular lighting choice instead of incandescent lamps only during the recent years, which was due to payment of governmental subsidies, efforts of Ministry of Power, lower energy consumption of CFLs (approximately 75% less energy compared with incandescent lamps) and their longer life and lower retail price (Travis, 2011; Nance et al., 2011; Shao et al., 2012). It is estimated that, in the coming years, as a result of eliminating energy subsidies by the government, increasing electricity price, implementing new ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 411 3357581; fax: +98 411 3340634. E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Taghipour).
policies of energy consumption reduction and encouraging and educating people for using CFLs, applying CFLs will rapidly increase in Iran (Nance et al., 2011; Travis, 2011; Sadeghzadeh, 2012). From environmental viewpoint, the most important advantages of CFLs over incandescent lamps are reduction of green house gas emissions (especially CO2), decreasing calamite change rate and also decreasing mercury entry into the environment due to great reduction in energy use (A power plant will emit 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time). On the other hand, the main disadvantage of CFLs is the waste disposal of spent lamps because of containing a few milligrams of toxic components, especially mercury and lead (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Nance et al., 2011; Travis, 2011; USEPA, 2014). Using mercury (elemental and inorganic forms) in fluorescent lamps is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010 0956-053X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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essential for their proper working and a suitable replacement has not been found yet (Éder José Dos Santos et al., 2010; Nance et al., 2011). The amount of mercury content in spent CFLs has been reported from 0.1 to 50 mg/lamp. The CFLs that have been produced recently contain on average 1.5–3.5 mg/lamp mercury (Shao et al., 2012; Travis, 2011; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008; Boughey and Webb, 2008; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008). Values of lead content of each lamp were reported between 0.07 and 0.75 mg (Dos Santos et al., 2010). Mercury content of each compact fluorescent lamp, according to European Community Regulation, should not exceed 5 mg/lamp. By disposing spent CFLs in municipal solid waste management system and breaking them during handling, placement/storage, hauling and final disposal, its content toxic element such as mercury and lead is released into the environment (Travis, 2011; Dos Santos et al., 2010). Mercury is one of the most toxic elements on the earth and its release into the environment, its introduction to the biochemical cycle and finally its entrance to the food chain are among the great concerns worldwide (Raposo and Roeser, 2001; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). Moreover, global warming and climatic changes are expected to accelerate mercury remobilization and bioaccumulation in the environment and ecosystem with subsequent risk increase of human exposure (Raposo and Roeser, 2001). Mercury can accumulate in brain and kidneys and cause changes in neurological and renal functions. Central nervous system is known to be the most sensitive target for exposure to mercury. Exposure to mercury has caused neurological and behavioral disorders in humans (Nance et al., 2011). Lead is among the most important environmental pollutants. Among the potential of heavy metals for human health and safety which is highlighted by their ranking, first arsenic (As), second Pb and third Hg are on the priority list of substances found in hazardous waste sites (ATSDR, 2007). Other heavy metals like nickel and chromium are important from environmental and health viewpoints. Waste of spent CFLs is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in Iran, as it is in the other countries. Nevertheless, waste management of spent CFLs has not received sufficient attention. Therefore, planning a waste management program for spent CFLs is necessary to prevent the above-mentioned effects on human health and the environment. For successful implementation of any waste management plan, availability of sufficient and accurate information on quantities and characteristics of the generated waste and the current management conditions is one of the fundamental prerequisites (Taghipour et al., 2012). Currently, in Iran, there is no available and accurate information describing actual practice of management and handling of waste of spent CFLs. Also, the data available to date on characteristics of CFLs, especially from heavy metal content viewpoint and waste production rates, are rare in Iran. Determining the amount of heavy metals content including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium in CFLs was one of the key objectives of the present work. Another objective of this study was to assess waste handling of CFLs and their final disposal. This study also aimed to assess the existing policies on waste management of spent CFLs; in addition, it had some practical recommendations about waste management of CFLs in Iran, in order to improve the current situation.
2. Methodology 2.1. Sample preparation In this study, the spent CFLs from 20 different brands (domestic and international) being sold in Iran’s market, were collected from various household or office consumers in the year of 2013 (of which most being produced after 2008, and some before that).
Then, contents of heavy metals (mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium) were determined by inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES). Following the methodology described by Jang et al. (2005), in this study in order to determine the studied heavy metals, each lamp was being wiped clean with deionized water. After cleaning, each lamp was placed on a 140 25 cm laboratory bench paper. Then, the lamp was separated into two parts (end caps and glass) by pliers and each part was weighed. Afterward, the inside of each lamp was washed with about 50 mL of deionized water for 30 min (for separation phosphor powder (fluorescent) from glass). The solution was then collected in a 100-mL volumetric flask. The mixed acid solution of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid was added to this solution to be 5% (v/v) for each acid solution. Next, total volume was adjusted to 100 mL with additional deionized water. The solution was stirred at room temperature for 24 h before the analysis by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer. The lamp glasses were dried under vacuum at room temperature for 4 h and wrapped in laboratory bench paper and then shattered into 2–3 in. pieces by a hammer. The glass was gently pulverized by a grinder into small particles in order to obtain more homogeneous samples for the analyses. The pulverized particles were collected in a pre-cleaned 300-mL capped vessel. Before the analysis, the samples were preserved in a refrigerator at 4 C. For analyzing, 25 g of the pulverized glass from each lamp was added to a pre-cleaned 100-mL capped-vessel and digested by a mixture of 12.5 mL reagent water, 12.5 mL aqua regia and 6.5 mL potassium permanganate solution, which could be designated as the digestion mixture. Aqua regia was prepared immediately before use by carefully adding three volumes of concentrated HCl to one volume of concentrated HNO3. Potassium permanganate was prepared at 5% according to weight to volume basis. The capped vessel was mixed using a shaker for 18 ± 2 h at room temperature. The supernatant was then filtered by a 0.45-lm pore size filter and diluted by mixed acid solution of hydrochloric acid (5%, v/v) and nitric acid (5%, v/v) to stay within the range of the standard curve. The prepared laboratory samples for metal testing including Hg, Pb, Ni, As and Cr were subjected to ICP-OES (German SPECTRO Company, Spectro Atcos Model) instrument to quantify composition of the given samples. The detection limit for mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium were 0.1, 0.1, 0.5, 0.1 and 0.2 lg/L respectively 2.2. Estimating waste of CFLs and current condition of waste management Waste resulting from obsolescence of CFLs was estimated by considering both domestic production and imports minus the export of those lamps during 2007–2012. The CFLs that were probably illegally imported were not included in the study, owing to the data uncertainty. The methodology used in this study for estimating generation rate of spent CFLs was based on the data collected from National Statistics Organization, Ministry of Industry and Mining. The amount of annual CFLs (number/year) was estimated based on average mass of each CFL and average lifespan assumptions (2.5 years for each lamp according to average lifespan announced by lamp producers). A multilayer perception artificial neural network using batch training method and gradient descent algorithm was used to predict production of spent CFLs. The analyses were performed utilizing SPSS 17 statistical software. Multilayer perception (MLP) procedure is an artificial neural network that produces a predictive model for one or more dependent (target) variables based on values of the predictor. It consists of a network of neurons which map predictor to dependent variables. In this procedure, each artificial neuron consists of a linear combination of weighted predictors, passing though a non-linear activation function and hidden layers to produce the neuron’s output.
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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H. Taghipour et al. / Waste Management xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
This structure of the network is called Architecture. The hidden layer contains unobservable network nodes (units). Each hidden unit is an activation function of the weighted sum of the inputs (predictors) and values of the weights are determined by estimation algorithm. An MLP can have one or two hidden layers. If the network contains a second hidden layer, each hidden unit in the second layer is a function of the weighted sum of the units in the first hidden layer. Activation function ‘‘links’’ the weighted sums of units in a layer to values of the units in the succeeding layer. The output layer contains the target (dependent) variables (Fine, 1999; Taghipour et al., 2012). To assess current management conditions, two provinces located in the center and northwest of Iran, Tehran and East Azerbaijan, respectively, were selected from among 31 provinces. Assessment was then performed in cities of Tehran and Tabriz in the selected provinces. Tehran, the capital city, with population of 7.08 million people, is the largest city, and Tabriz, with population of more than 1.57 million people, is the fifth largest city in Iran and the largest in the northwest of Iran (S.C.O.Iran, 2013) A combination of methods was used to assess current management conditions. These methods included completing checklists, site visits and observations, conversations with authorities, using scientific databases and making contacts with municipalities, local and national environmental protection agencies and other organizations. Handling, recycling, final disposal and the existing policies of CFLs were also assessed. In accordance with the current conditions in Iran and with reference to other countries’ relatively successful experiences, some practical management strategies are presented below to improve waste management and disposal of spent CFLs in Iran. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Generation rates The amount of produced or imported CFLs minus the exported amount from country during 2007 through 2012 (according to report of National Statistics Organization, Ministry of Industry and Mining of Iran) is presented in Table 1. The amount of waste represented by CFLs was predicted by considering typical lifetime of 2.5 year. A multilayer perception artificial neural network using batch training method and gradient descent algorithm was used to predict the amount of waste production of CFLs from 2010 through 2020 (Table 2). The results of this study indicated that waste generation rates of CFLs in Iran were 159.802, 183.822 and 153.756 million per year in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Estimation of the generation rates in 2013–2020 indicated that this rate would probably vary from 163.621 million to 174.431 million annually. Considering those figures (population of 75 million people in Iran), waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran was determined as 2.05 per person in 2012 while consumption of mercury-containing lamps in Brazil and the USA was reported 0.3 and 2.9, respectively (Raposo and Roeser, 2001). As mentioned above, the research team was not able to properly collect certain data on probably illegally imported CFLs to the country. Therefore, illegally Table 1 The total amount of CFLs produced or imported, minus exported from country during 2007 through 2012. Year
Number of CFLs (106)
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
122.295 162.456 170.010 159.802 183.822 153.756
Table 2 The estimated number of generated waste CFLs (by artificial neural network estimates for Iran for the years 2010–2020). Year
Number waste CFLs (106)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
159.802 183.822 153.756 163.621 166.375 168.857 174.431 172.191 164.143 171.262 170.835
imported compact fluorescent lamps could not be included in estimating waste generation rate of CFLs in Iran. 3.2. Determining heavy metals in CFLs Results of determining heavy metals including mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium are presented in Table 3. As indicated in the table, the average amount of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium was 0.417, 2.33, 0.064, 0.056 and 0.012 mg per lamp, respectively. Maximum amounts of mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium were 1.01, 8.23, 0.407, 0.255 and 0.028 mg per lamp, respectively. Also among the studied metals averagely 14.48%, 80.93%, 2.22%, 1.96% and 0.42% of them (in the whole each lamp) were mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and chromium. The result comparison of this study with the other reported research is presented in Table 4 (Boughey and Webb, 2008; Dos Santos et al., 2010; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008; Star, 2008; Technology, 2004; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008). As revealed in the mentioned table, while maximum and minimum amounts of mercury have been reported 0.1 and 50 mg per lamp by other authors and researchers, maximum and minimum amounts of mercury was determined 0.064 and 1.013 mg per lamp, respectively. The determined amount of mercury per lamp in the present study was approximately in agreement with results of Rey-Raap and Gallardo (2012). Mercury content of CFLs sold in Iran was less than 5 mg per lamp according to European Community Regulation. According to the results of this study and also survey of the scientific literature, it was concluded that the amount of mercury per lamp decreased in newly produced CFLs in comparison with those produced in the previous years (Boughey and Webb, 2008; Dos Santos et al., 2010; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012; Culver, 2008; Star, 2008; Technology, 2004; Li and Jin, 2011; Newmoa (Northeast Waste Management Officials Association), 2008). Maximum and minimum amounts of lead per lamp were determined 0.017–8.23 mg per lamp while Dos Santos et al. reported maximum amount of lead as 0.75 mg per lamp (Dos Santos et al., 2010). The amount of nickel, arsenic and chromium has not been determined in the previous available studies; so, comparison of the results was not possible. Table 5 shows the average percentage of the studied heavy metals in phosphor and glass of CFLs and compares it with those reported by other authors such as (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). As indicated, the mercury, nickel and arsenic were mostly found in the phosphor powder while other two metals (lead and chromium) were mostly found in glass. The higher amount of mercury in phosphor powder was in agreement with other reported results (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). This subject is very important in disposal and also in recycling of the glass of CFLs, because by washing and removing all the phosphor powder
Please cite this article in press as: Taghipour, H., et al. Determining heavy metals in spent compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and their waste management challenges: Some strategies for improving current conditions. Waste Management (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.03.010
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Table 3 The studied spent compact fluorescent lamps specification and amount of heavy metals include in the CFLs (lg per lamp). Type of CFLs
Made in
U-26 W SP-23 W SP-45 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-40 W SP-35 W SP-40 W SP-40 W U-23 W U-18 W SP-40 W SP-23 W SP-50 W SP-40 W SP-23 W Average Max Min
Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran Spain Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran China Germany Iran China China Unknown Iran Iran – – –
Weight (g)
Mercury
Lead
Lamp
Glass Glass
Glass Phosphors Total
132.94 126.21 133.43 107.11 93.44 81.98 106.16 197.04 117.70 144.89 146.61 86.55 96.42 98.65 121.08 72.90 85.77 209.73 92.29 104.42 117.76 209.73 72.90
52.46 80.48 32.9 64.8 44.37 81.84 79.9 204.1 59.69 73.74 122.8 400.1 38.87 68.24 176.0 681.9 35.26 58.18 44.9 632.1 34.63 47.35 140.5 56.5 37.79 68.37 89.8 188.2 79.78 117.26 98.0 124.3 52.18 65.52 36.4 125.0 53.72 91.17 118.6 894.6 62.48 84.13 6.3 58.5 33.77 52.78 113.8 760.6 36.66 59.76 236.4 121.3 40.67 57.98 16.5 53.6 60.90 60.18 13.0 107.8 37.64 35.26 50.6 196.5 29.34 56.43 10.0 70.7 94.84 114.89 158.3 784.3 35.55 56.74 196.0 399.2 41.94 62.48 64.3 617.2 48.12 69.64 90.3 327.1 94.83 117.26 236.4 894.6 29.33 35.26 6.3 53.6
97.7 284.0 522.9 858.0 677.1 197.0 278.1 222.3 161.4 1013.2 64.8 874.4 357.6 70.1 120.7 247.2 80.7 942.6 595.2 681.5 417.3 1013.2 64.8
Nickel
Arsenic
Chromium
Glass
Phosphors Total
Glass Phosphors Total Glass Phosphors Total Glass Phosphors Total
23.1 4771.9 44.6 3209.7 1230.0 1402.2 4861.9 4154.9 165.3 3382.6 79.5 2008.3 3275.8 33.9 29.2 324.4 15.3 8140.0 2546.9 4088.9 2189.4 8140.0 15.3
4.9 72.0 34.2 243.0 242.2 386.8 41.1 58.2 107.6 47.1 3.3 278.9 340.5 4.7 1.8 33.6 1.8 90.5 863.0 48.0 145.2 863.0 1.8
12.1 6.8 23.2 8.9 10.2 5.6 5.7 12.9 6.0 7.0 2.0 6.0 7.4 8.8 2.9 6.7 3.3 10.2 3.4 3.7 7.6 23.2 2.0
attached to the glass surface, it is possible to categorize the glass as a non-hazardous waste. The result obtained in this study showed that mercury percentage in the phosphor powder was 78.4% while, in the other works, it was found 85.76–89.35 (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). It should be mentioned that mercury amount of vapor phase of CFLs was not determined during this study; nevertheless, the mercury amount of vapor phase has been reported by other authors between 0.02% and 0.58% (Dos Santos et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2005; Rey-Raap and Gallardo, 2012). 3.3. Current regulation and management conditions Currently in Iran, there is a general legislation concerning waste management, which also applies to E-waste (electronic waste) such as CFLs (Shaeri and Rahmati, 2012). This legislation was proposed by the government and approved by the parliament in 2004. According to clause 12 of the executive instruction included in the legislation (approved in 2005), all the electrical and electronic equipment (including CFLs) producer and importer companies are responsible for recycling their waste. If they do not recycle their all electrical and electronic equipment (including CFLs), they have to pay 0.005% of value of the produced and/or imported goods to a special fund. The money in that fund should be used for recycling CFLs. According to the notes of clause 12 of the cited executive instruction, the companies that do not accept their responsibility must pay financial penalties, the companies that use recycled materials in their production processes are granted an exemption and manufacturers and importers that
28.0 4843.9 78.8 3452.7 1472.2 1789.0 4903.0 4213.1 272.9 3429.7 82.8 2287.2 3616.3 38.6 31.0 358.0 17.1 8230.5 3409.9 4136.9 2334.6 8230.5 17.1
12.0 6.0 9.9 50.4 105.8 15.2 29.2 14.1 18.3 100.2 12.3 95.2 9.3 11.2 26.6 29.8 8.5 397.4 15.6 159.7 56.3 397.4 6.0
24.1 12.8 33.1 59.3 116.0 20.8 34.9 27.0 24.3 107.2 14.3 101.2 16.7 20.0 29.5 36.5 11.8 407.6 19.0 163.4 64.0 407.6 11.8
0.4 59.6 0.4 27.9 0.3 0.3 42.4 56.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 57.7 68.1 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.2 8.2 80.9 6.6 20.6 80.9 0.2
0.6 195.5 38.4 26.0 7.3 28.4 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 121.0 20.2 0.6 0.6 237.0 0.6 1.2 35.9 0.6 35.8 237.0 0.6
1.0 255.1 38.8 53.9 7.6 28.7 43.0 57.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 178.7 88.3 0.9 1.1 237.3 0.8 9.4 116.8 7.2 56.4 255.1 0.8
26.6 2.3 11.1 0.8 15.7 5.8 11.9 2.5 9.1 1.3 5.5 0.3 4.9 0.7 11.8 1.6 12.3 8.1 7.8 4.7 7.3 2.5 7.3 1.0 7.6 1.0 6.0 1.0 10.7 10.7 6.0 1.9 7.3 0.2 10.6 0.8 4.2 2.8 5.7 4.1 9.5 2.7 26.6 10.7 4.2 0.2
28.9 11.9 21.5 14.4 10.4 5.8 5.6 13.4 20.4 12.5 9.8 8.3 8.6 7.0 21.4 7.9 7.5 11.4 7.0 9.8 12.2 28.9 5.6
voluntarily take back products at the end of their useful life or those which export their products are also granted an exemption. Ministry of Health and National Environmental Protection Agency are responsible for applying pressure for implementation of the legislation (Shaeri and Rahmati, 2012; Taghipour et al., 2012). Results of the assessment of the current condition for waste management of CFLs in cities of Tehran and Tabriz revealed that the current waste management legislation about E-waste such as CFLs only consisted of rules at national level. The rules were not yet put into effect in the studied area (the same conditions existed in other provinces and cities). In practical terms, no definite policy or plan existed for allocating funds to prepare suitable equipments and facilities for management and recycling waste of CFLs at the end of the products’ useful life. Collecting the waste of CFLs is generally handled and discarded by municipalities along with domestic wastes. This practice can create health risks for municipal workers, the public and the environment. When CFLs are broken, people or municipality workers can be directly exposed to elemental and inorganic mercury compounds, especially through inhalation pathway. It should be noted that most of other cities and provinces in Iran have the same conditions in terms of waste collecting and disposal of CFLs. 3.4. Reviewing collection and recycling programs in other countries and proposing waste management strategy of CFLs for Iran There are many experiences in other countries in terms of waste management of CFLs. For instance, since 2005, in the state of Maine of the USA, disposal of all mercury containing items (including
Table 4 Amount of heavy metals include in the CFLs (mg per lamp). Study
Mercury
Lead
Nickel
Arsenic
Chromium
Current study Dos Santos et al. (2010) Rey-Raap and Gallardo (2012) Boughey and Webb (2008) Culver (2008) Star (2008) Technology (2004) Li and Jin (2011) NEWMOA (2008)
0.064–1.013 1.6–27 0.425 ± 0.046 0.1–13 1–6 Average 4
