Recycling of LED lamps

After nearly a decade of mainstream application, LED lamps still account for only a small portion of European waste, accounting for less than 2%, so LED lamps seem to have long service life requirements. However, recycling may be another matter.

The data "less than 2%" comes from Eucolight. Eucolight is a group of European organizations responsible for regulating the collection and recycling of luminaires and lighting products, claiming to collect 79% of luminaires in 18 countries.

As a new generation of light source, LED has many advantages: high luminous efficiency, low power consumption, long life, easy control, maintenance-free, safe and environmentally friendly. The above data also indirectly indicates that LED products are generally in good condition.

However, we also need to pay attention to the recycling and reuse of LED lamps in the future.

Since the beginning of the LED into the mainstream, the good part of the decade has passed.

Nigel Harvey, CEO of Recolight, a UK lighting recycler and member of Eucolight, points out that in the next 10 years, LEDs will account for about 30-40% of waste, and after this happens, the LED industry will pay more attention to recycling, instead of the simpler design aspects in the past.

According to foreign media statistics, more than 90% of fluorescent tube materials in the UK have been recycled. The design of LED lamps will make it even difficult to reach 50%.

Nigel Harvey said, "One of the benefits of LED technology is the range of materials used, the design, shape, size and other explosive growth that will occur." "LEDs allow for more innovation in the way of production. In terms of recycling, the heterogeneity of the product will bring the cost. With more material, they are glued together, usually using adhesives and foams, it is very difficult to separate them by mechanical process. : Plastic, glass, ceramic, aluminum, copper, etc., as well as PCB."

The recycling of LED luminaires caught the attention on the Eucolight conference. “To this end, delegates learned about the future technology composition and choice of LED and LED recycling technologies,” Eucolight reported.