How EWaste Africa recycles fluorescent tubes , CFLs and other mercury-bearing light bulbs
EWaste Africa supplies specially designed containers to its customers for the storage of fluorescent tubes , CFLs and other mercury-bearing light bulbs for collection by the company . These containers are collected by EWaste Africa staff members who have received specialised dangerous goods training , and the bulbs are transported in vehicles legally registered to transport dangerous goods . Once safely back at EWaste Africa ’ s recycling plant on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg ’ s Mkondeni industrial area , the bulbs are recycled using a specially designed and imported plant . This plant , which maintains a negative internal air pressure at all times , ensures that no contaminants escape once the bulbs are fed into the multiple hoppers . Intact bulbs are fed into the plant by hand by staff wearing suitable safety equipment . Broken CFLs , collected in sealed drums , are machine loaded via a tipping arm . Once loaded , the broken and whole bulbs go through an agitator , which loosens and separates the mercurybearing phosphor powder from the glass shards . This powder is sucked through a dust filter that removes the phosphor powder and fine glass particles , after which an impregnated activated carbon filter removes any mercury vapour remaining . The phosphor powder and the activated carbon filters were previously shipped by EWaste Africa to a European company that processed the recovered material further , but this year EWaste Africa partnered with local company Rare Earth Recycling Technologies for the recovery of rare earth metals like iridium , cadmium and europium from the luminophosphorus powder . As a shareholder , EWaste Africa is commissioning a rare earth recovery plant for this purpose . The recovered metals are to be sold back into the market , increasing the beneficiation achieved by EWaste Africa in its light-bulb recycling efforts . The glass , metal and plastics left after all the mercury vapour and phosphor powder has been extracted are further separated using a powerful magnet and a separating grid . These final by-products are captured separately into Tuff bags , where the glass is then sent off to glass blowers , and the metals and plastics are directed into the metals and plastics markets for reuse . “ We are working on further innovations to add to the business ,” says EWaste Africa CEO Pravashen Naidoo .
“ We like the idea of being the first to do these things and want to ensure that we will be doing this with numerous other waste streams going forward .”
36 | Issue 2 | Capital