Lamp Recycling

For the most up to date list of companies that recycle lamps by state, visit www.lamprecycle.org.

Many towns and cities offer recycling opportunities at local recycling centers or transfer stations. State requirements and recycling opportunities vary.

Note: Recycling companies at www.lamprecycle.org do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by GE or National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) of the companies or their technologies. Persons contacting the listed companies should make their own investigations and determinations about the costs and appropriateness of the activities of the listed companies.
 

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Recycling Household Lamps

Most states do not have special requirements for the disposal of regular household mercury-containing fluorescent lamps including compact fluorescents. However, a few states and localities ban homeowners from disposing of such lamps in normal household trash.

Ballast Recycling

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of industrial chemicals that were widely used before 1979 as insulators in electrical equipment.

Fluorescent lamp ballasts manufactured before 1979 often include a capacitor an electronic device used to store an electrical charge that contains PCBs.

Use and disposal of PCBs is federally regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, so disposal options for PCB-containing ballasts may be limited by federal, state, or local regulations.

PCB-Containing Fluorescent Lamp Ballasts (83 KB)
 

Package Recycling

Most of our commercial lighting products are packaged in cardboard that can be recycled at recycling centers.

Some of our packaging includes a plastic shell or "blister pack" made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC has a SPI resin identification code of 3 (also known as the plastic container code; it is the number you usually see inside the recycle triangle, although it may not be stamped on our packaging). These packages are accepted by recycling centers that allow this code number.