SITA joins FluoroCycle as Foundation Signatory

SITA Environmental Solutions (SITA) has become one of the first Foundation Signatories of FluoroCycle, an initiative of the Australian Government and the Lighting Council of Australia.

As the only Australian waste management company to join as a Foundation Signatory to the scheme, SITA is committed to actively supporting FluoroCycle and the sustainable and ethical recycling of fluorescent lamps for its commercial customers.

"SITA introduced its national fluorescent tube collection and recycling service in 2005," said General Manager, Marketing & Strategy, Simon Lee.

"In 2010, SITA collected over 70 tonnes of fluorescent tubes for recycling. This has resulted in mercury, aluminium, glass and phosphor powder being removed from the general waste stream, recovered and re-used back into the productive economy."

As part of its commitment to the FluoroCycle scheme, SITA has also expanded its collection and recycling service to include both high-intensity discharge (HID) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) mercury-containing light bulbs. HID lamps are used for street lighting and contain between 50 to 1000 mg of mercury. CFLs are mostly used in homes and hotels and, under a new Australian Standard, contain no more than 5 mg of mercury.

FluoroCycle is a voluntary national scheme aimed at reducing the amount of mercury entering the environment through the disposal of mercury-containing lamps directly to landfill. Currently around 95% of mercury-containing lamps end up in landfill.

For more information on SITA’s Fluorescent Tube collection and recycling service, visit SITA. For more information on FluoroCycle, visit www.flurocycle.org.au.