Pensacola Recycling Inc

Although fluorescent lighting saves energy and money, it presents a special disposal consideration. Recycling solves this problem by separating the crushed components into reusable mercury, glass, aluminum, lead, copper and ash. None of the byproducts go to landfills - all materials are sold to industries and reused.

Florida has some of the toughest disposal prohibitions in the country on mercury-containing lamps. As of July 1, 1994, commercially-used fluorescent lamps may only be disposed of through a landfill designated for hazardous waste or through a special recycling process. There are no hazardous waste disposal sites in the state of Florida.Pensacola Recycling - please recyclePensacola Recycling, Inc. has specialized in mercury recycling since 1995. For information about how we can help you dispose of your fluorescent lamps or other listed materials, call 850 432-7833.We also recycle HID lamps, batteries, devices containing mercury, ballast from flourescent lamps, computer parts, and a range of other materials.

Recycling Services

Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Go Green - do the right thingFluorescent lamps and mercury vapor lamps contain mercury and may be considered hazardous waste. Because of this, they must be properly disposed.

Alkaline/Nicad Batteries

Battery recycling protects our environment from heavy metal contamination. Batteries that are generated by households in small quantities or in large quantities from industrial facilities are in most cases considered hazardous waste and must be managed properly.

Devices Containing Mercury

Thermostats with 1 ampoule, thermostats with 2 ampoule, thermometers less than 10', thermometers 10' or more, barometers less than 20', barometers greater than 20', blood pressure devices, pressure gauges, conductors, float switches, relays, switches, gauges, medical apparatus.

Ballast - PCB & Non-PCB

Fluorescent light ballasts manufactured prior to 1979 contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are an excellent insulator that doesn't burn, which is why they were used. Those same characteristics are what cause PCBs to be considered hazardous. They do not readily break down when released into the environment. This substance is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Computer Parts

GO Green - do the right thingThe EPA has estimated that by 2004 more than 315 million computers will become obsolete throughout the United States.Computer parts can now be recycled thorugh Escambia County Solid Waste Management at no charge. For more information, please contact their office at 850 937-2160.

Mercury's Rising Impact by Environmental Protection

Mercury is getting a lot of attention, both in the popular press and in state and federal regulatory agencies. Combustion systems, like coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, incinerators, and cement kilns, are sources of mercury emissions to the air. This article outlines the mercury emission regulations that apply to different combustion systems and the best demonstrated means to control these emissions from combustion sources. This article focuses on utility and industrial combustion systems because they are the highest emitters and face the greatest reductions and tightest scrutiny.The primary exposure route to mercury for humans is through eating fish. Mercury concentrations in the air are very low and don’t represent a direct health threat, but mercury in the air deposits on land and water, finding its way to lakes and rivers, where bacterial action transforms it into a highly toxic form (methyl mercury), which builds up in fish. The annual global mercury emissions from all sources, natural and anthropogenic (human-caused), total roughly 6,600 to 7,200 short tons (non-metric tons) per year. The United States contributes an estimated 5 percent of the global human-caused mercury emissions (or about 167 short tons). Figure 1 shows the contributions from various industrial sectors in the United States to air emissions of mercury.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently limits emissions of mercury from certain categories of combustion sources on an annual basis, as outlined in Table 1. EPA uses a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standard under the Clean Air Act to specify control technologies for mercury emissions from most combustion sources, with the exception of coal-fired power plants. For incinerators and municipal waste combustors, the MACT standard is based on input feed rates to the combustor. The MACT standard for coal-fired industrial boilers specifies mercury emissions verification either by control of mercury in the fuel or by periodic stack testing.

Origins of Mercury Emissions

Go Green - do the right thingMost combustion sources in the United States are subject to limits on mercury emissions from the stack. How does mercury get into the stack and how can these emissions be controlled?

Incinerators burn a variety of materials, many of which contain mercury. Common household items like batteries, lamps and pharmaceuticals may contain mercury. Hazardous waste incinerators can process common industrial wastes, like residues from industrial or commercial painting operations, metal-cleaning fluids and lubricants, electronic industry solvents, or solvents from automotive aftermarket operations Combustion boilers that burn coal make up a significant portion of industrial mercury emissions. The mercury content of coal is low, on the order of 100 parts per billion by weight, but electric utilities and industrial users burned about one billion short tons of coal in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Pensacola Recycling - please recycleWhen coal or other fuel is burned in a boiler at combustion temperatures well above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, all of the mercury vaporizes as its gaseous elemental form. In coal combustion systems, mercury can be present in the flue gas in concentrations between 0.5 and 5 parts per billion by volume (4 and 45 ?g/dsm3). Concentrations of mercury in the flue gas can be much higher in municipal and hazardous waste combustors.

Air Pollution Control Arsenal

Go Green - do the right thingThe air pollution control equipment in use at boilers and incinerators can remove gaseous oxidized mercury and mercury bound to ash particles. The elemental form of mercury is relatively insoluble in water and thus is difficult to capture in air pollution control devices, since it has a high vapor pressure and is not soluble in scrubbing solutions. Particulate control devices, like fabric filters (FFs) and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), collect any mercury that is adsorbed on the ash particles.

Flue gas desulphurization (FGD) units remove about 90 percent of the gaseous oxidized mercury, but almost none of the elemental mercury in the flue gas. In fact, some wet FGD systems actually emit more elemental mercury than enters, because of chemical reactions that take place in the scrubbing solution.The mercury removal rates shown in Figure 2 have been sorted by type of coal because there are several aspects of coal type that affect the formation of oxidized mercury and particulate mercury. Bituminous coals in the United States contain much more chlorine than subbituminous coals or lignites. Chlorine is the principal halogen in coal that oxidizes mercury. The amount of unburned carbon in the ash tends to be higher in bituminous-fired boilers, and unburned carbon in ash has been shown to be effective both at catalyzing the oxidation of mercury and in adsorbing gaseous mercury.

Conclusion

Carbon Injection RateCombustion sources emit a significant amount of mercury to the air. In the United States, emissions of mercury will be regulated by 2010 for all major stationary combustion source categories, principally coal-fired boilers and incinerators. There will be a growing need in the United States to monitor mercury inputs and emissions, and, in some cases, to control mercury emissions. For some types of combustion sources, mercury control technology can already achieve high rates of removal. However, further research and development is under way to improve mercury removal rates for certain combinations of fuels and existing air pollution control equipment.