Blog – LED Lighting Information

How will Washington State’s new recycling law impact fluorescent and HID prices? Will other states follow suit?

 If you’re a follower of this blog, you know that we always like to fill you in about LED lighting and why it’s the best lighting choice. Here’s just one little tidbit that speaks volumes. This notice dropped into my email box on Tuesday 12/30 at 1 PM. It was from a supplier of ours which offers both LED and fluorescent lamps. Effective January 1st, 2015, the State of Washington will be launching a new recycling program called LightRecycle Washington. The purpose of this new program is to create a plan to help fund the recycling of all mercury-containing lights in the State of Washington. All retailers are required to add an Environmental Handling Charge (EHC) to the purchase price of any mercury-containing light sold at retail in or into Washington State. Mercury- containing lights are defined by LightRecycle as any CFL, Fluorescent or HID lamp. The EHC has been set by LightRecycle at $0.25 per lamp. Am I ever so glad we don’t focus on anything but LEDs? Yikes! Somehow in two business days, I’d have to reprice all of the items and set up a means of tracking and remitting the EHC and making sure all employees are trained, as a surcharge like this impacts volume quotes as well as retail pricing. $0.25 per lamp doesn’t sound like a lot but consider just how much time it will take the accounting folks to track and fill out returns and remit the EHC. How do we program our shopping cart to charge a customer in Washington $9.25 and a customer in Utah $9.00? And … just how much is this programming cost going to be? And, what if other States take a tip from Washington and do likewise? Talk about a stinking can of bad worms. How do I read this? I think Washington State is sending a loud message to their residents. They know that mercury-containing lights will find their way into their landfills and they don’t like it. They are pretty much saying don’t sell this stuff, don’t buy this stuff, and don’t ship this stuff into our State! Bravo Washington! Once again, I am very glad we don’t have this accounting nightmare to deal with in two days. We sell only LED light bulbs which are RoHS compliant. RoHS is the acronym for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. The substances banned under RoHS are lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (CrVI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). If you ever really have to replace a LED bulb … toss it in the general trash. No harm, no foul, no EHC’s to pay. And believe me, although the seller is the one who has to collect and pay the ECH’s … you, the consumer will pay in the long run with higher pricing on these mercury-containing items. Let’s start the New Year out right and think LED for everything that provides light! Happy and prosperous New Year to you all. We look forward to serving you.

By: Mary Wecker