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Vision Recycling
Established in February 2019, Vision Recycling Ltd recycles waste electrical and electronic items, specialising in the recycling of flat screen televisions and monitors in compliance with EU WEEE directives.
It is widely acknowledged that an increasing amount of flat panel displays will be entering the waste stream over the next 5 to 10 years, with a significant proportion of these being hazardous Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) products containing fluorescent backlights.
The amount of mercury in a fluorescent lamp varies from 3 to 46 mg, depending on lamp size and age. Newer lamps contain less mercury and the 3–4 mg versions are sold as low-mercury types. A typical 2006-era 4 ft (122 cm) T-12 fluorescent lamp contains about 5 milligrams of mercury. Mercury is essential to a fluorescent bulb’s ability to emit light; no other element has proved as efficient. As effective as it is at enabling white light, however, mercury—sometimes called quicksilver—is also highly toxic. The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested. Vision Recycling wanted to implement both a mobile mercury monitoring capability for general plant safety use and a stand-alone fixed-point analyser in an enclosure to police a potential vapour “hot spot”. The company selected the proven Jerome J405 Gold Film Mercury Vapour Analyser as recommended by ABLE, who offered to custom build the system enclosure. A 15-minute sampling regime will be used with integral beacon illumination to indicate both normal operation and the exceeding of a pre-set vapour concentration threshold.