Fluorescent bulbs, lamps and tubes are gas discharge lamps that use electricity to excite mercury vapour in argon or neon gas. The result is plasma which produces ultra-violet light which in turn causes a phosphor to fluoresce producing the well known visible light we see from thousands of fluorescent tubes as we go about our daily life.
A fluorescent tube is made from approximately 94% glass, 4% ferrous and non ferrous metals and 2% phosphor powders. The Environment Agency has deemed that fluorescent tubes be classified as hazardous due to the fact that the Mercury from 1 Fluorescent tube will pollute 30,000 litres of water to a level considered unsafe to drink; and so require specific recycling.
The process starts by crushing the bulbs into very small particles and passing them through a separation unit. The glass which is coated with the phosphor powder (containing mercury) steel and aluminium are separated using a vibrating mesh screen and magnets to separate the metal. All metals are granulated further and then are supplied to end users.
The powder coated glass trammels into a rotary drum where an air stream carries the powder into a distiller for separation. The powder is then heated to condense the mercury so that it may be separated from the phosphor powder and when collected the mercury, which is 99.99% pure is sold to end users in order to close the recycling loop.