Written question asked by Lord Vinson (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Monday, 17 January 2011.

Energy: Light Bulbs

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the proposal by the chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy that the ban on incandescent light bulbs should be lifted in view of the dangers to health from mercury contained in energy-saving light bulbs.

Answer: Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) contain a small amount of mercury in order to operate. This is limited by the restriction of hazardous substances directive to 5 mg (and will be further tightened over the next two years). Before the ban on placing 100W incandescent light bulbs on the market came into force in September 2009, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reviewed the potential health effects of mercury exposure from broken CFLs, and found that the exposure was likely to be small and very unlikely to cause harm. The HPA has published a factsheet on mercury and CFLs containing precautionary guidance on how to deal with any broken bulbs which is available on the HPA website. CFLs also cause less mercury to be emitted to the environment over their life time than incandescent light bulbs. This is because mercury is emitted from power stations during electricity generation. As CFLs are more energy efficient, less energy needs to be generated. Nevertheless, they should be disposed of responsibly. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) requires CFLs to be recycled. WEEE requires distributors to take back used electrical equipment. In the UK many retailers have opted instead to pay into a central distributor take-back scheme, which has funded many local authority recycling sites. From these sites, manufacturers are obliged to fund the transport, treatment and recycling, where most of the mercury can be recovered.

Secondary information