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While fluorescent lamps, commonly used in lighting commercial office space have four times the energy efficiency of conventional lighting, they contain mercury powder, which can be released to the environment if not disposed of properly. Even new “low mercury” lamps contain 3 milligrams of mercury, which can add up, since an estimated 1.8 billion lamps are being used in the United States.
Unfortunately, nearly 75 percent of these lamps are not being recycled after
use. Three Maryland area property managers, Trammell Crow Company, and
Transwestern Commercial Services, are committed to leading the way to recycling
spent fluorescent lamps. These companies have joined Businesses for the Bay, a
free, voluntary pollution prevention promotion and recognition program for
organizations located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Trammell Crow, the largest property management company of commercial office
space in the Northern Virginia, D.C., Maryland metropolitan area, manages 270
properties and over 22 million square feet with more than 2 million lamps in
use. Trammell-Crow will be collecting all of the spent bulbs at these facilities
through a contract with Esquire Environmental Services, Inc. and AERC Recycling
Solutions. Trammell-Crow will use a combination of drum-top crushers,
“recycle-by-mail,” and lamp pick up.
Trammell Crow Vice President for Facilities Operations Mark Polhemus is
championing the effort and hopes that the company will follow his region’s lead
across the country. “Trammell Crow’s portfolio of buildings is changing
constantly,” he said. “Therefore, we understand how important it is to make sure
that the environmental side of the house is in order – just to minimize risks
and liabilities. It makes good business sense, plus it’s the right thing to do
for the environment.”.
“We’ve also just begun a new program – making each of our properties
responsible for retrieving all lamps, ballasts and batteries from contractors
that perform work at the property,” said Gary Le Francois, Transwestern Vice
President and Director of Engineering. “That includes light retrofit projects
and tenant improvement work. We believe this new program removes any doubt that
these potentially hazardous materials will be handled properly at Transwestern
properties,”
Esquire Environmental Services, Inc., a contractor and consultant for
fluorescent lamp recycling based in McLean, Va., is a Businesses for the Bay
partner and has been instrumental in encouraging these property management
companies to enroll in the program. To date, 23 Transwestern facilities in the
Chesapeake Bay watershed (including 11 in Maryland), and 14 Trammell Crow
facilities (including five in Maryland), have all joined Businesses for the Bay
and committed to track their waste reduction efforts. Thanks to the initiative
of these leading property management companies, we should be seeing some
impressive results in future years.
For more information on fluorescent bulb recycling, go to www.lamprecycle.org and www.mdrecycles.org To join Businesses for the Bay, call 1-800-YOURBAY, ext. 719, or visit www.b4bay.org. To see previous Businesses for the Bay member spotlights, go to www.mde.state.md.us/BusinessInfoCenter/PollutionPrevention
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