Lamp Memo

DATE: July 9, 1999
TO: DSWM Staff and Interested Persons
FROM: Mike Apple, Director
Division of Solid Waste Management

SUBJECT: Policy Statement -- Mercury-Containing Lamps

Effective July 19, 1999, mercury containing lamps are considered to be a hazardous waste in Tennessee under certain conditions. They will be regulated under Rule 1200-1-11-.12 Standards For Universal Waste Management. These lamps include, but are not limited to, fluorescent, high intensity discharge, neon, high pressure sodium, mercury vapor and metal halide lamps.

The following memos and Policy Statement regarding mercury containing lamps, ballasts, and transformers are all revoked effective July 19, 1999:

· Wayne Gregory's memo dated January 30, 1995 stating the opinion that used fluorescent lamps are characteristic by-products, not spent materials.
· Wayne Gregory's memo dated February 10, 1995 to Mimi Vreeland restating the same opinion as above;
· Tom Tiesler's memo dated June 6, 1996 regarding fluorescent lamps, ballasts and transformers;
· Tom Tiesler's Policy Statement dated September 10, 1996 referencing households and Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators; and
· Tom Tiesler's clarification memo dated March 16, 1998 concerning the inclusion of High Intensity Discharge Lamps (HID) and the handling of ballasts and transformers.

Again, all the above policies/memos are revoked effective July 19, 1999.

The household hazardous waste exemption under Rule 1200-1-11-.02(1)(d)2(i) remains in effect. By policy, the Division has set out that households are also exempt from special waste requirements. Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators (CESQG's) may continue to dispose of 15 or less fluorescent tubes per month in a Subtitle D Sanitary landfill. All others must send their bulbs for recycling, make a hazardous waste determination using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) or have sufficient knowledge and information about the bulbs to prove they are not hazardous if they are destined for disposal, or actually handle them as a hazardous waste. If the lamps fail the TCLP, or exhibit any other characteristic, they are hazardous waste and are fully subject to regulations under Rule Chapter 1200-1-11. For generators of hazardous wastes, mercury-containing lamps regulated under Rule 1200-1-11-.12 Standards For Universal Waste Management do not require a waste stream notification and are not to be included in generator status calculations.

If the lamps do not exhibit a characteristic of hazardous waste and are not mixed with a listed hazardous waste, then they are not hazardous wastes. The disposal of this non-hazardous waste shall be in accordance with Tennessee Rule Chapter 1200-1-7, the Division's Solid Waste Regulations. They may still be subject to a "special waste approval" prior to actual disposal.

The Department of Environment and Conservation encourages everyone to recycle.

Ballasts and transformers are to be addressed in a separate policy memorandum.

JMA/GEI/bc-mrc-memo