Lamp Maintenance, Relamping & Recycling (How Many Salon Owners Does It Take ...)

Perhaps the smartest solution to avoid penalty is to spring for recycling of spent lamps. Of course, the biggest problem with recycling is the cost-benefit dilemma, Myers says—it’s often a question of whether owners can afford to pay recyclers to come to the door and pick up a box of used lamps. In order to maximize the benefit and minimize the cost, he suggests recycling in volume. This is because most recycling companies charge by volume—so, it’s cheaper to have them pick up a hundred lamps at 4 cents per linear foot than it is for them to pick up two dozen for 50 cents per linear foot. If you do choose to recycle in volume, be sure to store spent lamps in their original cardboard sleeves or box, and if the lamp is cracked or broken, place it inside a sealable plastic bag. Until you transport the lamps, keep them somewhere safe, and mark the box “hazardous.”

Ultimately, regularly changing and properly disposing of your tanning lamps will make your life easier—and your salon more profitable—even though it may seem to make more work for you now. So, forget the three Rs you learned in grade school. Salon owners need only remember the two Rs of tanning lamps: replace and recycle.

The Recycling Process

Some people wonder how exactly how lamp-recycling benefits the environment. If the recycler crushes the lamps, doesn’t the mercury become exposed anyway? Isn’t that the same problem that occurs when trashing the lamps instead of recycling them? Not exactly ... here’s a breakdown of the process and benefit:

• The lamps are transported to a large, controlled facility in whole form.
• Under controlled, positive pressure, a machine crushes the glass surrounding the lamp. No mercury is released into the air.
• The metals are separated and sold to companies that can use them. (Note: Glass is useful in making asphalt.)
• The mercury vapor created from crushing the lamps condenses into liquid form where it can, once again, be solidified and reused. The end result is mercury that is actually cheaper to buy than virgin mercury.