Fluorescent Light Compression/Containment

"Disposal of spent fluorescent lamps everywhere, and on ships in particular, is made difficult by the hazardous levels of both liquid and vaporous mercury they contain. Existing practice is storing whole lamps for on-shore disposal, which is both expensiveand dangerous - storage space, unnecessary handling, accidental breakage (due to the handling of long tubes of glass in confined areas) with related vapor releases, and higher final disposal cost are common deterrents.We propose a drum-mounted, lamp-crushing machine with powder and mercury vapor capture to allow for safe and clean compacting of spent lamps at sea. The machine will be simple to operate, durable and extremely compact: machine and the waste containercombined will be no larger than 24x34x40" high. Having manufactured and sold more than 3000 lamp crushing systems worldwide, we will draw on our ten plus years of experience to optimize a system for the Navy.Air Cycle proposes either a secondary on-ship purifying system designed to remove remaining mercury from the containerized lamp waste or a low cost nationwide recycling program currently offered by Air Cycle to pick up, transport, and recycle the lampwaste at designated, permitted recycling facilities. Because we are already a commercial business manufacturing lamp crushers, we can immediately capitalize on the products that will come out of this effort."