LED lamps waste in Canada: Generation and characterization

Lamps and lighting products are the most commonly used electrical products around the globe. With the improvement in lamp technologies, products have grown complex and hence require an improved recycling process. Light emitting diode (LED) lamps consist of various valuable and hazardous metals such as copper, aluminum, iron, zinc, lead, arsenic, and antimony. This paper provides an estimation of the waste LED lamps generation in Canada. It shows that the cumulative waste from LED lamps is expected to reach 12 kT by 2021. A characterization of LED lamps was also conducted to estimate the metal concentration and landfill leachate toxicity characteristics, which have not yet been studied with a bulk sample. The results showed that aluminum is the major metal present in LED lamps with a concentration of over 22%, followed by iron, copper, and zinc. It also showed the presence of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and antimony. On the contrary to the previous study, the landfill leachate concentration for waste LED lamps was found to be lower than the British Columbia (BC) landfill limits for all metals.