Liquid Mercury Free Energy Saving Lamps from Megaman

MEGAMAN® Energy Saving Lamps are Liquid Mercury Free

MEGAMAN® has employed AMALGAM in manufacturing its full series of energy saving lamps starting from January 2008, making all its products FREE from liquid mercury ever. By adopting this liquid mercury free policy, MEGAMAN® is able to minimize the environmental impact at different stages of product life cycle. This act would protect not only the workers during production and transportation, but also the end-users upon usage and disposal from exposure to liquid mercury.

What is Amalgam

Amalgam is an alloy of mercury combined with other metals. It is in a stable solid form under room temperature. It is a more eco-friendly and safer alternative to liquid mercury because mercury vapour would not be released until it reaches around 100°C under atmospheric pressure. Why Amalgam is more Eco-friendly

At room temperature, the mercury inside the Amalgam is concealed inside the metal alloy and would not escape even if the lamp breaks. Amalgam will not pose health hazard to the people and pollute the environment. The use of Amalgam makes the lamp even easier and safer to handle on disposal. Moreover, it would not lead to land and water contamination even if the lamps were not properly recycled.

MEGAMAN® Energy Saving Lamps contain Less Mercury

Technological advancements have enabled modern compact fluorescent lamps to deliver excellent illumination performance with Amalgam at minimal mercury levels (less than 2mg). This is far less mercury than in other items in the house, e.g. batteries (5-25 mg), thermometers (500 mg), etc.

MEGAMAN® Energy Saving Lamps on average contain mercury less than 2mg. It is far below the 5mg limit set by the EU environmental regulation. For example, a MEGAMAN® GSU111i in 11 Watt contains 1.3mg of mercury only.

Moreover, research has revealed that compact fluorescent lamps actually work to minimize mercury from being released into the air by power plants, where it affects our health the most. According to the statistics provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the highest source of mercury in our air comes from burning fossil fuels, such as coal. 70% of power plants are coal fired and hence burn fossil fuel to produce energy. These power plants in general emit 10mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4mg of mercury required to run a compact fluorescent lamp for the same time. In other words, compact fluorescent lamps are responsible for less mercury than incandescent bulbs.

Mercury in Amalgam can be Recycled and Reused

In its solid form, the mercury inside Amalgam can be collected, recycled and reused more readily. Since Amalgam will not release mercury vapour when it is exposed under room temperature, it will not pose health hazard to the people and pollute the environment.

About Mercury

Mercury is considered to be a naturally occurring toxic element that poses health hazards to human beings and damages to the environment. However, compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) require mercury vapour for efficient operation. Nowadays, technological advancement has allowed CFL to deliver high quality illumination performance with Amalgam, an eco-form of mercury. As liquid mercury poses potential danger in case of lamp breakage, Amalgam is getting popular for use in CFL made by social responsible manufacturers.
Note: http://www.ec.gc.ca/MERCURY/SM/EN/sm-mcp.cfm?SELECT=SM

In case of lamp breakage

It's safe! Even when a MEGAMAN® energy saving lamp breaks, there is NO health hazard or pollution problem posed to people or the environment as we use amalgam instead of liquid mercury during manufacturing.

When your MEGAMAN® energy saving lamp breaks, simply handle it as you would handle a broken glass.

Carefully sweep up the broken glass tube and scoop up all the fragments and powder. Keep it in a safe place to prevent injury caused by the broken glass.

All parts of the lamp, including the glass tube, the amalgam, the lamp housing and the lamp base, can be recycled. We recommend that these materials are returned to any collection centre for proper recycling.