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PROSSER -- They call it the Bulb Eater, and it's hungry for your spent fluorescent lamps.
Benton Rural Electric Association bought one of the contraptions for its Prosser office about six months ago and recently added another to its West Richland branch. The Bulb Eater's simple appearance -- it's fastened atop an empty 50-gallon oil drum -- belies its Earth-friendly innards.
Fluorescent lamps -- the long tubes that light many offices, schools, hospitals and other buildings -- are funneled into the Bulb Eater's narrow maw, where a vacuum sucks the lamp into its oil-drum belly and obliterates it into thin shards of glass. The tube's toxic mercury vapors are then filtered and trapped in a separate, removable compartment, which needs to be replaced every three years.
The Bulb Eater can consume between 600 and 1,200 fluorescent tubes -- depending on size -- before its stomach fills.
The company that makes the Bulb Eater -- Aircycle -- recycles the devoured lamps.
Troy Berglund, Benton REA's communications and marketing coordinator, said the electric cooperative hasn't filled a Bulb Eater yet, but he expects the machine's use to increase once Benton REA increases its marketing. The Bulb Eater cost about $4,000, including some extra installments, and recycling one container costs Benton REA $400. The machine wasn't purchased to turn a profit -- "There's no financial benefit for us," Berglund said -- but Benton REA is searching for a more economical way to recycle the crushed lamps.
"Once we work out the cost of recycling and find the best way, we'll do commercial demos," Berglund said.
Benton REA members, both individuals and businesses, can drop off used fluorescent lamps at the electric cooperative's Prosser, West Richland and Toppenish offices. Although the Bulb Eater doesn't munch compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFBs, members also can drop those off. Non-members can feed the Bulb Eater as well, but there's a fee -- 6 to 12 cents a foot, depending on the lamp.
Neither Benton nor Franklin PUD offer fluorescent lamp recycling, but Benton PUD does have a program to recycle CFBs. Benton County residents can drop off used fluorescent lamps and CFBs at the Benton County Moderate Risk Waste Facility in Richland.
Kip Eagles, Richland's solid waste manager, said fluorescent lamps and CFBs taken to the waste facility are hauled to the Seattle area, where they are crushed and recycled. "The important thing is they capture the mercury," he said.
Jim Sanders, Benton PUD general manager, has briefly checked out the Bulb Eater online. "It's kind of cool," he said.
Benton REA decided to purchase the Bulb Eater after members indicated through a survey they'd like to recycle fluorescent lamps.
