Govt consults Lighting Council on product stewardship

Lighting Council Australia met recently with consultants undertaking product stewardship modelling for the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to make sure the modelling being used reflects the dynamic state of the lighting market, including:

• the longer life and reduced energy consumption of LED products;
• the proposed halogen lamp phase-out in Australia;
• the Minamata convention ban on mercury vapour lamps and proposed ban on fluorescent lamps;
• the decreasing volume in the lamp market (~64% decline between 2006 and 2020) due to the ban on incandescent lamps and the move to longer-life lamps;
• the 69% decrease in the linear fluorescent lamp market between 2015 and 2020 and the move to integrated LED luminaires, particularly in the commercial market;
• EU regulations moving to include replaceable component requirements and international standards accommodating this change;
• the phase-out of fluorescent lamps in the European Union by late 2023 due to the European Commission’s Single Lighting Regulation and Reduction of Hazardous Substances regulation;
• European regulations’ influence over the Australian market due to the size of the EU market and global manufacturers seeking to minimise their global market offering.
   

Lighting Council Australia undertakes two product stewardship schemes, Fluorocycle and ExitCycle, that remove hazardous chemicals (eg, mercury and cadmium) from the environment. The Council plans to expand the scope of its product stewardship activities going forward.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/voyata