Fact Sheet on Mercury Disclosure Requirements and The New Jersey Lamp Contract

Purchasing for Pollution Prevention: Fact Sheet on Mercury Disclosure Requirements and The New Jersey Lamp Contract (PDF version)

For more information on mercury in lamps, see https://informinc.org/fact-sheets-mercury-containing-lamps. New Jersey required vendors to disclose the amount of mercury in the mercury-containing lamps sold on its 2002 and 2003 contracts for incandescent, HID, and fluorescent lamps (contract T-1092).

For the entire text of the 2003 bid document (not including price lines) for contract T-0192, see https://informinc.org/2003-contract-announcement.  For the entire 2003 contract announcement, see http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase.

• Mercury Disclosure Language Used In New Jersey’s 2003 Contract T-0192: Lamps, Incandescent, HID, Fluorescent, Including Low Mercury (see table below)
• Contract Announcement Mercury Language for New Jersey’s 2003 Contract T-0192: Lamps, Incandescent, HID, Fluorescent, Including Low Mercury (see table below)
• Mercury Content Information Available for Lamps on the 2003 New Jersey Contract T-0192 (see table below)
• Mercury Content Information Available for Lamps on the 2002 New Jersey Contract T-0192 (see table below)

Mercury Disclosure Language Used In New Jersey’s 2003 Contract T-0192: Lamps, Incandescent, HID, Fluorescent, Including Low Mercury

New Jersey used the following language in its May 2003 lamp bid document. See the entire bid document at https://informinc.org/2003-contract-announcement.

Bidders must disclose the amount of mercury, in milligrams, for each mercury-added product bid. Space is provided on the pricing page for mercury content disclosure. Mercury-added products shall be defined as any device to which elemental mercury or mercury compounds are intentionally added.

Contractors may not promote to facility employees the disposal of mercury-containing lamps as non-hazardous waste, even if the lamps are legally designated as non-hazardous waste in this state. Contractors must instead promote the recycling of all mercury-containing lamps.

Contract Announcement Mercury Language for New Jersey’s 2003 Contract T-0192: Lamps, Incandescent, HID, Fluorescent, Including Low Mercury

New Jersey used the following language to inform contract users regarding mercury in lamps. The full contract announcement is at http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t0192.shtml.

When lamps break or are landfilled or incinerated with solid waste, mercury is released to our air and water, increasing the risk of exposure to humans and wildlife that eat contaminated fish. The US Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration have warned children and women of childbearing age in all 50 states not to eat species of fish known to be contaminated with mercury.

“Low mercury” fluorescent tubes, offered by all of the major lighting manufacturers, are rated by manufacturers to last as long as “full dose mercury” lamps.

It is illegal to dispose of most end of life fluorescent and HID lamps in the trash.

All broken mercury containing lamps are hazardous waste, and must be disposed of properly.

Recommendations for lamp requesters:

In accordance with the recommendations of the New Jersey mercury pollution task force, a stakeholder group convened by the Department Of Environmental Protection, the Purchase Bureau urges state agencies and agencies and departments using this contract under cooperative purchasing agreements to:

Purchase “low-mercury” fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent, and high-pressure sodium lamps.

Mercury Content Information Available for Lamps on the 2003 New Jersey Contract T-0192

The information in the following table is taken directly from the contract announcement. Some mercury-added lamps available through the contract are not listed here. For more information, see the contract announcement at http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t0192.shtml or contact the vendors directly.

* Compact fluorescent

† Descriptions incompatible with item numbers

Mercury Content Information Available for Lamps on the 2002 New Jersey Contract T-0192

*Although the New Jersey Notice of Award states that these lamps contain 0.31 to 0.60 mg mercury, Patrick McHugh of Graybar Electric (the vendor) told INFORM on February 13, 2003, that these lamps actually contain 31 to 60 mg of mercury.

† For some styles, the mercury content may average as little as 5.1 mg plus or minus 30 percent, the equivalent of 3.6 mg to 6.6 mg. For other styles, the mercury may average as much as 7.5 plus or minus 30 percent, the equivalent of 5.3 to 9.8 mg. Personal communication, Robert Kilroy, Jewel Electric Supply Company, February 20, 2003.