A significant and growing source of mercury waste is contained in the millions of fluorescent/HID lamps discarded annually. Thanks to technologies developed in part by Mercury Technologies of Minnesota, an American company, it is feasible to crush and separate the component parts of spent lamps.

On July 6, 1999, the US EPA published in the Federal Register (40 CFR Parts 260, 261, 264, 265, 268, 270 and 273) - "Hazardous Waste Management System; Modification of the Hazardous Waste Program; Hazardous Waste Lamps; Final Rule". This added hazardous waste lamps to the federal list of universal wastes (UW) regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and was effective on January 6, 2000. With the Universal Waste Rule, Generators, Small Quantity Handlers and Transporters cannot dispose of deemed hazardous in municipal landfills, and must either (a) manage them as a fully regulated hazardous waste with all the RCRA requirements and a Hazardous Waste manifest, or (b) recycle them at a permitted Destination Facility with reduced requirements and use of a Bill of Lading.