From: "Glenn Meadows" 

It was done as a high pressure power wash to flush all the chemicals off
the glass. Plus the caps were sheared off in a section that did not allow
any of the gases to escape into the work area.  Breaking all the tubes,
then trying to wash would be less efficient to get the chemicals off the
glass pieces.

The beauty of this process, and the recycling in general, was that people
paid him for everything.  They paid him to take the lamps off their hands,
they bought the residual chemicals and glass.  He had a deal with several
large maintenance companies who did re-lamping of large buildings (World
Trade Center was one).  I believe that they did a full re-lamp of each
tower every 2 years, or something like that.

The biggest problem the maintenance companies face, especially in highly
regulated area like NYC, is disposal.  He was aware of several large
warehouses full of used lamps that nobody at the time knew what to do with,
and how to go about recycling them.   Just think of the numbers of lamps
disposed of every year.

--

Glenn M.
"Geo."  wrote in message
news:45eaf5ea$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> "Glenn Meadows"  wrote in message
> news:45eaeccb$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>> I saw the machine in operation, very unique.  A tube was carried into the
>> machine where the ends were sheared off, and the tube washed.  When the
>> glass came out the other side, it was just a hollow clear tube and
>> dropped into a bin to be broken.
>
> I wonder why it couldn't just be broken first then washed? Seems to me
> since there are different sized bulbs this would allow for a more uniform
> process?
>
> Geo.

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