A Suitability Study of Using Crushed Fluorescent Lamp Waste as Fine Aggregates

Fluorescent lamp wastes are one of the discarded electrical devices. These lamp wastes pose serious health concerns, and require extreme care in its disposal to avoid any adverse impacts. Also, with the widespread use of energy efficient LED lamps for lighting purposes, environmental concerns related to disposal of used mercury containing fluorescent lamps have become progressively important. This paper explores the possibility of replacement of fine aggregates in mortar with different proportions of fluorescent lamp wastes in order to find the optimum percentage of replacement to get better properties. Fluorescent lamp wastes were collected and crushed to the grading of fine aggregates. Compressive strength and bulk density of mortar cubes with 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacement of fine aggregates with fluorescent lamp wastes were evaluated after 7 days of initial curing. The compressive strength and bulk density of mortar was found to be decreasing with increasing percentage of lamp waste added. The replacement of fine aggregate by 25% lamp waste has greater strength compared to other proportions. Bulk density was found to be lesser at higher replacement levels and can be tried in producing light weight mortar. The utilization of lamp waste in mortar/concrete is a noble attempt in reducing the negative impact of lamp wastes on the environment.