LED lighting has many advantages over older-style metal halide modules in relation to control, colour temperature options and efficiency. However, one aspect that dogs the industry is that when components fail, the whole fitting has to be swapped out, consuming more raw materials and using large amounts of energy in the recycling process. This is why a low-cost, sustainable solution is on the horizon – ready for council sporting facilities to adopt.
LED lights, although more efficient, create more wastage compared with metal halide modules, where bulbs were simply replaced – which is not only more expensive, but not sustainable for the environment.
Every day failed lights are being recycled completely or even sent to landfill, along with the heavy components made from extractive mining – wasting precious resources.
Due to this, more needs to be done to find a low-cost and sustainable lighting solution for companies and organisations, such as council sporting facilities, to adopt.
Reducing waste with a new initiative
Legacy Lighting has a vision for a more sustainable path for LED lighting and is committed to making this a reality with its new Legacy Loop recycling program.
LEDs have progressed very rapidly for the ten years leading up to 2022 with new sizes, output and iterations coming out every few months from every manufacturer.
During this period there has been massive increases in light output, efficiency, and durability, however with the overall trend slowing, improvements are becoming more incremental, and the pace of quantum change is slowing.
Legacy Lighting, as an Australian lighting manufacturer, has come up with a recycle scheme whereby LED panels can be replaced as old ones fail, or are superseded by newer, more efficient versions.
This is done by committing to maintaining PC boards with the same environmental footprint over the long term, ensuring that for decades into the future these boards will be able to be replaced inexpensively and sustainably.
Better for the club: save money and the planet
All LED lights consist of a heatsink (aluminium), a PC board with LEDs and a form of lighting control as an optic or reflector, with Legacy Lighting using optics made from PMMA.
This means that of the key components only the PC board and LEDs are likely to degrade over the long term, and in 15 years’ time when the lights need an upgrade to meet current standards, PC boards can be replaced, reusing the existing heatsink and optic.
The cost for the upgrade would be roughly 30 per cent of what a new fitting would cost, but more importantly, no waste would be entering landfill and the only part needing to be recycled would be the old aluminium PC boards.
Depending on the location the upgrade can be done on site, or sent back to Legacy Lighting for upgrade.
An upgrade involves removing the lights and then reinstating them after, which would typically take two to four weeks, depending on the size and scale of the project.
Massively reduce waste
Working with Legacy Lighting PC board manufacturers can ensure an on-going supply of boards which can be used for many years to come.
The design of the system will also allow adaptation of new materials as they become available, staying with the vision of reducing waste and recycling, and creating overall better product life cycles.
Legacy means leaving something behind for others to enjoy, and doesn’t only involve lighting fields to provide these moments during sport, but creating an environment that will ensure preservation of resources long into the future.
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by Legacy Lighting.
Legacy Lighting has national coverage within Australia and is able to arrange site visits for assessment of an existing system and quotations to upgrade to the current Australian Standards.
For more information visit: legacysportlighting.com/
