Download the Thorn Lighting and Sustainability brochure

All our suppliers and service providers have to
conform to the required national and international
regulations and company standards which are
defined and specified
Restriction of Hazardous
Substances (RoHS) Directive
Promoting a cleaner
environment by
minimisising harmful
substances in emergency
lighting batteries
The Packaging Directive
The RoHS Directive stands for “the restriction of the use of certain
hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment”. This
directive bans the placing on the EU market of new electrical and
electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of hazardous
substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium), plus two
flame retardants often found in plastics, PBB and PBDE.
All standard catalogued Thorn products designed and manufactured
since 1st July 2006 conform to the requirements.
Following a new environmental focus the new EU Batteries and
Accumulators (rechargeable batteries) Directive (2006/66/EC) came
into force in September 2008 replacing the previous battery directive
(91/157/EEC).
One of its key aims is to effectively ban the use of nickel cadmium
(NiCd), other than for specific exemptions, including emergency
lighting. Naturally, EU officials are concerned about the environmental
and health hazards posed by used batteries which contain toxic metals
such as cadmium, when they go to landfill. Additional aims include
designing for “easy” removal of batteries at end-of-life, more efficient
waste management and better labelling.
Realising that the directive is an important step towards a greener
society, even though emergency lighting products are exempt, and
appreciating that customers are more likely to chose products that
pollute less, Thorn is taking the leading step of using substitutes such as
Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) as a cadmium free replacement for NiCd
batteries in its emergency lighting products. Against the slow response
of most lighting manufacturers the company aims to change-over 50%
of its emergency lighting portfolio by April 30, 2010.
The use of NiMH brings other benefits: they offer greater battery
capacity per volume resulting in smaller units and have superior
recharge characteristics in that they do not suffer from the “memory
effect”. This occurs when a NiCd battery is only partially discharged
before its next recharge. The battery then “forgets” it has the capacity
to further discharge and, although functional, remains stuck at the
lower, partially discharged capacity.
Whilst conducting this conversion program Thorn is also designing
emergency lighting products in such a way that the battery can be
more easily removed.
Packaging legislation is driven by the Packaging & Packaging Waste
Directive (94/62/EC) - which is concerned with minimising the creation
of packaging waste material and promotes energy recovery, re-use
and recycling of packaging. Thorn focusses particularly on packaging
composition, reusability, recoverability, and the ability to recycle.
Voyager LED
In the Voyager LED range the NiMH batteries
are not encased in the LED gear, thus
complying with regulations, avoiding any
operational heat issues and allowing quick
replacement without tools. As well as their
long operating lives, the LEDs employed
offer considerable energy savings. Voyager
LED units typically consume only 15 percent
of the power of a standard solution for the
same light output. They enable designers to
specify fittings that are more aesthetically
pleasing, consume less power, require
smaller power supplies, run for longer
periods than before and give a better quality
of life through a cleaner environment.
Regent Street Project
With the aim to reduce waste, lower cost
and increase efficiency a recent reusable
packaging initiative was designed by
Thorn Spennymoor for the W8 Project on
Regent Street, London. By using reuseable
polypropylene trays with foam inserts (for
product location/separation) that accept
eight modular fluorescent luminaires and
then stretch wrapping them onto pallets
packaging waste has been reduced,
installation speeded up (the fittings were
supplied with flying leads) and
20,000 euros saved.
21