Plastic: the fatal flaw in LEDs

Light-emitting diodes illuminate cell phones, traffic lights, toys and many other everyday items, but are they green? Compared to compact fluorescent lights, LEDs burn hotter and carry a hefty price tag, which are definite drawbacks. But they’re also compact, durable and energy-efficient. They're in the running to replace incandescent bulbs as our dominant source of light, but there's one significant component that keeps LEDs being truly green: plastic.
 
LEDs are typically coated with plastic resin, which is manufactured from oil and poses both environmental and health risks. The waste produced by this casing may offset all of the energy savings gained from using LEDs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's profile of plastic resins, the process of manufacturing the pellets that form plastic produces waste from leaks, spills and even equipment cleaning, which contaminates water with a concentration of organics, acids and salts. 
 
The pellets, also known as nurdles, often find their way into water systems where they are ingested by turtles, fish and other marine life. According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, a single pound of plastic can hold about 22,000 pellets. The EPA has also begun to speak out on the detrimental effects plastic can have on our health, especially in regards to bisphenol-A.
 
Though scarce, some companies are using biodegradable and recycled plastics to make their products safer. Nighthack sells hacky sacks made with non-toxic battery cells and recycled plastic beads while Solestrella markets keylights made from biodegradable plastic. Swarovsky's Swareflex division is hoping to increase the brightness of LEDs by doing away with plastic entirely and replacing it with glass, as Mike Magee from techeye.com reports. Legislation is also putting pressure on businesses to green up. The Electronic Waste Recycling Act in California regulates the amount of electronic waste that businesses are permitted to produce. The United Kingdom encourages the collection and treatment of its own used products with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act.
 
It's questionable, however, how smart it is to recycle plastics at all. Re-processing a material such as plastic requires intensive labor and doesn't remove harmful chemicals like BPA. The organization Ecology Center believes it's better to simply use less in the first place. If we stop the flow of waste at the source, there will be no need for collection, processing and treatment - all of which require energy.
 
"When the equation includes the energy used to synthesize the plastic resin, making plastic containers uses as much energy as making glass containers from virgin materials, and much more than making glass containers from recycled materials."
 
The news site Ecoworld even argues that there is more than enough room for landfills and that burying these toxins is better than breaking them down and putting them back into the supply chain.
 
If you want to skirt the dilemma of buying new versus recycled, you can get in the spirit of DIY and make your own LEDs out of bamboo and bags, or basic trash, like these chandeliers made of bottles, pens and bicycle chains. 
 
Recycled or not, the fact is that the presence of plastic in electronics is keeping them from being truly green. The focus has been more on the lights themselves and less on the material that surrounds them. So is the devil in the details or do we have bigger fish to fry? Though small now, the market for LEDs is growing and it represents a chance to light our world more sustainably than ever before.