Ray Molony, Editor of The Circular Lighting Report, had the pleasure of sitting down with Lucie Sidwell, Global Operations Director of Lucent Lighting, to discuss the measures Lucent, as a global lighting manufacturer, is taking to cut its environmental impact.

Lucent Lighting has acted as a pioneer in the industry, working with sustainability at the forefront of its manufacturing process. Lucie explains how the company started on their journey towards producing more sustainable lighting products, “We knew that we had to do something, we had to change the culture of waste in the industry, and we are incredibly committed to being part of that. We began by analysing our packaging and reducing our use of plastics, before focusing on modularity of our ranges. We were lucky to already have 80% of our ranges completely modular in design, but we made the conscious decision to continue promoting modularity in everything we make going forward.”

Lucent boasts a variety of accreditations, including ISO 14001, an EcoVadis Silver Medal, and was awarded Carbon Neutral status in 2021 and 2023. They have also introduced their own initiative, ProCycle, which offers a 20-year duty of care following the supply of luminaires. Once a luminaire reaches the end of its life, the LED and driver can be returned to Lucent for refurbishment of the LED module, while the driver is re-supplied with a new 5-year warranty.

“I completed a course on the circular economy and sustainability strategies which has helped me to understand on a global scale what we need to be achieving within the company, which we have implemented with the launch of ProCycle,” Lucie adds. “The sustainability of the company and products we produce is a constant part of our processes; in management meetings we are always discussing what more we can be doing and what client bases are calling out for.”

Although strides have been made in the industry, Ray and Lucie discussed the remaining stigma of reusing luminaires, “Although the reuse of luminaires is increasing, we have still got a way to go in the industry before this will be accepted into all projects. For example, we brought out a range of raw aluminium projects – as soon as paint or a finish is applied to this, the sustainability of it is reduced. We are happy to offer the solution, but it is up to the clients to decide how far they want to go with that.

“Whether the margins are there on reconditioned products remains to be seen, but we are prepared to give it a chance by delving deeper into the Procycle initiative and receiving stock to be reconditioned and used for other projects.”

There is increased demand from specifiers for products to have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and Lucie explains how Lucent have incorporated this into their products, but also discusses the challenges this presents. “We have a department dedicated to producing EPDs and life cycle analysis for our products, and 14001 for tender documents, as it is important for specifiers to have this information in order to make the most sustainable choice.

“The issue for us is that we work on a global scale, and different countries and clients have different requirements to work to. We encourage a standard format across the market to make it easier for manufacturers to supply the agreed requirements for each client. If we work together we can make it easier for manufacturers, specifiers, suppliers and clients to make more sustainable choices in lighting products.”

The Circular Lighting Report is sponsored by Recolight, the UK’s leading specialist WEEE compliance scheme for the lighting industry.