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Author Archives: Southern Lamps

  1. We Are Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary!

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    We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year!

    To put that into perspective, 2001 was the year that Wikipedia went live, a gallon of gas cost $1.46, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Microsoft released Windows XP, and the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists.

    In the years since, we saw Facebook grow to over 1.55 billion users, astronomers declassified Pluto as a planet, the world experienced a global economic slowdown, three Star Wars movies were released, and we witnessed the rise of Apple including the release of the iPod, iMac, and iPhone.

    Although the world may have changed quite a bit in the past 20 years we are the same family-owned and operated business and we owe much of our success to our loyal customers. We look forward to working with our valued customer for another 20 years and more!

    -Your friends at Southern Lamps, Inc.

  2. UV Lamp Disposal and Recycling

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    Like most organizations, Southern Lamps strives to be environmentally and socially conscious. As a result, we have disposal and recycling procedures in place. Since UV lamps contain mercury, we need to ensure that all lamps that are ready for disposal are handled properly. Mercury is a highly toxic material and must be properly disposed of when the item is removed from use. Whenever possible, disposal and recycling facilities try to extract mercury from reusable materials and distills it reuse in a variety of applications. Non-reusable materials are thermally destroyed.

    We use a local company that is equipped and specializes in disposing of and recycling components of various types of lamps like UV, fluorescent, incandescent, halogen, neon, and argon lamps/bulbs and other items like thermometers and thermostats that contain small amounts of mercury and must be handled very carefully. The recycling facility manages almost all aspects of the bulb disposal process in house by operating the very best processing equipment. For example, they use mercury retort ovens to remove mercury from phosphorus powder and triple distillation equipment to recycle mercury back to virgin specification.

  3. UV Industry of the Month: Face Masks

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    Did you know that face masks can be personalized by using UV inks/coatings by using digital, pad, and screen printing? Face masks have become a new way of life and along with that comes another application that utilizes UV lamps. As there is an increasing demand for face masks, there is a need to have them personalized as well. These types of printing allow consumers to have their masks personalized with full color graphics, photos, and wording.

  4. UV Industry of the Month: Baby Bottles

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    UV Industry of the Month: Baby Bottles

    Did you know that UV printing is used in the process of manufacturing baby bottles? Baby bottles can be made from plastic or glass and UV inks are used to print the brand logo as well as ounce measurements onto the bottles. This ensures that the bottles remain water, dishwasher, and sterilization resistant.

  5. UV Industry of the Month: Glitter Printing

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    UV Industry of the Month: Glitter Printing

    Glitter printing uses a dense specialty UV finish that adds pop, sparkle and elegance to any printed piece, including gift cards, credit cards, packaging, book covers, and greeting cards. UV glitter coating can be printed in tight registration and doesn’t rub or flake off. Just like normal UV cured inks, the glitter is able to stand up to elements without showing any wear.

  6. Oldest Zeolite System Found

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    Evidence for the oldest known zeolite water purification filtration system occurs in the undisturbed sediments of the Corriental reservoir at the Maya city of Tikal, in northern Guatemala. The Corriental reservoir was an important source of drinking water at Tikal during the Late Preclassic to Late Classic cultural periods. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and six AMS radiocarbon ages show that between ~ 2185 and 965 cal yr BP, the drinking water in the Corriental reservoir water was filtered through a mixture of zeolite and coarse, sand-sized crystalline quartz. Zeolite is a non-toxic, three-dimensionally porous, crystalline, hydrated aluminosilicate with natural adsorbent and ion exchange properties, which removes harmful microbes as well as disperse insoluble and soluble toxins from drinking water. The occurrence of zeolite in Corriental reservoir sediments expands our understanding of the earliest history of water purification and the long-term sustainability of an ancient Maya city. Read the full article here.

    Tankersley, K.B., Dunning, N.P., Carr, C. et al. Zeolite water purification at Tikal, an ancient Maya city in Guatemala. Sci Rep 10, 18021 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75023-7

  7. UV Lamp Disposal

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    UV Lamp Disposal

    Lihke most organizations, Southern Lamps strives to be environmentally and socially conscious.  This is especially important due to the nature of our business, supplying UV lamps that contain mercury. As a result we wanted to share more about our UV lamp disposal service.  We use a local company that is equipped and specializes in disposing and recycling of various types of lamps like, UV, fluorescent, incandescent, halogen, neon, and argon lamps.

    UV lamps, along with some common household items like thermometers and thermostats, contain small amounts of mercury and must be handled very carefully and disposed of properly.  The recycling facility we use manages almost all aspects of the recycling and disposal process in house by operating the very best processing equipment, using mercury retort ovens to remove mercury from phosphorus powder, and even triple distillation equipment to recycle mercury back to virgin specification.  As a highly toxic material, mercury must be properly disposed of when removed from use. Mercury is frequently used in thermometers, thermostats, electrical and electronic devices, components, and applications. Whenever possible this recycling facility extracts mercury from reusable materials and distills it reuse in a variety of applications. Non-reusable materials are thermally destroyed.

    To learn more about UV lamp disposal click here.

  8. UV Industry of the Month: Digital Printing

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    UV Industry of the Month: Digital Printing

    Did you know UV lamps are used in some digital printers? Digital printers are used for the following printing processes: decorative printing, point of sale printing, wide format printing, and labeling. Digital printing allows for on-demand printing with short turnaround time. It is also a more efficient way to print large pieces. Digital UV printers are used to print on textiles, labels, billboards, books, and yard signs just to name a few.

  9. Flexible Packaging: Pre-press, Printing and Converting

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    Curious about what flexible packaging is and the process?

    Flexible packaging is best defined as packaging that is designed to hold products, goods, solids, liquids, pastes, creams or powders and which is flexible in format, has no defined fixed shape and can be readily or easily changed.

    Click here to learn more about the process.