Tech turns streetlights into lampshades

An innovative circular lighting initiative is transforming discarded streetlight components into high-quality lampshades, demonstrating how advanced recycling can keep materials in use within the same application.
Developed by Trinseo and Signify, the project uses dissolution recycling to convert end-of-life polycarbonate streetlight covers into new luminaires with 75 per cent recycled content.
At the centre of the innovation is Calibre™ ECO DI, an optical-grade polycarbonate designed to meet the strict performance requirements of lighting applications, including colour consistency and light transmission.
The material is now being used in Signify’s myCreation Urban Grey range, produced through 3D printing for on-demand manufacturing and reduced waste.
The process begins with the collection of end-of-life streetlight shades across the Netherlands, ensuring a clean and traceable waste stream. These materials are then processed at Trinseo’s Terneuzen facility, where dissolution recycling separates and purifies the polycarbonate to produce a high-quality recycled polymer.
The resulting material is compounded into granules and supplied to Signify’s myCreation innovation hub, where it is extruded into filament and used to 3D print new lampshades.
The collaboration builds on a long-standing partnership between the two companies and reflects growing efforts to address the challenge of lighting waste.
Across Europe, large-scale street lighting upgrades are generating significant volumes of discarded materials, many of which have historically been incinerated or landfilled due to recycling limitations.
By enabling true lighting-to-lighting recycling, the project diverts substantial quantities of polycarbonate from disposal while maintaining performance standards. It also highlights the potential of combining advanced recycling technologies with additive manufacturing to deliver scalable circular solutions for the lighting industry.
• See more innovations in sustainable lighting at Circular Lighting Live 2026, Recolight’s flagship conference and exhibition, which takes place on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Minster Building in the City of London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2026 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live