The Haz Mat side of Compact Fluorescents
Now that we've learned how to correctly spell Compact Fluorescent Light bulb, let's discuss what is dangerous about these bulbs. They've got mercury in them. A teaspoon of mercury destroys Superman and all of his comic book friends. Dorothy and Toto get obliterated. The Lion can't save them. Mercury doesn't go in landfills--at least not when the landfill police are watching--and it doesn't go in the recycling bin. It's unsafe for both.
"Where oh where can the mercury go," you and your little friend Toto ask.
Just click your heels three times, Dorothy, and you'll find yourself in one of two places: The local hazardous material disposal station or at lightbulbrecycling.com.
That's right, recycling CFLs and other fluorescent bulbs is not high on most state's recycling program lists. They're still busy trying to get you and your neighbor to use them. For those of you Dorothies that are skipping down CFL Way, you could be stuck with a Haz Mat disposal site as your easiest solution. And if that's all you've got or got time for, I'd take it. It's better than mercury in the landfill.
But places like Madison, Wisc. do offer fluorescent bulb recycling programs. Madison requires that any store that sells a fluorescent bulb also take the bulb back for recycling. The store owner is allowed to charge a fee. You Dorothies living in Berkeley, Austin and Ann Arbor may also have CFL recycling programs. You might want to check.
For those of us living on CFL Way but without a recycling program nearby, we can send away to a Web site owned by Eco-Products and get a CFL recycling kit. Eco-Products makes compostable cutlery, coffee cups and sleeves. Their program is pricey, but it guarantees the bulbs get recycled with a receipt.
And that, my Dorothies, is your lesson on how to spell and recycle compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-13-2008 @ 12:03PM
Phil L. said...
Wow - the lightbulbrecycling.com kits cost MORE THAN THE BULBS DO! What's up with that?
Does it really make sense to ship overpriced containers across the country - and back again - just to recycle a light bulb? Surely we can do better.
At least I've discovered a few local places that accept CFLs for recycling. My real annoyance: I haven't found anyplace in my area that will accept 4' tube bulbs - a technology that's been common for many years. Yes, I've tried the usual web sites - and have come up empty.
Sadly, this explains why I see them in regular trash: People don't know what to do with them. I've got quite a few in my basement, still waiting to find a safe home...
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5-13-2008 @ 1:20PM
ThatHollie said...
Being fortunate enough to live near an IKEA, I just take my old batteries and CFLs along whenever I go shopping there.
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5-13-2008 @ 1:28PM
Sea said...
The prices are hard to work out on the site. It appears that you pay $60 or so for a bucket that you can fill with CFLs then ship for free. You are wasting shipping fuel, but I'm not sure if the price of the program exceeds the total cost of say 20 CFLs.
That said, a lot of recycling programs cart recyclables roughly 100 miles just to recycle. Columbia, Missouri is one such place.
As for 4' bulbs, this program deals with them. But who is willing to pay that much just to recycle a bulb? Humans can be lazy, and the trash can is sitting right there.
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5-13-2008 @ 1:53PM
Alex said...
As GreenDaily reported less than two weeks ago, ACE Hardware accepts CFLs, (even broken ones), at all of their locations nationwide.
http://www.greendaily.com/2008/05/01/recycle-your-cfls-at-ace-hardware/
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5-15-2008 @ 9:46PM
kelly.leahy said...
Thanks, Alex :)
5-13-2008 @ 2:38PM
Phil L. said...
Sea -
It looks to me like they charge $120.95 for a bucket that can recycle 30 CFLs.
Though it also appears some of their web page content was cut-n-pasted from other places. The CFL page confusingly mentions tube-style T-12 and T-8 bulbs. But they clearly state: "One pail will recycle up to thirty compact fluorescent bulbs". Return shipping is included in that price.
Interesting: They ship the empty kit to you via UPS - but return shipping is through FedEx. Surely there's a reason for using two different shipping companies to complete this process, but I don't know what it is. Hazardous waste transport rules, perhaps?
So it looks like they charge about $4 per bulb to recycle. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart sells 6 packs of GE CFLs (100W equivalent) for about $2.50 per bulb. Higher wattage or fancy format CFL bulbs (floodlight, dimmable, etc.) are more.
Clearly, they aren't after the homeowner market. Their notes say not to store spent bulbs more than one year. Given how long CFLs last, would you go through 30 bulbs in one year or less?
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5-13-2008 @ 3:34PM
Rick said...
I have yet to actually lose any CFLs, they last much longer than incandescence and odds of them breaking in a fixed lamp are low enough to not be a concern.
I take mine to the dump, along with batteries, paint, chemicals, etc to let them sort and dispose of them properly. Ace is another idea mentioned above.
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5-13-2008 @ 3:59PM
Phil L. said...
Rick -
Sadly, I've already discovered that CFLs are no more resistant to thrown toys that regular light bulbs. Kids have no concept being careful around an expensive, mercuring-containing light bulb...
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5-13-2008 @ 4:00PM
Phil L. said...
Sigghhhh.... "mercuring" = "mercury"
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