Home Depot to offer CFL recycling

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Home Depot to offer CFL recycling

by Patricia Mayville-Cox (Subscribe to Patricia Mayville-Cox's posts)
Jun 24th 2008 @ 12:35PM

Filed under: News

One of the peskiest problems of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) is where to dispose of them when they break or burn out, due to the small amounts of mercury that they contain.

Well, here's some good news on that front! Home Depot is announcing today that it will begin taking back old CFLs in all 1,973 of its U.S. stores. This will be the most widespread recycling program for the bulbs to date. Home Depot will accept any maker's bulbs and due to its spread across the country, this move will bring CFL recycling within reach of most homes. Home Depot estimates that 75% of the nation's home are within 10 miles of a store.

Kudos to Home Depot for doing this.

For more information on the proper disposal of burned-out CFLs and the cleanup of broken CFLs, see our Green Daily article here.

Comments [6]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-24-2008 @ 3:35PM

Solar said...

I'm glad to see someone finally recognizing this problem with CFLs. Because of the hazardous metal and all of the plastic in most CFLs, they are nasty items to throw away (which is what I imagine most people will do with them) rather than recycle.

6-24-2008 @ 3:37PM

Phil L. said...

I wish they'd also accept standard 48" fluorescent tube bulbs. Am I the only one who has several boxes of these in my basement, because I haven't yet found a local recycling location that accepts them?

This must be a huge problem: The tubes have been around far longer than CFLs. Sadly, I regularly see them in trash bins...

6-24-2008 @ 3:42PM

Patricia said...

Yes, I have a box of those 48' tubes in my basement...ugh.

6-24-2008 @ 4:14PM

Josh said...

I drove all around town trying to get rid of a couple of bulbs back in December. Home Depot was the only one friendly enough to take them off of my hands and put them with their own recycling.

6-25-2008 @ 8:13AM

Chris M. said...

I was at Totem on the weekend and noticed they had a bin for CFLs, seeing as they're now owned by Rona, I wouldn't be surprised to see them taking the bulbs as well. These are both Canadian stores for you Canucks in the readership.

7-01-2008 @ 6:49PM

TOMMY said...

I AM A STORE MANAGER AT A ACE HARDWARE IN CALIFORNIA AND WE HAVE TAKEN BACK TUBES AND CFLS FROM THE FIRST DAY THEY CAME OUT WE ALSO TAKE BACK BATTERIES AND CELL PHONES

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