Sunday July 19, 2009, 11:57 pm
"The federal government plans to require consumers over the next several years to replace incandescent light bulbs with more expensive but more energy-efficient and longer-lasting compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs).

But improper disposal of the mercury-powered bulbs poses an environmental hazard, and the federal government has given little guidance to consumers. The outlets for safe disposal are few and haphazard, and history suggests that compliance will be spotty.

"The problem to the environment comes when millions get disposed of and the cumulative effect becomes problematic. That is when the [Environmental Protection Agency] gets concerned," said Neal Langerman, a former chairman of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health and Safety. "If you have a municipal urban landfill and have a population of 450,000 households disposing of one or two CFLs a year - you do the arithmetic. Put one-half milligram of mercury per bulb, it amounts to a significant loading, and mercury does migrate into groundwater."

Read more at site..

Monday July 20, 2009, 7:42 am
Our county dump site has a special recycling spot for all flourescent tubes and bulbs. I live in a rural area and for years this county was behind the rest of the world. I have to hand it to them on the whole recycle process they are very ahead in this area!!!
Thanks Dee this is improtant information for everyone!

Monday July 20, 2009, 11:40 am
This is a disaster in the making. I wonder if there are any successful CFL programs being deployed anywhere. I would hope that LED technology will replace CFLs.

Monday July 20, 2009, 11:59 am
I'm sure waste management utilities will provide programs for the CFLs, but people are often to lazy to safely dispose their waste. Just look at any bin when you dispose your waste!

Monday July 20, 2009, 12:15 pm
We recycle them.
Tx Dee.

Monday July 20, 2009, 1:03 pm
Menard's building supply stores take them for free.
If we were really worried about this we would make it illegal to CHARGE for recycling these bulbs!
LEDs will be better and cheaper someday.

Monday July 20, 2009, 1:28 pm
Home Depot will recycle the compact fluorescent lights. Here are some links for more places that recycle them.

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/live.htm
http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/tsd/mercury/collect.htm
http://earth911.com/

Monday July 20, 2009, 3:15 pm
There are still far too few municipal governments that care about proper disposal and classification of discarded batteries, mercury-containing appliances, etc. An educational campaign through mass media should be followed by periodic recolection of hazardous trash. Thereafter, anybody disposing irresponsibly of hazardous materials deserves a penalty.

Monday July 20, 2009, 4:52 pm
Glad to hear there are places that do recycle these bulbs. Iguess it istime to switch!

Monday July 20, 2009, 5:02 pm
This has the potential to become another Love Canal situation, if thousands more communities across the US (& around the world) don't establish programs to recycle compact fluorescent bulbs.

Monday July 20, 2009, 6:35 pm
Noted , thanks !!

Monday July 20, 2009, 8:38 pm
Noted,gee,looks like these new bulbs are not so "eco-friendly" after all.

Tuesday July 21, 2009, 5:58 am
CFL's are already obsolete. They should be pushing LED technology. Not only are LEDs fare more efficient, they last and last, rarely having to be replaced.

Tuesday July 21, 2009, 10:26 am
I'd just be happy if they would work as well as they are advertised to do so. If they lasted as long as they would have us believe we wouldn't be throwing so many away. It doesn't matter what brand we have bought they all go within 12 months. I still have some old ones in certain lights and they work really well and we have had them for over 9 years.

Tuesday July 21, 2009, 11:15 am
Calling mercury-filled CFLs "environmentally friendly" is the most obvious bit of "New speak" I've run across since the War Department became the Department of Defense.

In the war against the populationpresently going on, what better way beside mercury filled vaccines and mercury based dental amalgams could you devise to get more of the neurotoxin into people's bodies....a mercury inhalant!.

Break one in the house, and either seal off the room (as a woman in Maine had to do) or pay around $2000 to
get it cleaned by a hazmat team.

Such energy efficiency!

Tuesday July 21, 2009, 11:58 am
CFLs are a pain in the butt! Apart from the high original cost they don't give full light for a while, must cost a fortune to produce and encourage extravagant use of electicity in such public buildings as schools etc where there always has been a tendency to leave lights burning and now they say Oh it only uses a fraction of the incandesant variety in energy. Of course mercury pollution in school labs is well known as a biproduct of naughty children braking mercury filled thermometers oh and the fuss when I started replacing them with alcohol types The mercury spill kits could never extract all the spilt mercury from the cracks in wooden lab floors and the cleaners then used powerful vacuums unaware that they were spreading mercury vapour around the buildings so no wonder my head is disfunctional having been subjected to asbestos dust, lead fumes, mercury fumes, nicotine, welding fumes solvent fumes radio active materials you name and I've probably been subjected to it some work place or other and that's without the daily dose of toxic pollen, road fumes and the general crap in the atmosphere. So you will pardon me if I'm not afan of CFLs even if my house is virtually 100% fitted with the things as freebies from the Government! And another thing I don't like is the short life of some of them some only lasting a few months. My oldest CFL is over twenty years old but my oldest tungsten bulb is around fifty years old and still going! So I'm not sure what I'm going to do when they are banned in the UK. My new car is fitted with a lot of LEDs but not all the lights and I hve some LED torches (Flashlights) So they do seem a better bet. Anyway we shall all be GM modified soon so we glow in the dark and will not require energy or lights in the home! OMG please don't take the last remark too seriously!

Tuesday July 21, 2009, 5:10 pm
Home Depot offers CFL recycling. Does anyone know if office complexes which use considerably more fluorescent lights are required to dispose of them as hazardous waste?

One last thing if I remember correctly the EPA has something on the overall reduction of mercury emissions by using CFL's compared to incandescent due to the reduction of electrical usage, as coal fired power plants emit huge amounts of mercury from the burning of coal.

As for vaccienes there is a chart here with concentraitons of Hg in each type http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm.

Wednesday July 22, 2009, 6:15 am
Thanks! I had no idea I couldn't throw those away (luckily none have burned out yet).

Sunday July 26, 2009, 9:27 am
Noted!Thanks Dee.