CFL Light Bulbs – Recycling and Clean Up
Have you been avoiding the CFL bandwagon because of the mercury content? A while back I started switching over to CFLs and at that point I was concerned with how I would recycle them, but had faith something would come up before the bulbs burnt out. Recently the answer has come to us. Both Home Depot and Ace Hardware have instituted recycling programs for CFLs. The EPA also has a site with listings of where you can go to recycle the burnt out bulbs, broken out by region.
The other thing I have heard about CFLs is, what to do if one of the bulbs break. There was someone I used to work with that had somehow broken two CFL bulbs this past spring and he would tease that he had a mercury spill at his house. CFLs do contain mercury, but very very little. However, EPA has given some guidelines on how to properly cleanup from a CFL breaking. The basic gist, don’t blow it around (including don’t vacuum it up), just pick up the pieces to throw them away and the little pieces left can be picked up by using duct tape. If you do have a spill, check out what the EPA has to say just to be cautious.
Tags: environment, green, recycle