What to do with a basket of burnt out CFLs
January 24, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
My 3 year old asked me the other day, “mommy, are those your Easter eggs?” She was referring to a small basket of burnt out Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs in our garage.
That’s the result of collecting defect and burnt out CFL bulbs from my house and a couple of neighbors’ houses for two years. I guess it’s time to dispose them. According to the government energy star program and CFL bulb manufacturers, “CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing - an average of 5 milligrams”. By comparison, the old fashioned mercury thermometers have about 500 milligrams of mercury. Still as more and more households change to CFL bulbs, the cumulative mercury can be substantial. EPA reported last week that US “sales in 2007 totaled approximately 290 million (CFL) bulbs.” Those bulbs amount to 3,190 pounds of mercury. If they are disposed inappropriately, they can contaminate our air and our ground water.
EPA is working with CFL manufacturers and major U.S. retailers to expand recycling and disposal options. My guess is that it will take a while for these options to become reality. Some states permit households to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage (huh?!), but in California, all fluorescent lights (including CFLs) must be taken to a waste management facility. In reality, only 2 out of 1000 bulbs are actually recycled. Before EPA works out its program, here are a few options:
- Earth 911 is your best bet to find where you can take your CFL bulbs. I enter my zip code and it shows that within 5 miles of my house, 8 stores and waste management facilities will take back CFL bulbs. Unfortunately not all areas have as many options. For instance, my in-laws live in Winston-Salem, NC. No CFL-take-back facilities show up on Earth 911.
- You can also search EPA website to find CFL recycling programs near you, though the information can be somewhat spotty.
- IKEA stores in general take back light bulbs, fluorescent, CFL, or regular bulbs. Check with your local IKEA stores.
- Call your local municipal or county solid waste management facility to find whether they take back CFLs.
- If all options fail, horde the CFL bulbs like plastic Easter eggs until there are options around you. Fortunately CFLs generally have very long life. For 2 years, I have only had 1 burnt out bulb.
Related posts:
Household battery recycle
The “Wife test” on CFLs
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Comments»
2 out of 1000!! I’ve been worrying that we keep pushing these bulbs on people because a lot of people don’t realize they contain mercury, or they forget, or they don’t care, and it looks like my worries were reasonably founded. Unless we start offering curbside recycling for CFLs, part of me thinks that incandescents are the best choice for the average Joe. Incandescents burn out quicker, but at least we don’t have to worry about the mercury.
The absolute proponents of CFLs say that the coal burning process generates so much more mercury than the total amount of mercury in CFLs. According to NRDC, “Two of the biggest sources of mercury pollution are chlorine chemical plants and coal-fired power plants. Power plants emit around 50 tons of mercury pollution annually.” A little under 50% of our electricity is currently generated from coal-firing plants. With that logic, I think in general cutting down 10-20% of electricity by using CFLs effectively reduces the mercury pollution in the air. So it is still worth it. I am just surprised that the mercury information is not “forced upon” the consumers.
Yikes! I guess I’m not surprised that the proper disposal is so low but still! My city offers curbside pick up of batteries and still my neighbor told me he hides his in his garbage can. Is it really that much effort?
Thanks for the link, Cindy. I’ve had one burnt out (defective) CFL sitting by my desk for months now. Like you, though, that’s the only one. I started using CFLs in my porch light a year ago which previously would go through incandescents every two months. Still going strong (knock on wood).