What to do with that burned out CFL?
Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are one of the newer ideas in saving energy and reducing our monthly expenditures on utilities in the home and work place. While they are great at reducing our energy use they have specific requirements for disposal and are not to be place in your regular garbage container for pick up. The reason for this is the CFL bulbs contain a minute amount of mercury. However with the growth in use of CFL bulbs the amount of mercury in our landfills could start to increase.
One thing we need to be aware of is that the CFL bulbs are less of a source of mercury in our environment than the standard incandescent light bulb. How can this be when the incandescent does not have mercury in the bulb? The answer is they both use electricity; a large amount of which is produce by burning coal. The burning of coal releases a much greater amount of mercury into the environment then what are in the CFL bulbs. Since incandescent bulbs use a greater amount of electricity they result in an increase in the amount of mercury released to our environment.
Okay, back the topic question of how to dispose of the burned out CFL bulbs. Well one of the national home improvement chains has made it easy for us. They have an in store-recycling center for the bulbs. I will not post the name of the stores here, as I am not sure they are the only ones doing this. If you want to know the store just shoot me and email and I’ll let you know.
For more information on CFL bulbs and mercury check this link:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf