I have some CFL Light bulbs I bought and just learned they have mercury in them. How do you dispose of these?

Question

Check out U Tube for more info, but they didn't expand on how to properly dispose of these items if they're not busted, but you just want to get rid of them because they are dangerous?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8I0OIMoqKE

Answer 1

If you are worried about this, you'd better worry about every long fluorescent bulb in your home.  They contain 2-10 times more mercury, and are much easier to break.

You're probably staring at a fluorescent light bulb right now.  They all contain mercury, most more than a CFL.

Many communities have recycling programs for fluorescent lights.  Call your garbage pick up company and ask.

Answer 2

This is the biggest scam ever!  They add trillions of extra mercury from CFLs into our landfills and they have all that PLASTIC (made using refined OIL) that regular incandescent bulbs don't have at all!  Wow, what a way to use less oil and pollute less--with non-biodegradable plastic and mercury!!!

Answer 3

Most big box stores (such as Home Depot and Lowes)  have recycling centers where you can dispose of them.. alternatively many municipalities have annual or semi-annual "hazardous waste disposal days" at their recycling centers.   You can take them there.

BTW.. Use them first and dispose of them when they go bad.... They are NOT dangerous as long as you do not break them.  You are not being a good enviromentalist if you buy them and want to dispose of them without using them.. it is needless pollution.

Answer 4

CFL light bulbs have 1% of the mercury that was in the old fashioned thermometers, and are only to be disposed of in land fills that do not burn, or can be dropped of at many of the major home improvement stores like home Depot, or Lowes.

Answer 5

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live 100% off of the grid and are completely self-sufficient with a 0% Carbon footprint. I believe this is the first step anyone can make “help the environment”. Once you convert your own life style to a greener more eco friendly route, you can start helping others.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, right now, are more " eco-wise" then anything else most consumers can get a hold of (ie. incandescent) and currently save over 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases.

But since my house is completely on solar / wind and we REALLY need to watch usage, every light is fitted with s***w type (typical 110v lamp socket style) LED bulbs. They emit the same luminosity (typically 45) but at only 1watt rather then a 45w compact or 10w CFL. However they usually cost twice as much as CFLs which is twice as much (or more) as compacts. Still LEDs would be the way to go by far.

As for the second part of your question...

Mercury IS the lesser of the evils, without getting toooo elaborate discussing specifics (ie. which burns ozone faster, other layer's besides ozone, disposing locations, methods, wind conditions, etc), one needs less mercury gas then most others, to obtain the same luminosity in a vacuum because of mercury's longer agitated spectral wavelength. Mercury's wavelength is more blue which is a longer more "luminous" or brighter light to say sodium, which is a more light orange or shorter less bright (red being the shortest) wavelength. so you'd need more sodium or other, in the tube or more electricity to the tube, to create the same luminosity as mercury.

so mercury wins out only because the sheer volume needed is less then the others.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming!!!

Answer 6

There is not enough mercury in the bulbs to have any real negative impact on you or the environment. Most people don't understand what mercury is. It is a free flowing metal, silver in appearance, that is true, but it is also mercurous nitrate, mercurous chloride, and many other forms which are inert. Consider table salt. It is Sodium Chloride. Break it down and it is chlorine, a poisonous gas, and sodium, a metallis gray substance that will explosively burn when dropped into water, yet we eat it in our foods. Many complex chemicals exist in our lives and our foods. So don't worry about the mercury content in a bulb. It will lay around, and be harmless in it's present state.

Answer 7

http://www.lamprecycling.com/?ilbcode=58...

This should help