Regarding the disposal of energy efficient light bulbs. Part 2?

Question

I am looking for a place to savely dispose of the energy efficient light bulbs. They apparently have mercury in them and should be handled carefully and disposed of properly. I have been advised that there are now newer bulbs available with a much lower "dose" of mercury. My concern still continues as the bulbs that I have in my home are quite old. As you probably know they last for quite sometime. Mine are at least three years old. So if there are others like me out there, we still need to find a safe way to dispose of our older energy efficient light bulbs. So if anyone knows of a place near Baltimore, Maryland, please share. Thanks

Answer 1

I have an Ace Hardware near my home which takes the old bulbs. Even though the bulbs have mercury in them, the amount is so minuscule in each one, that there is very little danger. The issue comes when millions of the bulbs find their way into the landfills. Then, the sheer amount of mercury climbs into dangerous levels. There are going to be more and more places that take the compact flourescents for recycling. You just have to look.

The bigger issue now is batteries. Cell phone batteries, cordless tool batteries, recyclable batteries, lithium ion batteries, calculator batteries, Ipod batteries, NiCad batteries. All these are loaded with heavy metals. How many have you thrown out? Well, multiply that by hundreds of thousands. Mercury is proven to cause illness (understatement), but the heavy metals in batteries are just as bad if not worse. There is Cadmium, Lithium, Nickel, the list goes on. These heavy metals leach into the ground and contaminate ground water and soil. The leachate is taken up in plants and then eaten by humans or the animals humans eat. These metals have been proven carcinogenic at the very least. No one knows how bad it really is.

One thing you can do, is to throw all the used household batteries in a bucket. Once the bucket is full, find somewhere that takes them for recycling. Usually municipalities will have several battery recycling days during the summer.

It may seem, as one person, our contribution is doing nothing. But that nothing can turn into something if every ONE person makes an effort.

Answer 2

There is probably more mercury in the fillings in your teeth Bro, but yeah it is a problem and will not be solved until the next generation comes out with something else.

Answer 3

Take them to the nearest landfill near you and they will do one of three things:

-Take them from you and either store them on site is the landfill you go to is a secure landfill

-Take them from you then transport them to a secure landfill (this is if the landfill you go to is a sanitary landfill)

-Tell you to take them to the nearest secure landfill yourself (unlikely).

I have a landfill about 8 miles from where I live... it's in Fairfax, Virginia... that's probably a little too far for you though. lol.

Answer 4

This is going to become an increasing problem.  As well as mercury, they contain traces of bismuth and neither of them exactly benefit the planet.  In the EU, electrical retailers are supposed to take them back (although I suspect that they will just throw them out with the garbage and they'll finish up in land fill).  In the US, I can't help.