Wary of consumer's responsibility with CFLs?

Question

While I understand that compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) are good for conserving electricity, I worry about their nearly universal advocacy for this simple reason: on the bulbs I use is the statement: "Lamp contains mercury. Recycle in accordance with disposal laws." How many people do YOU think will ACTUALLY discard these in the manner suggested? Or do you think people will simply throw them out in the trash, allowing the mercury to go where it will once the glass bulb gets broken? (I realize the amount of mercury in each lamp is very small. Regardless, enough of it can still have an impact. How does that saying go? “No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.”)

Answer 1

I agree especially in our area.  To "recycle" them, you need a household toxic waste roundup coupon which enables you to take them to the reycler every 3 months without paying a fee.  So, you have to store the spent bulbs, get up early on a Saturday morning, wait in a que line from 7Am-12 for the haz mat team to unload them and any other toxic household waste you have (up to the limit of course).  I've done it but I sincerely doubt that many people will spend the gas and time to go through all effort when hiding them in the trash is easier.  And that is just based on seeing what other people brought to the round-ups, looked like more electronics and large items that would be obvious in the trash than CFLs...

Answer 2

I agree.  I'm very concerned about the bulbs for the same reason.  I'd rather spend additional $$ for electricity, and additional energy than worry about mercury poisoning in our water from landfill run-off once these expended lightbulbs start entering the landfills.  I still have one expended bulb sitting on my kitchen counter (with two young children in the house), because I can't get a straight answer on how exactly to recycle it in my area.

Answer 3

Yes I'm concerned. Most people right now don't know what is trash and what is hazmat. Regular light bulbs, batteries, paint, etc. all end up in the trash can just because people don't know and can't be inconvenienced. Add one more product to that heap.

Before I switched I did my homework to make sure I knew how to dispose of them and what facilities actually recycle. Safe disposal just wasn't enough for me. In the process I learned that there are a lot of companies out there selling mail-in recycling kits. That wasn't going to work for me, the cost of recycling wiped out the energy savings and then some. I had to dig pretty deep to find out where to go and what they do with it.  I really doubt most people will go to that much trouble.

Answer 4

No matter what, even if everyone who used CFLs threw them away wrongly, there still would be less mercury from a CFL, because a average incandescent produces 10 mg of mercury from power from a coal power plant while a average CFL contain 4 mg of mercury + 2.4 mg from the power plant, which is 6.4 mg. So the CFL theoretically produces less mercury.