| For more than ten years, energy efficiency experts, | | | | tell you that it's safe or legal to throw them into the |
| utilities, and governments have been trying to | | | | trash, don't do this - the mercury in one CFL isn't |
| convince people to switch from incandescent light | | | | going to kill anyone when it gets landfilled, but those |
| bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs or CFLs. | | | | 600 million bulbs do add enough mercury into the |
| A CFL uses about a quarter as much electricity as an | | | | environment to cause serious harm. Remember that |
| incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of | | | | what is safe for you, or legal in your jurisdiction, isn't |
| light, and lasts about eight to ten times longer. While | | | | always the most environmentally responsible course |
| they cost more, they generally pay for themselves | | | | of action. |
| within a few months of use, if installed in places | | | | Instead, contact your local waste management |
| where the light is typically left on at least an hour a | | | | department or disposal company and ask them |
| day.Yet CFLs still haven't caught on, for four major | | | | where you can recycle your fluorescent bulbs. You |
| reasons: | | | | can try an online search for "waste management" |
| 1. Up-front cost, although you may be pleasantly | | | | along with your city or town name. Or try calling a |
| surprised to see how cheap CFLs have become. | | | | local building center or big-box reseller that sells |
| 2. The kind of light they produce, a harsher (actually | | | | fluorescent lights. If they sell fluorescent bulbs but |
| bluer) light than the yellowish light of an incandescent. | | | | don't accept them back for recycling, you can |
| Again, you may be pleasantly surprised by the new, | | | | educate them about the benefits of recycling bulbs, |
| natural-color CFLs now available. | | | | both to the community and planet (a healthier |
| 3. Dimming - many people use dimmers for mood | | | | environment) and to them (a greener corporate |
| lighting or to save energy. Standard CFLs don't work | | | | image). But there's a good chance they already do |
| with standard dimmers. Again, things have changed - | | | | take bulbs for recycling. |
| you can now buy good quality dimmable compact | | | | If you can't find anyone local to recycle your bulbs, |
| fluorescent lights that work on standard dimmers, | | | | you can purchase large, return-mail cartons that can |
| and you can buy dimmer switches that work with | | | | be filled with fluorescent bulbs and mailed to a |
| standard fluorescent lights. | | | | recycling facility, postage prepaid, when the carton is |
| 4. The final reason CFLs haven't caught on - and the | | | | full. This is a great way to build community around an |
| main focus of this article - has to do with mercury. | | | | environmental project: buy a carton (they start at |
| All fluorescent lights contain mercury. That's how | | | | around $50), and place it in a safe but public spot, |
| they work: an electrical current passes through | | | | such as a school hallway. Instruct people to place |
| mercury vapor, exciting the mercury atoms and | | | | unbroken CFLs, wrapped in a sealed plastic bag, into |
| causing them to release photons of ultraviolet light. | | | | the box, and ask for a $1 donation to help cover the |
| These photons are then absorbed by the phosphor | | | | costs. In fact, even if your city waste management |
| coating on the inside of the glass bulb and in the | | | | department does recycle fluorescent bulbs, setting up |
| process converted to visible spectrum light. | | | | a CFL recycling bin in your local school or community |
| But that mercury in the bulbs poses a health hazard. | | | | center will mean more people recycle them instead |
| So some people have taken to arguing that we | | | | of throwing them out. |
| should avoid all fluorescent bulbs (both CFL and long | | | | If a fluorescent bulb breaks in your home, you have |
| tube) because of the mercury risk. | | | | a toxic substance to deal with, but the story running |
| CFLs do contain mercury - about 4 milligrams, or 1 | | | | around the Internet about a woman who had to seal |
| 100th of the amount in a typical mercury | | | | off her home, call the EPA, and get a toxic waste |
| thermometer, the kind my mom used to take my | | | | removal company to take away the mercury |
| temperature with when I tried to get a day off | | | | contamination is plain nonsense. It's not hard to clean |
| school by faking a stomach ache. That's still enough | | | | up after a mercury spill of this magnitude if you |
| mercury to be a health hazard if a bulb breaks in | | | | follow some basic procedures and use caution and |
| your home, or when you consider that 600 million of | | | | common sense: |
| them are thrown into landfills in the US each year. | | | | 1. Open a window in the room, to let mercury vapors |
| But let's do some math: 600 million bulbs times 4 | | | | out. Leave the door closed, and stay out of the |
| milligrams works out to 2.4 tons of mercury - the | | | | room, for at least 15 minutes. |
| amount released in the US each year by people who | | | | 2. Wearing disposable gloves, or plastic bags over |
| fail to recycle their fluorescent bulbs. Meanwhile, the | | | | your hands, and holding a piece of cardboard, scoop |
| coal burned in the US to produce electricity also | | | | up any broken glass onto the cardboard and pour it |
| releases mercury as a by-product: almost 50 tons of | | | | into another plastic bag. Use broad, sticky tape such |
| mercury were released by US coal-fired plants in | | | | as duct tape to pick up any small fragments or dust |
| 1999. So 20 times as much mercury is released by | | | | from carpets or rugs, and use a disposable wipe or |
| electricity generation as by fluorescent bulbs thrown | | | | damp rag to pick up fragments from floors. |
| in landfills. Which is worse? | | | | 3. Place the broken bulb and fragments and dust, as |
| There are websites out there suggesting that overall, | | | | well as anything you used to clean it up, in a plastic |
| less mercury is emitted by a CFL than an equivalent | | | | bag and seal the bag. Place that in another plastic bag |
| incandescent, when you take into account both the | | | | and seal that. Place the broken bulb in a fluorescent |
| mercury in the CFL (assuming it gets thrown out) | | | | bulb recycling bin (or, for an accidentally broken bulb |
| and the different amounts of mercury emitted from | | | | only, you can throw it out, as you don't want to risk |
| burning the coal to power each of the CFL and | | | | contaminating the recycling bin with free-floating |
| incandescent. I bought this story for a while, but | | | | mercury.) |
| after researching the amount of mercury released | | | | 4. Only vacuum the area of the breakage after you |
| per ton of coal, and the electricity generated from a | | | | have done everything above. Do not start by |
| ton of coal, I conclude that over the 8,000 hour | | | | vacuuming as you will just be blowing mercury around |
| lifetime of a 23 watt CFL, you'll save only about 0.24 | | | | the room, making matters worse. |
| milligrams of mercury emissions compared to using a | | | | 5. Throw out the vacuum bag. Throw out any fabrics |
| 100 watt incandescent. Barely a 20th of the amount | | | | that came into direct contact with the bulb |
| contained in the CFL. | | | | fragments. Wash any fabrics in the room that did not |
| To me these discussions miss the point because they | | | | come into direct contact. |
| present a false choice. If I am trying to be | | | | There is no need to panic if a fluorescent bulb |
| environmentally virtuous by selecting either a CFL | | | | breaks. Just get people out, clean up the mess, and |
| (which reduces both CO2 emissions and mercury | | | | dispose of any contaminated materials safely. |
| emissions from coal fired power plants, but does | | | | As you can see, concerns about mercury, and the |
| contain mercury) or an incandescent (which contains | | | | problem of disposing of broken or burnt-out |
| no mercury but results in more CO2 and mercury | | | | fluorescent bulbs, make many people leery of using |
| emissions), am I going to throw the CFL in the | | | | CFLs or other fluorescent lights. It's easy to stick to |
| garbage when it burns out? Of course I'm not. The | | | | old, wasteful habits if we have some factoid about |
| environmentally enlightened citizen will dispose of | | | | mercury to scare us. But I am convinced that in the |
| toxic waste properly. That means recycling the CFL. | | | | balance, fluorescent bulbs are a better choice than |
| So let's reframe the debate: the question is not | | | | incandescent bulbs - both economically and |
| between an energy-efficient fluorescent that gets | | | | environmentally. And while LED lights may one day |
| tossed in the landfill, saving CO2 emissions but | | | | solve the problems of both incandescent and |
| releasing mercury, and an incandescent which | | | | fluorescent bulbs - they contain no mercury and are |
| contains no mercury but causes four times as much | | | | more efficient than even fluorescents - LEDs are still |
| CO2 emissions. That isn't the choice, because the | | | | a long way from being either cost-effective or |
| environmentally responsible citizen doesn't throw the | | | | suitable for general use. |
| CFL in the landfill. Instead they recycle it. | | | | So for the time being, if you want to do the |
| It's not that hard to properly dispose of your | | | | environmentally responsible thing, use fluorescent |
| fluorescent bulbs. While some cities and states may | | | | bulbs. And dispose of them responsibly. |