Floursiscent light bulbs recylcing and mercury....?

Question

I went on the internet to find the source of information on where to dispose of my flouriscent light bulbs, for the shock of hearing that the light bulbs have some mercury in it? (ACK!)

Someone want to clarify that for me, before I freak out with panic attacksI wanna live healthy in my own place.

Thanks, Nervous Quin...

Answer 1

Fluorescent bulbs all have some mercury, compact fluorescents less than others. It's a small amount.

For many years municipalities have worked with major sources, like office buildings with thousands of them, to keep them out of landfills. They didn't really worry about homes, because the amount of mercury is small.

Note that using a compact fluorescent bulb actually reduces mercury. One of many sources of mercury is in fossil fuels. A compact fluorescent has less mercury in it than would be released by burning the extra fossil fuels used by an incandescent.

It's like most recycling. A good idea of you can, not going to save the world by itself. Contact your trash pickup people for advice.

More here:

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/sustainable/Powerplay%20articles/16Powerplay.Mercury.CFL.html
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp

Answer 2

Yes fluorescent lights have mercury in them. And not just the new Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) types either. All those regular 4 foot tube fluorescent lights you see in super markets, offices, schools, and EVERYWHERE have mercury in them too. And of course those bright, piercing blue-white mercury vapor streetlights have mercury in them (as you might have guessed from the name "mercury vapor"). As long as the bulb doesn't break, the mercury is safely trapped inside. It is a very small amount of mercury and only large commercial users are required to recycle the burnt out lamps. You may be able to find a recycler for your home fluorescent lamps, but it probably won't be easy.

However, the EPA and others STILL say that these lamps REDUCE mercury in the environment because coal fired electricity generating plants spew mercury into the air. That is because there are traces of mercury in all coal. So the extra mercury put in the environment caused by disposal of the burnt out bulbs is less than the amount emitted by the extra electricity generation that would be needed to power regular incandescent bulbs.

Answer 3

"The problem with the bulbs is that they'll break before they get to the landfill. They'll break in containers, or they'll break in a dumpster or they'll break in the trucks. Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens," says John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America

"Experts agree that it's not easy for most people to recycle these bulbs. Even cities that have curbside recycling won't take the bulbs. So people have to take them to a hazardous-waste collection day or a special facility. "

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7431198

Wal-Mart has hosted some recycling days for CFLs.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/walmart_cfl.php

Answer 4

The only way you are going to live healthy is to live in a cave. You can live the hard way living with nature and all the dangerous creatures. Or you can live the easy life and worry about living healthy. There is no such thing as utopia.

Answer 5

Yep they do.
Where I live in the UK if you go to the local tip, there is a special container to place (Not smash) the tubes in