Thanks to Tom Shelley for the great write-up on CFLs. I get questions
on this all the time, and it seems like certain media outlets have
been very effective in scaring people about the mercury in CFLs. I
know my mom believed every word that Rush Limbaugh had to say on the
topic.
Good news is that NYSERDA has been working on setting up collection
sites for recycling of the bulb's contents across the state. Looks
like this effort is happening in other states given Home Depot's
decision to take back CFLs in all its stores. See article below. I
believe Wegman's is doing this too in some of its stores, as is Lowe's.
Gay
New York Times
June 24, 2008
Home Depot Offers Recycling for Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a
way to save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a
hazard, because they contain small amounts of mercury.
Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation’s second-
largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back old
compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United States,
creating the nation’s most widespread recycling program for the bulbs.
“We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of
concern about mercury in the C.F.L.’s,” said Ron Jarvis, Home Depot’s
senior vice president for environmental innovation, using the industry
abbreviation for the bulbs. “And if the C.F.L.’s were in their house,
how could they dispose of them?”
Until now, consumers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or
smaller retail chains willing to collect the bulbs for recycling, like
Ikea and True Value. Some consumers have waited for retailers like Wal-
Mart to have a designated recycling day. Others bought kits to mail
the bulbs to a recycling facility.
The Environmental Protection Agency has been looking into putting bulb
drop-off boxes at post offices, said Jim Berlow, director of the
agency’s hazardous waste minimization and management division.
But those plans are not final, and across most of the country,
recycling the bulbs has been inconvenient at best. Industry
professionals estimate that the recycling rate is around 2 percent.
Home Depot’s program, which will accept any maker’s bulbs, will bring
relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households. Mr.
Jarvis estimated that 75 percent of the nation’s homes are within 10
miles of a Home Depot.
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “Some of the things
that we do are for the community and not for the bottom line.”
Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, have
vigorously promoted the bulbs as part of their commitment to the
environment. Wal-Mart announced in October 2006 that it wanted to sell
100 million compact fluorescents by the end of 2007. It surpassed that
goal, selling 193 million bulbs to date.
Wal-Mart has accepted expired bulbs at take-back events in particular
markets and is exploring how to do it consistently on a national
level. Wal-Mart has more than twice the number of United States stores
as Home Depot.
The need for a national recycling program became apparent to Home
Depot as sales of compact fluorescents, which had been slow compared
with sales of incandescent bulb, climbed to 75 million last year, from
about 50 million in 2006. And a recycling program is likely to drive
even more people to Home Depot.
“We haven’t really had to develop the infrastructure” before now, said
Steven Hamburg, interim director of the Center for Environmental
Studies at Brown University. “The demand wasn’t there.” But lately,
consumers have been getting the message — in stores, from the media
and through awareness campaigns — that compact fluorescents use up to
75 percent less energy, last longer and cost less over time than
incandescent bulbs.
Mr. Hamburg says the average household reduces its energy budget by
$12 to $20 a month using compact fluorescents. Additionally, better
technology has made the bulbs’ harsh glow somewhat warmer and softer,
though many people still object to it.
More innovations are on the way. Home Depot has plans to introduce
more dimmable compact fluorescents within the year. Mr. Hamburg and
colleagues at Brown recently developed a box that absorbs mercury — so
there would be no need to fret if a bulb breaks in the box.
Mercury is found in other common household items like electronics,
appliances and pesticides. Its vapors, however, can harm people and
pollute the environment, which is why recycling is encouraged. (In
some places it is against the law not to recycle the bulbs.)
“We generally think using these bulbs are over all a good thing for
the environment,” said Mr. Berlow of the E.P.A. “The only thing you
have to be aware of is the potential for them to break.”
The E.P.A. devotes pages of its Web site to cleanup instructions for
broken compact fluorescents. Before even beginning to clean up a
spill, consumers are advised to leave the room (along with their
pets), open a window and shut off any operating air heating or cooling
systems.
That may seem foreboding, but experts see a greater health risk from
the mercury emissions produced by coal-burning plants to power less
efficient bulbs.
“The avoided mercury emissions are much larger than the mercury we’re
using in the bulbs,” said Mr. Hamburg of Brown, referring to compact
fluorescents.
Home Depot’s bulbs contain 2.3 to 3.5 milligrams of mercury, which is
below the National Electrical Manufacturers Association recommendation
of 5 milligrams or fewer. It is a small amount, equivalent to the
volume of the steel ball in the tip of a ballpoint pen. “Most people
in their home have 1,000 times more mercury literally in their
thermostat, let alone thermometers,” Mr. Hamburg said.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:55 PM, Thomas Shelley wrote:
> Dear Friends--There has been some concern over the mercury content of
> CFLs. This has bordered on hysteria in some circles. In extreme
> cases
> people have called the local Haz Mat Squad over a broken CFL and
> then been
> billed thousands of dollars for the clean up of one broken bulb.
>
> Mercury is indeed a hazardous material. Ingested or breathed in for
> a long
> enough time in sufficient concentration it can cause neurological
> problems,
> birth defects and many other very serious problems. The fact is
> that the
> amount of mercury in a CFL is tiny, especially in the newer models.
> The
> amount of mercury in the even the older style of CFLs is 125 times
> less the
> amount of mercury in a mercury medical thermometer. Since this
> amount is
> so small, it is not of great concern if the broken bulb is cleaned
> up properly:
>
> air out the room where the bulb broke
> carefully clean up the broken glass and powder without lofting the
> material
> into the air
> (don't use vigorous broom sweeping and never use a vacuum cleaner--
> gently
> scrap up the glass and the powder with file cards or thin cardboard)
> clean up the remaining dust with masking tape or duct tape
> double wrap the broken glass and the clean up materials in heavy
> weight
> zip-lock plastic bags
> take the bag(s) to the next household hazardous waste day at the
> Tompkins
> County Solid Waste Management District facility on Commercial Ave.
> air the room out some more when you are finished with the cleanup
>
> Many special mercury clean up kits are available and most of them
> are o.k.
> to use, but they are a waste of money. Many of them are also sold
> under an
> air of hysteria; some of the kit manufactures even state that you
> should
> call the Haz Mat Squad OR use their product.
>
> The following link it to an EPA document on CFLs and the clean up of a
> broken bulb. The procedures outlined by the EPA take more
> precautions than
> I feel are really needed for the level of mercury involved, but I
> suppose
> it is more important to be overly cautious than not.
>
> http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf
>
> Another document dealing with not only the clean up of CFLs but other
> larger mercury spills, such as broken thermometers is:
>
> http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#flourescent
>
> The obvious solution is not to break a CFL in the first place. As
> with all
> delicate bulbs they should always be handled with great care; never
> let
> children change or handle CFLs. Even so, accidents happen and I
> hope this
> is useful information for those who may need it one day. Take
> care. Tom
>
> P.S.: I am not pulling my information on the hazards of mercury and
> mercury spill clean up procedures out of thin air. I am a chemist
> and a
> hazardous materials expert by training and profession and I've been
> in the
> field for over 30 years. If you have any questions about the above
> post,
> please feel free to contact me off-line and I can supply you with
> additional information.
>
> Tom Shelley
> 118 E. Court St.
> Ithaca, NY 14850
> 607 342-0864
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.myspace.com/99319958
> P I thank you for printing this e-mail only if it is necessary
>
> "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
> present
> without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
> own
> needs."
>
> The World Commission on Environment and Development,
> Gro Harlem Brundtland
> Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, 1987
>
> MY NOTE: Sustainable development does not mean "sustainable growth"
> as
> growth per se is not sustainable. And the term "sustainable" has to
> mean
> "for a very long time" (A. Bartlett).
>
> "The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives."
> Sioux proverb
> Tom Shelley
> 118 E. Court St.
> Ithaca, NY 14850
> 607 342-0864
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.myspace.com/99319958
> P I thank you for printing this e-mail only if it is necessary
>
> "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
> present
> without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
> own
> needs."
>
> The World Commission on Environment and Development,
> Gro Harlem Brundtland
> Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, 1987
>
> MY NOTE: Sustainable development does not mean "sustainable growth"
> as
> growth per se is not sustainable. And the term "sustainable" has to
> mean
> "for a very long time" (A. Bartlett).
>
> "The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives."
> Sioux proverb
> _______________________________________________
> For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County
> area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
>
> RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
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----------------------------------------------------
Gay Nicholson, Ph.D.
607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618 (cell)
1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY 14882
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sustainable Tompkins
Program Coordinator
www.sustainabletompkins.org
Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please
visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
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