Those damn CFLs!!!

Most of us have them.  We were told, "It's the responsible thing to do."  And in some ways they were right (whoever "they" might be.)

The little curly-Q bulb that invaded homes in the late 90s was really not a new invention at all.  It's the same thing as those long fluorescent bulbs that have been hanging in offices, stores and businesses for over a generation. The same ones that boys took out of dumpsters and used as light sabers as kids.   Somebody just had the idea to coil them up and put them in our homes. Not as much fun for juvenile males, but still a good idea, sort of.

So, these things contain toxic mercury. WHAT?  THEY DIDN'T TELL US THAT!!!  Well it's been in the long tube fluorescent bulbs forever and they can't take it out.  It's one of the main ingredients that give us that warm charming glow we've become accustom to.  When they tweak the mercury levels you get dimmer lights or a new wavelength that causes headaches.

But how does a CFL "help" the environment if it contains mercury?  It's a simple equation really, but you have to have all the information.  You have to start at the beginning; at the power plants.  I know everyone is talking about nuclear power right now with all of the natural disasters going on, but most of the power generated in the U.S. is still created by coal fired power plants.  The old incandescent light bulb we grew up with requires these power plants to spew out about 8 mg of mercury throughout the bulbs life. On the other hand, the CFL only requires the plant to spew out about 3 mg of mercury during its life time because of its efficiency.  Now add that 3 mg to the 5 mg of mercury the bulb contains internally and you get about the same level of mercury being generated by either bulb.  The difference is now we have the "choice" to recycle the 5 mg inside the bulb.  And there in lies the problem.  Most people don't know how to do that.  Most municipal transfer stations won't accept them.  It cost money to recycle them, and as of January 2008 it's now against Federal law to put them in the trash.  The CFL became popular before the infrastructure was ready for it.

I blame a lot of this on two entities. The first is Walmart.  I don't know if you remember, but way back in 2007 Walmart had its "Million Bulb Challenge."  They wanted to sell a million bulbs that year; and they did. However, they never told their customers, "You can't throw this away."  They provided no guidance on how to dispose of them nor did they provided any resources for the local communities after their Solid Waste Departments were flooded with these things.  It was (and still is) irresponsible marketing. Next I blame celebrities.  That's a stretch I know, but hear me out.  Every night during prime time TV I would see a beautiful celebrity telling all of North America how they could save the world by buying these bulbs.  Again, no mention that it's toxic, no mention that it can't go in the trash and no guidance on what to do with it after it burned out.

What do we do with them?  If you live in New Hampshire, I'm going to tell you.  You have three options, depending on where you live.  Options 1 & 2 should apply to all states.

1) Maybe your transfer station collects them for recycling.  Call your town or city and ask if the transfer station (or recycling center) accepts fluorescent bulbs.  All fluorescent bulbs (CFLs and tubes) fall into a category called Universal Waste (UW.)

UW is defined as  "A hazardous waste that is generated in such great quantity that no municipality could afford to handle it as hazardous waste."   Because of this, EPA has agreed to loosen the requirements of collecting and storing these waste.  Other types of UW include batteries, automotive waste like oil, transmission fluid and anti-freeze, ballast, and any devices that contain mercury (such as switches, thermostats, bulbs and old thermometers.

2) If your town is slacking in their responsibilities, you might want to take your bulbs to a Household Hazardous Waste Collection (HHW) event.  These events are organized by towns, cities and regional planning commissions.  They receive partial funding from the State of NH but all logistics are handled by the organizer. A list of upcoming HHW events in NH can be found at:
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/p2au/pps/hhwp/index.htm

3) The last option is to find a take-back program.  This will require you to do a little foot-work but might be worth it in the long run.  Many hardware stores will do a "one for one exchange."  That is, if you buy a new bulb from them they will take your old one and recycle it. You can also call your local Lowe's and Home Depot and ask if they participate in a similar program.  A lot of Ace & True Value stores were running a free take-back program with the assistence of a grant from the NH Dept. of Environmental Services until the funding was cut last week. The money is scheduled to be gone as of June 1, 2011.  Thankfully, a few stores have agree to continue funding the program on their own.

If you think I missed anything or if you have any other questions about fluorescent bulbs please let me know.  If your state has a unique solution that I didn't cover I'd love to hear about it.  Thanks!