Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs Can Be Harmful to the Environment
small amounts of Mercury could cause problems in the future
Michelle Garcia
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
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"We just received the bulbs and the green light from the city," said Energy Green Team member Noble Lilliestierna. "So we're gonna try to finish up the Hill before the semesters up and hopefully continue into future years."
The team has been handing out CFLs since October, but they have recently changed the spiel that they tell people when they give out the free bulbs. "There is a little bit of mercury in the base of the bulb," said Energy Green Team member Amanda Flores. "So when they burn out you have to dispose of them properly."
While there is only about five milligrams of mercury in a CFL bulb, compared to about 500 milligrams in an old mercury thermometer, the amount of mercury could build up over time to a dangerous level.
Because the CFLs have a life-span of up to eight to 10 years, you might not need to recycle them any time soon, but when the time comes, there is now a local place to take the burnt out or broken bulbs: Ace Hardware.
"I think it's great," Lilliestierna said, "because a lot of people may be reluctant to take it to the hazardous waste place but people go to Ace Hardware all the time."
Kristen Pellicer, the Vice President of Ace Hardware for Longmont/Boulder, explained that Ace wanted to get involved because the energy companies have been over-promoting the bulbs. "[The energy companies] were doing a great job of getting [the bulbs] into homes," Pellicer said, "and when the word broke out that there was a small amount of mercury in the bulb and they needed to recycled, unfortunately there was no one to do that. It was king of like Woops! What do we do now?"
The pilot recycling program was launched Monday at 104 Colorado Ace Hardware stores in honor of Earth Day this past Tuesday. Pellicer said that even though the Boulder location has only collected two bulbs so far, Boulder is one of the few cities that jumped on the CFL bandwagon many years ago.
Ace Hardware expects the bulb recycling numbers to grow much larger very soon
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Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Rudy
posted 4/24/08 @ 5:14 PM MST
As someone who sells light bulbs for a living, I am less enthusiastic than most about compact fluorescent bulbs. This is due to the fact that the ones currently available contain significant amounts of mercury. (Continued…)
Mandee Flores
posted 4/28/08 @ 10:50 PM MST
It is true that compact fluorescent light bulbs have amounts of mercury inside of them, however the mercury is found in the base of the bulb, not the glass where the light is. (Continued…)
Kristina M Richardson
posted 5/27/08 @ 9:08 AM MST
Most CFLs today on the market contain less than 5mgs of mercury and there are CFL options out there that contain as little as 1.5mgs of mercury- which can hardly be called a ?significant amounts of mercury? considering that many item in your home contain 100s of times more of mercury including your computer. (Continued…)
Kristina M Richardson
posted 5/27/08 @ 9:34 AM MST
Most CFLs today on the market contain less than 5mgs of mercury and there are CFL options out there that contain as little as 1.5mgs of mercury- which can hardly be called a "significant amounts of mercury" considering that many item in your home contain 100s of times more of mercury including your computer. (Continued…)
Concerned
posted 10/05/08 @ 4:09 PM MST
I know that most people will just throw these into the trash... I hope that municipalities get on the ball and start implementing recycling programs like this one. (Continued…)
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