Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and the hazards to come.

Compact Fluorescent Lights are the darlings of the energy and wanna be green set. They also present dangers beyond the few pennies you save. The bulb makers and the greenmailers are telling you to replace every bulb in your house with these 'marvels', so you won't be one of those profligate energy hogs, or worse.

Kids toys have more warning labels than CFL's do. If you are going to use them, think about a couple of common sense guidelines.

Do not use them in table or floor lamps where the possibility of overactive kids or pets have a chance of knocking them down.

My preference is that you don't use them in any fixture that is less than 6' above the floor.

When they do burn out take them back to the store where you got them, or dispose of them properly. They are hazardous material.

They do represent energy savings, at least according to the literature, and may save you a few cents now, but down the road the butchers bill is gonna be big. The mercury issue is gonna haunt your children and theirs.

The average CFL contains about 5 milligrams of mercury. 5 milligrams of anything will just about cover the ball of a ball point pen. Not very much you think. But it is cumulative, highly toxic and disposal is going to be a problem. Probably not by you readers, but consider the millions of folks who are not connected, and the Big Box Stores who are moving millions of these bulbs without any signage at all about proper disposal. Trust me, there are millions of folks who do not recycle, live in communities that recycle, or could care less.

Here are the EPA Clean Up guidelines:

How should I clean up a broken fluorescent bulb?
Because CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, EPA recommends the following clean-up and
disposal guidelines:
1. Before Clean-up:
Ventilate the Room Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

2. Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces
Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them
in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and
powder.
Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the
glass jar or plastic bag.
Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.
3. Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug:
Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a
canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and
powder.
If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the
bulb was broken.
Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris
in a sealed plastic bag.

4. Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding, etc.:
If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing
powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be
discarded. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing
may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.

You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury
vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you happened to be wearing when you
cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the
materials from the broken bulb.

If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the
bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or
wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

5. Disposal of Clean-up Materials
Immediately place all cleanup materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the
next normal trash pickup.

Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.

Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area.
Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken mercury-
containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

6. Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug:

Ventilate the Room During and After Vacuuming

The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning
system and open a window prior to vacuuming.

Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15
minutes after vacuuming is completed.

Here are the EPA Guides.

Information on Proper Disposal of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) PDF

Clean Up Guidelines PDF

Comments

[Anita]

Wow. Thanks for posting this. I'm going to be talking about this for weeks... Friends and family are going to stop answering the phone when they see my number. I was actually wondering why our local(once per YEAR) hazardous waste collection program included the old tube-type flourescent bulbs - but not the CFLs... I'm ashamed to say that I assumed they didn't contain mercury.

[Bearfort]

Excellent website -- Excellent article -- What a sham -- a shame too. I noticed that the cautionary information on the back of the label requires a magnifying glass.

They may save a few cents here and there but with this information how is it that the greenfolks have been promoting these so effectively?

Scary

[Andre]

Great info, but personally i hate mercury lamps, because i want to avoid such things that you post. I mean, its mercury, man

[Derek]

If you get your power from coal, the coal plant emits more mercury over the life of the bulb, to power the bulb, than the bulb contains. And all that mercury ends up straight in the soil. They do make lower mercury bulbs, but I agree, you have to be careful with them, and dispose of them properly.

[Rudy]

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. If one of these bulbs should break inside of a person’s home, it could cause a challenging disposal situation. It is my belief that the technology should progress to a point at which the mercury levels are low or nonexistent before people changeover their entire homes. Another consideration is that as these bulbs burn out, they will most likely be thrown away as though they are normal rubbish and landfills will have incredibly high levels of mercury in their soil as a result.

[Kristina Richardson]

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. Mercury levels in CFLs can never be “nonexistent” since mercury is a necessary component of a CFL and there is no other known element that is capable of replacing it. But CFLs actually prevent more mercury from entering the environment. According to the Union of Concerned Scientist, “a coal-fired power plant will emit about four times more mercury to keep an incandescent bulb glowing, compared with a CFL of the same light output”.

[Peter]

You are right to be against cfls

--wrong to ban light bulbs generally

see http://www.ceolas.net

more about mercury and cfls

see

http://www.ceolas.net/#li18x -- and onwards

The coal power arguments are thoroughly refuted

In a nutshell:
1. What comes out of ever decreasing coal power stations chimneys can be dealt with:
we know where the problem sources are and we can treat them with ever increasing efficiency at lower costs.
2. Compare that with scattered broken lights on all the dump sites, we do not know where the broken lights are, and we can't do anything about them.

There is no question which is the greater environmental problem.....