Always learning
May 1st, 2007 by Mollie
photo courtesy of elvisripley
My friend Mike sent me a very much appreciated link to this article, The CFL mercury nightmare.
How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour — unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn’t include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.
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As each CFL contains five milligrams of mercury, at the Maine “safety” standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of soil to “safely” contain all the mercury in a single CFL. While CFL vendors and environmentalists tout the energy cost savings of CFLs, they conveniently omit the personal and societal costs of CFL disposal.
My first response was to feel really sad because I have encouraged a lot of people to switch to CFL bulbs because they are more energy efficient.
My second response was to remember that this blog is a place of learning, encouragement, and positive life changes based on education. It is a process and sometimes that process involves mistakes—this is in general a helpful life lesson to learn, none of us are perfect and we are all in need of grace.
In trying to find out more information on CFL’s and how to properly dispose of them I came across this NPR article which acknowledges the problem but discusses it in a more productive and helpful manner.
“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, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling.
[Wendy Reed, who manages EPA's Energy Star program,] says that even though fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, using them contributes less mercury to the environment than using regular incandescent bulbs. That’s because they use less electricity — and coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of mercury emissions in the air.
“The compact fluorescent light bulb is a product people can use to positively influence the environment to… prevent mercury emissions as well as greenhouse gas emissions. And it’s something that we can do now — and it’s extremely important that we do do it,” Reed says. “And the positive message is, if you recycle them, if you dispose of them properly, then they’re doing a world of good.”
I haven’t decided what to do with the current CFL light bulbs that I have throughout my home, except that I will be very careful in my handling of them, or what I will do when I need to buy new bulbs.
However, here is what I have taken away from this:
1. We use more energy than is good for our planet and there is no easy or problem-free solution to our need to light our homes, offices, and stores. Maybe it was better when the sun and moon were used to light our way.
2. If a bulb breaks near your home you will have soil contamination which is dangerous because it is a neurotoxin and if it breaks in your home there is a major hazard waste issue.
3. Throwing CFL light bulbs in the trash in not an option even if it is legal in your county because you could cause dangerous health problems to workers who are exposed to the neurotoxin.
4. You can bring light bulbs to IKEA to recycle them, search Earth 911 to find a disposal options near you, or look into lamprecycle.
5. “CFLs are safe to use in your home. No mercury is released when the bulbs are in use and they pose no danger to you or your family when used properly. However, CFLs are made of glass tubing and can break if dropped or roughly handled. Be careful when removing the lamp from its packaging, installing it, or replacing it. Always screw and unscrew the lamp by its base, and never forcefully twist the CFL into a light socket by its tubes. Used CFLs should be disposed of properly, learn how to properly dispose.”
6. Finally, this has been a good reminder that we all need to be working to live a sustainable life, trying to leave the places we touch better than we found them.
Resources via NPR article:
May 1st, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Good article. I use florescent bulbs in areas where the light gets left on for long periods for safety reasons, like over the kitchen sink (so I don’t trip in the night), on my front portch, and in our basement stair well. I learned that McLendon Hardware near my house in Renton will take my used bulbs for a small fee (less than a dollar each).
May 19th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Guess you missed my post about this a while back.
http://blog.iamnotashamed.net/2007/02/02/say-goodbye-to-edisons-lightbulb/
Indie referenced that fact sheet you listed, and after reading through it, it seems the goal is to simply be careful with the bulbs, but overall the amount of mercury emitted is less.