Where, oh where, can I recycle my CFL?

Not too long ago, at a friend’s party, I noticed a funny-looking object sitting on a table.

Staring at the twisty glass top that was creatively secured into a square wooden base, I saw pencils poking out from the hollow center. “Is that a CFL?” I asked.

“Yeah. It burned out, and I’ve heard those bulbs contain mercury, so I didn’t want to toss it,” my handy friend answered. “I wasn’t sure what else to do with it.” Hence the lightbulb-turned-pencil-holder.

I’m all too familiar with the CFL-disposal dilemma. I’m reminded of it each time I pass the broken CFL lying double-bagged on a table near my front door. And it’s not as if I haven’t tried to properly dispose of the busted bulb.

A few weeks ago, following my own advice from a prior CFL posting, I scoured the Web for recycling options. I called the household-hazardous-waste facility nearest my New York City apartment to confirm the place actually accepts CFLs, but the number had been disconnected. I dialed another option. No luck. The company had recently moved out of the city. The next-best location doesn’t even have a number listed. I could take my chances and show up with my bulb, but I’m not feeling very optimistic about successful disposal.

I was left with a listing of several other places that claim to accept CFLs by mail, as one manufacturer, Sylvania, has recently started doing. But the shipping is at my own expense and impractical for the one bulb I have. (With the limited numbers of lights in my apartment and the expected long life of CFLs, it could be years before I have enough to mail.)

Another possible drop-off for my lifeless lightbulb is Ikea, the Swedish retailer whose colossal stores now accept old bulbs. The nearest location is an hour away, though, and unless I’m going there to shop and eat some of the delicious lingonberry mousse served at the restaurant, I figure it’s not worth the effort to get there and back just to drop off a single bulb.

And so my shattered bulb continues to await its fate.

It’s times like these when I realize consumers could really benefit from practical, convenient CFL-recycling options. As in San Francisco, where the city has set up a partnership with local hardware stores that take the bulbs. Now wouldn’t that be nice.—Kristi Wiedemann, Science and Policy Analyst, GreenerChoices.org

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Comments

[Mary]

Great article. I didn't even know CFL's contained mercury and I recently bought some. Now I know how to dispose.

[Dan]

This is my number one issue with these bulbs. I hope some company figures out a way to make it profitable to collect these for recycling.

[Phyllis Strickland]

This is another example where you have to wonder if the "cure isn't worse than the disease." And they are talking about mandating replacement of incandescent with CFL's, yet there is no viable method to dispose of these in the rural area where I live, or even in NYC according to the above article. Seems to be very shortsighted.

[Andrew]

There is a website linked from the IKEA page that might be helpful:

http://www.lamprecycle.org/

[Annita]

If you live in the Washington DC, Maryland or Northern Virginia are, MOM's (My Organic Market) takes them along with other recyclables. Their site is:

www.myorganicmarket.com/

[Rosemary]

Again, our all knowing/all wise government has set us up. I have had standard flourescent tubes and now some CFL's. From my electric bill I'm not sure that I'm seeing any real savings from these bulbs - certainly not enought to balance the hazard they represent. Once these are in common use do you really think that most people are going to follow proper clean up and disposal procedures. No. Top that off with the fact that recycling still requires the consumer to put out time and effort to properly recycle anything from plastic, glass and paper and we are looking at an environmental disaster in the making.

[Annette Davis]

In NYC (and the rest of the country apparently) you can recycle CFLs at Home Depot. They also recycle rechargeable and regular batteries and plastic bags. I know Whole Foods recycles plastic bags as well but you might check to see if they take bulbs and/or batteries.