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CrimeDad @lemmy.crimedad.work

2y ago

These just go out with the other recycling, right?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/45354

cross-posted from: https://pixelfed.crimedad.work/p/crimedad/645809278769635471
These just go out with the other recycling, right?
cfl #mercury #lightbulb #ewaste #recycling #garbagenight
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CrimeDad @lemmy.crimedad.work

2y ago

These just go out with the other recycling, right?

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CrimeDad @lemmy.crimedad.work

2y ago

These just go out with the other recycling, right?

69 comments

Those weird bulbs are called compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs. They are energy-efficient light bulbs that contain a small amount of mercury, which is toxic to humans and the environment. they should never be thrown away in the household trash.
Your local dump or transfer station will (usually) have an attendant who knows how they deal with them.
- Gotcha. I guess these will just live in the box with my old batteries forever.
  
  I got rid of hundreds of pounds of old batteries at my community electronics recycling event this year. See if your community has one.
  
  Your Home Depot probably has a bin for them.
- Is it worse for the environment than driving 80 minutes round trip to the dump to ask about it?
  Genuine question.
  
  Perhaps I'm talking from the European perspective but over here every supermarket and convenience store has a battery and light bulb recycling box. Can't imagine it's much different in the US.
  
  You can usually call or check out a website rather than driving. Most people save them up, then take them all at once or take them when they are going there anyway with other stuff to dispose of.
  Also be really careful if one breaks (get everyone out of the room and air it out first).
  https://www.epa.gov/mercury/cleaning-broken-cfl
  
  Yes. This is directly bad for your immediate environment. But also, most of the big hardware places like Home Depot accept them.
  
  That's a great question, thank you! It made me dick (edit: standing by my mistake!) a (tiny) bit deeper. I took a different perspective and the tldr is: Do you want to kill specifics? I.e. local plants, animals, water poisoning, etc - then mercury is the winner!
  If you're after killing via global temperature variation then the car is.... Well... Killing it.
  But on a serious note: both are bad but depending on how your local trash is handled those small bulbs could actually have an impact, most likely via the water chain.
  If those are the two options I had I would just store them like OP. But then again where I live most shops take those back to recycle them properly.
  Thanks again for the question, I had a fun few minutes!
  
  Is it really 80 minutes to the nearest recycling center that's terrible where do you live?
  In Europe you would be hard pushed for it to be 10 minutes.
- You can also google your location, lots of places have the information online on a website or app. I think OP is from NJ so
  https://ucnj.org/recycling/fluorescent-bulb-recycling/
  https://www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/recycling/fluorescent_bulbs.htm
- There's barely any recycling infrastructure where I live so to the landfill it'll go...
No. They contain mercury and electronics and are typically not recyclable. They may be recyclable, but probably not curbside, and are considered hazardous waste. See https://www.epa.gov/mercury/recycling-and-disposal-cfls-and-other-bulbs-contain-mercury
Not in my area, I have to take them to Lowes or Home Depot.
- I didn't know that Lowe's and Home Depot accept these for disposal. Useful info.
  
  My local Lowe's has a bin to drop them in near the exit after checkout.
  The home Depot has a drop bin near the entrance.
  
  And sometimes they don't. You gotta check ahead, unless you're going there anyway
  
  And Staples takes electronics for recycling
- Second this.
  CF bulbs have some mercury in them and need to be disposed of properly. DO NOT put these in the trash!
  I took mine to the collection box in the customer service / returns area at home despot.
  ETA: I think I am now rid of all the compact florescent bulbs in my house. LEDs are now cheap enough that I'll get rid of good CFs for the energy savings.
  
  Only problem I have had with LED lights is they stop working after maybe 6 months whereas the CF bulbs would go for years. I have CF bulbs in fixtures that have been working since before I got my first LED installed. What has your experience been? What brand of bulb are you using? I am willing to pay more for a bulb that will last.
Some cities are now using a service from ReCollect that let you figure out how to dispose of most materials, you could look on your smartphone if there's literally an app for it.
It even comes with your waste/commpost/recycling collection schedule, reminders, etc.
That kind of hazardous material such as CFL lightbulb will likely require special handling, so for that kind of stuff I keep a box for those items I can easily dispose of, that I'll bring to my local ecocenter when it's full.
- Every home has the miscellaneous hazmat box.
Some Home Depot and Lowes locations take these for recycling if you live in the US. Ask about it at the customer service counter.
Granted this and another post here has me wondering how sincerely they are made but anyway you can't take anything for granted nowadays as different recycling providers will take different things and some stop taking things so you need to check their website like once a year. for example here is mine https://cdn.wasteconnections.com/cms/groot-west/Groot%20Recycling%20Guidelines.pdf
😬 Thank you for the education, kind internet friend. 😬
- Same. Until today I had no idea OP had two light bulbs he was trying to dispose of. You learn something new every day
throw em in the ocean
- I was just thinking that since I also have an old car battery to get rid of. I'll make a beach trip out of it!
  
  It's a safe and legal thrill!
  
  bloop
  
  It's a safe and legal thrill!
Shout out to CrimeDad running all his own infrastructure top to bottom!
- 🙏
Yeah just go ahead and put them in the metal / glass / plastic recycling, they will figure it out on that end with all the others that get thrown in there.
- They contain mercury and are hazardous waste, not recycling. If, or rather when, they break they will contaminate everything around them and are a healthy hazard. So, no, definitely not curbside recycling.
  There should be drop off points in many big box stores for this kind of stuff.
  
  Oh no they'll contaminate some glass and plastic that have been thrown away!
- Makes sense to me. They aren't really just trusting everyone to have already sorted their recycling perfectly, right?

69 comments