Why is it so important to recycle used Compact Fluorescent Lamps?

A Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) contains less then 5mg of mercury. That covers an area about the size of the tip of a pen. To put it in perspective, a watch battery contains about 25mg of mercury; enough to fill 5 CFLs; a cell phone contains even more!

While mercury does occur naturally, one of the greatest contributors to excess mercury in our environment is the by-product from producing power. By using CFLs and by reducing the power we use, we can significantly reduce the amount of mercury in the environment.

Generating power is the number one contributor of mercury in the environment. CFLs save up to 70% of lighting energy, which means that power plants can produce 70% less power, which means 70% less mercury in the atmosphere. In 1999 the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) reported that 75 tons of mercury was found in the coal delivered to power plants each year, and about two thirds of that was emitted into the air. That’s 50 tons annually. Hence the Clean Air Act was amended in 1999, and the EPA was given authority to control hazardous air pollutants, including mercury.

Using and recycling CFLs won’t completely solve the problems we have related to mercury in the environment, but doing so can help a lot! Using them in your home means power plants can greatly reduce the amount of mercury they release into the atmosphere. Additionally, recycling keeps the mercury inside the lighting industry so that it can be reused in new CFL bulbs. In this way, one of the vital components in CFLs (mercury) can continue to light your home instead of getting into the ground where it negatively impacts our planet.

Learn how to do your part and help the environment through proper CFL recycling:

Home Depot Eco Options
The Home Depot® offers a free CFL recycling service in all of their stores nationwide where consumers can deposit their spent CFLs. To read more about this service, click here.

Recycleabulb.com
Recycle A Bulb offers good information on CFL recycling as well as a tool to quickly find the nearest recycling center to you.

MaxLite: Life Cycle Of A CFL Cartoon
An illustrated story of the life of a CFL; from manufacture; to delivery to the store; to purchasing for the home; to recycling; to return to the manufacturer.