A couple weeks ago, my wife and I purchased a couple CFL bulbs for the apartment. We already had one in our hallway, and we got two 13 watt (60 watt equivalent) and a 15 watt (65 watt equivalent) flood light for a standing lamp. The two 13 watt lights are Daylight CFL bulbs, and the color of the light they display is different and takes some getting used to, but for where they are used, it works rather well.
I went to the URL located on the package, http://www.lamprecycle.org/, and was looking for information about disposing the lights in the case that they burn out or break. Either case is technically unlikely, as I’m not sure if we’ll be in that apartment for longer than the projected life of the bulb (5 years), and they are either in globes or positioned in a way that they can’t accidentally be broken, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, after jumping between different URLs and pdfs, I came across a pdf about lamp recycling, which I found on http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dhwm/guidancedocs.html#fluorescent. It listed two places that accept lamps for recycling in Ohio, one of which is located in Bowling Green.
When I visited the website for Environmental Recycling, I found some information about recycling lamps for commercial facilities, but couldn’t find information regarding the recycling of consumer bulbs. An e-mail to the contact person listed in the pdf about lamp recycling yielded prices and types of materials they accept from homeowners, which I now present below. I’d like to point out, that these are only as current as I know them to be, and could change at any time or even differ completely.
- Compact Fluorescent and 4′ lamps: $0.30/lamp
- Electronics and computers: $0.35/lb
- Household hazardous waste: $0.80/lb
So it’ll cost money to recycle the CFLs and computers, but considering the benefit to the environment and the money I’ll technically save in the process, it’s worth it.
Some may say that the threat of exposure to mercury in the CFLs if they break is a hazard that isn’t worth the net gain of them lasting longer or lowering lighting costs. The amount of mercury that is present in the CFLs is about 4mg, which is 100 times less than the of a typical mercury thermometer. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has a pdf regarding the mercury in CFLs, and Snopes.com has a good article about rumors and facts with CFLs as well.
So there you have it: information about CFLs and how to recycle CFLs and computers in Bowling Green, OH.
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