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?
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.
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.
You might have fixtures that overheat the bulbs. LEDs run cool compared to other bulbs but they are very sensitive to heat (that’s why the old ones had fins on them). If your fixture is enclosed, LEDs in there will have a much shorter life span.
One common fixture in these parts are those silly domes with the screw in the middle, they regularly killed bulbs at my old place. I even had one come out that had discoloration from the heat.
CFLs and incandescents didn’t like those fixtures or heat either, but I don’t know as much about how their life span was impacted.
One common fixture in these parts are those silly domes with the screw in the middle,
My wife and I affectionally refer to those as boob lights.
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.
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!
bloop
It’s a safe and legal thrill!
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
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!
“Oh no, they’ll contaminate a lot of goods that were prepared for recycling and endanger the health of the people involved in that process chain.”
When corrected, most people don’t double down on their own, accidental, misinformation. The fact that you chose to be defensive and sarcastic instead, speaks a lot about the kind of person who dumps mercury in the recycling bin with the expectation that others will clean it up.
“When corrected” is doing a lot of work there
Makes sense to me. They aren’t really just trusting everyone to have already sorted their recycling perfectly, right?
