When broken, incinerated
or buried in a landfill, fluorescent bulbs release mercury into the air, water
and soil.
For those who have
tried to do the right thing with these mercury-containing bulbs, it’s not
always easy to dispose of them properly. Some stores take back fluorescent
bulbs, but those programs are typically meant for individuals.
Northeast Recycle Group and Office Recycling Solutions offer mail-back and collection solutions to the fluorescent bulb problem. Mail-back refers to the option of buying a special box designed to hold fluorescent bulbs. Included in that cost is the cost of shipping the box full of spent bulbs back to the facility from which it was purchased for proper disposal.
Fluorescent bulbs also
can be disposed of by making an appointment at a Rhode Island Resource Recovery
Corporation free Eco-Depot collection.
A small amount of
elemental mercury remains an essential component of fluorescent bulbs — less
than 5 milligrams a bulb. While elemental mercury is a hazardous material,
there is only a risk of exposure if the fluorescent light bulb breaks.
Virtually all components
of a fluorescent bulb can be recycled — the metal end caps are sold as scrap,
the glass tubing is remanufactured into new glass products, and the mercury and
phosphor are recovered and reused for new light bulbs.
Once the light bulbs
are collected, they are sent to recycling facilities across the country for
processing. The light bulbs are mechanically crushed and sorted into their
separate components. A vacuum system is usually used to ensure that toxic
substances are not released into the air when the bulbs are crushed.
Crushing fluorescent
bulbs is not allowed in Rhode Island, so businesses such as the Northeast
Recycle Group ship their bulbs to out-of-state facilities.