ALTHOUGH BULBS LIKE the compact-fluorescent light (CFL) bulb pictured here are better for the environment in the long-run, the bulbs must be recycled to avoid contaminating landfills with mercury powder and mercury vapor. The state’s LightRecycle Washington Program has several locations throughout Clark County, where consumer can drop off their used, mercury-containing lamps and bulbs. Visit www.lightrecycle.org for more information.
What do you do with used or broken light bulbs? If you’re like most people, you throw them away and forget about it.
But sending light bulbs to the landfill – especially fluorescent or compact-fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs – can be dangerous for the environment.
That’s because fluorescent lights, CFLs, and other types of modern-day bulbs – like the high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs used in car headlights and flashlights – contain small amounts of mercury, a highly toxic substance that poses serious environmental threats to wildlife, water systems and humans when released into the air.
According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “although the amount of mercury in a single fluorescent lamp is small, collectively, large numbers of fluorescent lamps contribute to the amount of mercury that is released into the environment.” That’s why the EPA and the state of Washington recommend recycling these types of light bulbs.
But wouldn’t it just be easier to avoid buying mercury-containing bulbs? Not really. In fact, when recycled properly, these types of bulbs – especially the compact-fluorescent lights – are actually much better for the environment than traditional incandescent light bulbs. That’s because fluorescent lights and CFLs last about 10 times longer than traditional bulbs, and require less energy to produce light, cutting down on the amount of electrical generation coming from coal-burning power plants, which also release mercury into the atmosphere.
In January of 2015, the state of Washington made it easier for people to recycle their fluorescent, CFL and HID bulbs. If you’ve purchased any mercury containing light bulbs in Washington state over the past nine months, you may have noticed an extra 25-cent charge per bulb. Known as the “environmental handling charge,” the 25-cent fee helps pay for LightRecycle Washington, the state’s new recycling program.
LightRecycle Washington has a network of participating recycling sites throughout the state, where consumers can drop their mercury-containing lights, including lamps, bulbs, tubes and other devices, free of charge. There is a limit of 10 devices, per person, per day at each drop-off site.
In Clark County, there are several drop-off locations in the city of Vancouver as well as in Battle Ground and Woodland, including the following sites:
• Battle Ground
Hi-School Ace Hardware, 1605 W. Main St.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays
• Woodland
Woodland Ace Hardware, 1325 Lewis River Road
Hours:8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays
• Vancouver
Central Transfer and Recycling, 11034 NE 117th Ave.
Hours: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays
Batteries Plus Bulbs
1218 NE 88th St., Suite 120
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays
Grover Electric and Plumbing Supply
1900 NE 78th St.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays; 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays
The sites accept the following mercury-containing lights:
• CFLs (compact fluorescent lights): These are typically the “corkscrew” light bulbs that come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The LightRecycle Program accepts all types and sizes of CFLs.
• Fluorescent tube lights: Common in pretty much every retail shop and office across the country, these tube-shaped lights come in different lengths and widths and are often straight, but sometimes come in a u-shape, a circular shape or curved shape.
• HIDs (high intensity discharge): The bright, “high intensity” lamps include the high pressure sodium, mercury vapour, metal halide, ultraviolet, ultra high performance and germicidal lights commonly used in car headlights, bicycle headlamps, flashlights and large public areas like gymnasiums and football stadiums.
The sites also accept broken lights in sealed, airtight containers, such as a sealed plastic bags, but experts urge caution in cleaning up a broken, mercury-containing lamp or bulb. The following is the EPA’s recommendation for safely cleaning up a broken CFL bulb:
Before Cleanup:
• Have people and pets leave the room
• Air out the room for about 10 minutes by opening any windows or doors to the outside
• Turn off the central air system in your house, if you have one
• Gather cleaning materials, including stiff paper or cardboard, sticky tape, damp paper towels and a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag
During Cleanup:
• DO NOT VACUUM. Vacuuming could spread the mercury-containing powder or vapor
• Scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard. Use sticky tape to pick up remaining small fragments.
• Place materials in a sealed container
After Cleanup:
• Place all bulb debris and cleanup materials in an outdoors container until you can recycle the bulb fragments. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments inside your home.
• Take your sealed container of bulb fragments to a nearby light recycling drop-off location.
• If you can, continue to air out the room where the bulb broke and leave the heating/air-conditioning systems off for several hours to avoid mercury exposure to other parts of the home.
For more information about the LightRecycle Washington program, or to find a drop-off location near you, visit www.lightrecycle.org.
