More on Squiggly Light Bulbs.
In this post I noted the need to recycle or otherwise properly dispose of squiggly light bulbs, because they contain mercury, unlike good old mercury-free incandescent light bulbs, which can be tossed in the trash. It seems that the widespread use of these lousy bulbs may have created a “ticking green time bomb.â€
As is pointed out in the linked article, most people don’t recycle or properly dispose of burned out squiggly bulbs. Indeed, in California, where proper disposal of the bulbs is required by law, it is estimated that less than 10% of the bulbs are properly disposed.
Former chairman of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health and Safety has noted:
If you have a municipal urban landfill and have a population of 450,000 households disposing of one or two CFLs [squiggly light bulbs] a year – you do the arithmetic. Put one-half milligram of mercury per bulb, it amounts to a significant loading, and mercury does migrate into groundwater.
Mercury migrating into the groundwater. Not good, Peeps. Not good at all.
Consumers who actually want to use squiggly light bulbs are often faced with the daunting task of finding a disposal or recycling center, with the result being that, more often than not, the bulbs are tossed into the trash.
The plan to legally mandate the use of these lousy bulbs on a national basis (which predates The One) will most certainly lead to yet more federal regulations to mandate proper disposal of the damned things.
This yet another example of the federal government caving in to enviro-kooks without thinking shit through.
Link via Doug Ross
I toss them in the trash along with my used motor oil and dead car batteries.
Comment by Mark — July 20, 2009 @ 8:35 pm
Just throw the bloody things away!
Comment by Kevin — July 20, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
I feed them to baby seals.
Comment by LeeAnn — July 20, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
Oh shit, so using them as a “fun straw” in my chocolate milk after they blow out…that’s probably a bad idea, right?
Comment by Erica — July 21, 2009 @ 1:23 am
And here I was planning on creating a whole new line of “green” sex toys with them. Guess that’s right out.
Comment by Da Goddess — July 21, 2009 @ 1:59 am
I bet they would make good aerial targets.
Comment by hammer — July 21, 2009 @ 5:02 am
hmmmm, thus far I have not had to dispose one…damn things seem to put out light forever. But, if I do I’ll UPS them to congress and let the Homeland Security folks worry about them
Comment by GUYK — July 21, 2009 @ 9:42 am
I had to edit a (memorable) story a couple of years ago about environmentally-friendly sex toys. Turns out, most of the non-environmentally friendly ones contain phthalates, some kind of mostly innocuous plastic, which may or may not seep into our skin. As if they’re not enough $$ already (not that I would know), now women are encouraged to spring an extra $25 for “green,” phthalate-free toys.
Comment by Erica — July 21, 2009 @ 9:43 am
I like GUYKs idea.
Comment by Dave Merriman — July 21, 2009 @ 12:32 pm
Erica- Green toys? I think they are only a buck. They call them cucumbers… heh.
Comment by Bou — July 22, 2009 @ 9:35 am
Oh snap. *blushing*
Comment by Erica — July 22, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
I’d like to know where GuyK got his ‘long-lasting” squiggly bulbs. The wife and I picked up like a 12 pack on sale at Sam’s 2 or 3 years ago and replaced some incandescents as they burned out. I figured the promise of longer lasting and cheaper to burn was worth the extra cost. Well, the first 5 or 6 we installed were replaced within months. They flicker and snap and pop, then burn out. Incandescents in the same lights lasted years. What a crock full of sh!t. We’re buying no more of them.
And yes, they go in the garbage with all my un-recycled plastic and aluminum.
Comment by Dan O — July 23, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
DanO- That happened to us. We bought 8 and 4 of them blew out in a WEEK. We still had the receipts and Home Depot took them back. It was new lighting, so I was concerned it was the lighting fixture. But the new ones HD gave us have been nearly a year. I’ve been kind of surprised.
That said, for the cost, I should have no reliability problems. Between getting rid of them and reliability, I refuse to buy them if I don’t have to.
Comment by Bou — July 23, 2009 @ 7:57 pm