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.”

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