Recycle and Reuse - Where To Take Items

Many thanks to Janae Anderson for compiling the booklet entitled "Recycle and Reuse  - Where To Take Items"


Fluorescent Lamps

Fluorescent lamps are three to four times more efficient in converting electricity to visible light

Fluorescent lamps contain small quantities of mercury, cadmium and antimony

It has been estimated that between 450 and 500 million fluorescent lamps are disposed of in the United States each year, dumping over 30,000 metric tons of mercury contaminated waste into the nation's landfills.

Fluorescent lamps may contain up to 40 milligrams of elemental mercury, depending on the brand and manufacture date. 

 
Lamps should be stored in a way that avoids breakage:
Place bulbs in box similar to the one they were shipped in, or in a specially manufactured container for recycling. Shipping containers can be saved and reused for recycling spent bulbs.
Box should be filled, counted, and closed. Do NOT tape lamps together; simply fill box until it is full.
Close and seal the box with tape and write the quantity on the end of the box.

 

Fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescents and High-Intensity Discharge (HID) bulbs (including mercury vapor, high pressure sodium and metal halide) all contain mercury.

It is illegal to dispose of fluorescent and HID lamps in the trash. Intact, end-of-life mercury containing bulbs must be recycled.
 

It is estimated that the mercury from one fluorescent tube can pollute 30,000 liters of water beyond a safe level for drinking.

It's a fact - One Gram of Mercury Can Contaminate a Twenty Acre Lake.