Public Education
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 and closed. Do NOT tape lamps together;
simply fill box until it is full.
Close and seal the box with tape.
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.