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What to do with Incandescent Bulbs?

Submitted by sundawg on Sat, Jun. 21, 2008

Articles and TV shows are telling everyone about the benefits of replacing incandescent with CFL's. But what I am wondering is, what do you do with the incandescent bulbs? Throw them away? Wouldn't it be better to wait till they burn out then replace them?

‹ Disposing of Compact Fluorescent Bulbs -- Who to Call?

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Comments (3)

Blusummit
Mon, Jun. 23, 2008

Lightbulbs

In our area, about every two months, there is a collecton point where we can take technology, etc. items that cannot go in regular garbage pickups. Besides the new bulbs, the older type were not supposed to be thrown in the garbage, either. Light bulbs (any type), computers, printers, cell phones, batteries are the items collected here. If you do not know if your area has one, call your local city hall.

Blusummit
Mon, Jun. 23, 2008

Lightbulbs

Where we live, there is a "technological collection" scheduled about once every two months. They are not picked up, we have to take them to the collection point. Collected there are things that the regular garbage pickups don't, such as computers, printers, cell phones, small appliances, and light bulbs (both types). Check with your local city hall to see if your area has such a collection point. Oh, to answer your other question, we are adding the new type of bulbs as the others burn out. We have about eight, now, around the house. They are not what they say they are though. It is like replacing a 100w bulb with a 60w bulb.

jennyviktoria
Sun, Jun. 22, 2008

lightbulbs

that's what we are doing. I would never take something out and throw it away before it has broken just to switch to a green option. we use them all over the house where we can, but i have some issues with cfl's....notably they contain mercury! and so many people are using them now, do they know how to safely dispose of them? it is not at all clear on any packaging that they need to be disposed of properly (ie: not in the garbage) or they have the potential to leach more mercury into the soil... also if you break one in your house it's another issue, i did this as my cat jumped onto the counter and knocked the bulb down and it broke. i cleaned it up because with a baby and cats you cant have broken glass just sitting on the floor, but then after looked up how i was supposed to clean it up and i shouldn't have cleaned it up right away as i guess the mercury needs time to settle out of the air for about 20 minutes and then clean it up.... and then there are a lot of 'cheap' cfl options, eg walmart brands, and are these just jumping on the bandwagon of the green wave or are they as good as the expensive name brand cfls? are they really saving the same amount of electricity?
so i guess my point is, we use them, but idk if i believe they really are helping the environment as much as people are saying.