Natick Bulletin & Tab: Are fluorescent bulbs helping or harming the environment?
Filed under: Earth 911 - July 5, 2007
Kathy Uek
Gatehouse News Service
July 05, 2007
Natick -
Compact fluorescent bulbs save energy and are being touted as an environmentally-friendly alternative to incandescent bulbs because they cut down on electricity use. But compact fluorescent bulbs also contain mercury, the very substance federal and state agencies have been working diligently at ridding from the waste stream.
“It’s a very significant issue,” said state Sen. David Linsky, D-Natick. Linsky wanted to review the matter in more depth before talking about whether more funding will be necessary to dispose of mercury products as more people use the bulbs.
State Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, said she supports increased funding for local mercury-disposal efforts but that at this point there is no discussion at the legislative level about setting aside more money for them.
Ed Coletta, a spokesman with the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the DEP is working on new regulations for the disposal of household CFL bulbs, but noted commercial users must recycle any mercury-containing lights.
“We want to get all the mercury out of the waste stream,” said Coletta, who noted the amount of mercury in the bulbs is a relatively small amount.
The mercury powder inside the compact fluorescent bulbs, about four to five milligrams, helps them burn bright. But the mercury, which can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, can cause permanent nervous system and kidney damage. Among other things, the substance gave rise to the phrase “mad as a hatter” — referred to a character in “Alice in Wonderland” — because workers once used mercury in the hat-making process before the practice ended in the early 1940s in the U.S.
What makes the bulbs attractive to both consumers and environmentalists is their energy-saving capacity. According to Energy Star, a joint program of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, compact fluorescents use about 75 percent less energy and last 10 times as long than their incandescent counterparts.
Federal officials say if every home in America had one compact fluorescent, the country would save about $600 million in annual energy costs — enough electricity to light about 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of 800,000 cars.
But what helps the bulbs burn bright, said Coletta, is the mercury powder, and he said makers have not found a non-toxic substitute that can do the job.
Now with a proposed national phase out on incandescent bulbs being led by manufacturers and other groups — following similar plans in Australia — local recyclers and waste disposal firms face having to safely dispose of another source of mercury from household waste.
In the early 2000s, Massachusetts worked to eliminate mercury from trash — where it can re-enter the environment — but the fluorescent bulbs were not main concern then.
“I think the focus was on mercury products like thermometers… and less so on compact fluorescents,” said Coletta. “They’ve become more of an issue as they become more popular.”
Mercury thermometers have considerably more of the material inside — about 500 milligrams — than compact fluorescent bulbs.
If a bulb breaks, that mercury - in powder form — can spread into the air and potentially inhaled. In Maine earlier this year, a homeowner who broke a bulb over a carpet reported a $2,000 clean up bill after an inspector from that state’s environmental protection office detected mercury traces in an area the size of a dinner plate.
In Massachusetts, the DEP recommends waiting about 15 minutes after breaking a bulb and then clearing the broken bits and mercury particles into a sealable container. Coletta said to use a stiff piece of paper or cardboard to sweep up the debris - and avoid using a vacuum cleaner.
“You have mercury powder there, and you don’t want it kicked up into the air,” said Coletta.
Roger Wade, director of Public Health in Natick, said the town accepts fluorescent tubes at its recycling center at 75 West Street.
The Town of Natick in its Recycling and Trash Collection Guide for Residents available through the town’s Web site, states its Mercury Recovery Program as follows:
“Products containing mercury pose a risk to all of us and can pollute our environment. Items such as thermometers, thermostats, mercury switches and button cell batteries, blood pressure machines and fluorescent bulbs all contain mercury and can be dropped off at the Recycling Center.
Residents can also exchange an old mercury thermometer for a free digital one at either the Board of Health office or at the DPW office.
Since the beginning of this program, mercury emissions have decreased 30 percent statewide, according to the guide.
The town supports recycling products containing mercury rather than sending them to the incinerator, which would put mercury into the environment.
“People usually tape (the bulbs) all together or put them in a box,” said Tom Hladick of the Highway Sanitation Recycling Division.
Natick recycles the mercury products with Veolia Environmental Services, formerly Onyx, and then the town gets reimbursed by the state.
Massachusetts enacted an all-out mercury ban that begins in May 2008. Until then, the state will allow residents to throw away broken compact fluorescent bulbs if they are sealed inside a container before being dumped in the trash until then. Coletta recommended recycling the bulbs if possible and contacting local departments of public works to arrange a drop off for broken bulbs. He said more information can be found online at www.earth911.org.
CNC staff writer John Hilliard contributed to this report.
One Response to “Natick Bulletin & Tab: Are fluorescent bulbs helping or harming the environment?”
What a mess the government has gotten into. Didn’t they think before they acted? Maybe mercury is the only product to use for such lighting, but this powder seems so dangerous. Do they really think that the public will really know or care how to clean up a broken bulb and dispose of it properly? More information should be given not only in papers, but on TV.