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Home depot and office max have recycling programs through out the US. Aside from that my town collects them once a year with the hazzardous waste collections.

That's interesting UF.. none of the big stores over here have that kind of recycling program yet. Perhaps I should start emailing some of them! Our local council do collect stuff for recycling, but there is no dedicated specialist program for these bulbs.

I think there is a way by whic hthe old bulbs can be thrown in double bags...so that there is no leakage....

errr yes... but what happens to them after that Atula? You can't just bury them in the ground? Mercury is poison. This is why i am asking if there are any dedicated programs for safe disposal and recovery of the mercury for re-use.

Our city dump takes the light bulbs as "hazardous waste", so they must be disposing them in the proscribed manner. Once or twice a year they have a bulb drive, and a hazardous waste drive.
Call your city dump and ask them about recycling the bulbs. You don't know what they have or haven't until you call.

Those things are controlled by the local council heretoday... I did contact them, and amazingly, they say they do now have a specific recycling program in place for mercury bulbs. they will have a special depositry in the recycling centre for leaving these kinds of bulbs. They recommend gathering up any broken pieces with a damp cloth, and putting in a sealable bag.

Apparently they are also preparing to distribute special bags to households to put them into for collection. That's not off the ground yet... but they are working on it...


i'm impressed!

Stav, our local recycling centre takes the bulbs too, there is a special container to put them in.

I'm a little confused so need to clarify. By low energy, are we talking about the CFLs or this something different from those?

We are talking about CFLs Orrymain...

I think the mercury of the bulbs can be collected and reused...it can not be dumped as extraction of the mercury in the first place is a tough procedure.

The mercury can again be used for the bulbs or things like thermometers.