COLUMN: La Greenga answers question about recycling CFLs

I today's El Paso Times:
(A special thanks to the El Paso Solar Energy Association, Solar Smart Living and El Paso Environmental Services for their help in answering these questions.)

Q: "Please comment as to how consumers should dispose of CFL bulbs. Without proper disposal, should we be concerned about how much mercury we are releasing into the environment?" -- Anonymous.

A: There is a small amount of mercury in CFL bulbs (about 4 milligrams), of which an even smaller amount (14 percent) will evaporate if the bulb breaks. The rest is bound to the glass. The U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA are not worried, saying that even if all the CFL bulbs sold in 2007 were sent to a landfill, it would only raise man-made mercury emissions by 0.16 percent. Still, they recommend handling a broken CFL bulb carefully (pick up the pieces with pieces of cardboard, not a vacuum or a broom). The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says it's not illegal to simply throw the bulbs, broken or whole, in the trash, but recommends first sealing them in a plastic bag. A better way is to recycle the bulbs. Home Depot stores have bright orange CFL recycling bins, and the city's Citizen Collection Centers accept CFL bulbs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 4501 Hondo Pass; 2492 Harrison; 121 Atlantic (at Doniphan); 9000 Escobar; and 4200 Delta. You must bring an ID and a water bill with you.

The bulbs are then shipped to a contractor's facility in Tulsa, Okla., whose representative told me they are fed into a machine that crushes the bulbs and collects the mercury (which is resold). The remaining dust is then burned to power a cement plant, they said.