{"id":36424,"date":"2018-05-03T01:27:11","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T08:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crpud.net\/?page_id=36424"},"modified":"2018-08-07T09:42:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T16:42:09","slug":"facts-about-mercury-from-cfls-and-other-sources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/ways-to-save\/at-home\/lighting\/facts-about-mercury-from-cfls-and-other-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"Facts About Mercury from CFLs and Other Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) provide significant energy savings over incandescent bulbs. However, CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury, which has the potential to be released into the environment if the bulb breaks, and as a result their safety has been questioned.<\/p>\n

The amount of mercury in a CFL is 5 milligrams or less. (By comparison, a mercury thermometer has 500 – 3,000 milligrams.) Because power plants emit mercury when they generate electricity, and CFLs use much less electricity than incandescent bulbs, by choosing a CFL bulb you are reducing the amount of mercury that is released into the environment, even though the bulb contains a small amount.<\/p>\n

Disposing of CFLs<\/h2>\n

Like batteries, CFLs should be recycled at a hazardous waste facility rather than thrown into the trash.<\/p>\n

Columbia County Transfer Station:\u00a0<\/b>In Columbia County, you can take them to the Columbia County Transfer Station in St. Helens on the last Saturday of each month. Call Columbia County at\u00a0(503) 397-7218<\/strong>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

Home Depot:<\/b>\u00a0Used CFLs can be returned to any Home Depot store for recycling.<\/p>\n

What if a CFL breaks?<\/h2>\n

Because a CFL contains such a small amount of mercury, your greatest risk if a bulb breaks is being injured by glass shards. A broken CFL poses no immediate health risk to you or your family if it is cleaned up properly. To minimize any risks, follow these clean-up and disposal guidelines recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency:<\/p>\n

1. Vent the room.<\/h3>\n

Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more. Shut off your central heating and air condition system during this time, if you have one.<\/p>\n

2. Clean up the bulb<\/h3>\n

On Hard Surfaces:<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Scoop up the glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealed plastic bag.<\/li>\n
  • Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small fragments and powder.<\/li>\n
  • WIpe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or bag.<\/li>\n
  • Take the sealed bag containing the debris and seal it in a second bag.<\/li>\n
  • Take the sealed bag to a household hazardous waste facility for recycling or put it into the outside trash if there are no alternatives in your area.<\/li>\n
  • Wash your hands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    On Carpeting or a Rug:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Carefully pick up the glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealed plastic bag.<\/li>\n
    • Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.<\/li>\n
    • If vacuuming is needed, remove the vacuum bag after vacuuming and put it in a sealed plastic bag for disposal.<\/li>\n
    • Take the sealed bag containing the debris and seal it in a second bag.<\/li>\n
    • Take the sealed bag to a household hazardous waste facility for recycling or put it into the outside trash if there are no alternatives in your area.<\/li>\n
    • Wash your hands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Facts about mercury in the environment<\/h2>\n
        \n
      • Most Compact Fluorescent Lamps contain\u00a0less than 5 milligrams<\/b>\u00a0of mercury.<\/li>\n
      • 7,000 tons\/year of mercury<\/b>\u00a0is released annually from natural sources, primarily from volcanoes. Forest fires are also a significant contributor.<\/li>\n
      • 6,000 tons\/year of mercury<\/b>\u00a0is released from fossil-fuel power plant emissions, primarily from coal plants.<\/li>\n
      • 3,500 tons\/year of mercury<\/b>\u00a0is released from such sources as automobiles, natural gas furnaces, and municipal waste incinerators.<\/li>\n
      • EPA\u2019s highest estimate for lamp disposal mercury emissions is\u00a02.5 tons\/year<\/b><\/li>\n
      • Fluorescent & HID lamps make up approximately\u00a03.5 percent of total landfill mercury<\/b>. Most of the \u201clandfill mercury\u201d comes from mercury switches.<\/li>\n
      • 94 \u201398 percent<\/b>\u00a0of the mercury in a spent fluorescent lamp is absorbed into the phosphor coating and glass wall of the lamp making it unavailable for human consumption. Only a trace amount of mercury remains in the spent lamp as a vapor.<\/li>\n
      • Installing CFLs reduces power plant generation causing a\u00a0net reduction of mercury emissions to the environment<\/b>, plus reductions in CO2 & other emissions.<\/li>\n
      • A mercury thermometer contains\u00a0500 to 3,000 milligrams<\/b>\u00a0of mercury.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) provide significant energy savings over incandescent bulbs. However, CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury, which has the potential to be released into the environment if the bulb breaks, and as a result their safety has been questioned. The amount of mercury in a CFL is 5 milligrams or less. […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":35279,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36424\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crpud.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}