22 May 2007

Mercury in Compact Fluorescent Lamps


Mercury - What do you do with defunct CFLs???
Low energy light bulbs contain about 5 – 15 mg of Mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal.

Mercury is a rated as highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and by skin absorbtion, and is a cumulative poison like lead. However the metal itself has low chemical reactivity, so, of your options for poisoning yourself with mercury, inhalation of the vapour is probably the worst.

It is unfortunately also the most likely in the home, as mercury vapour can be released if a bulb is smashed when hot.

Landfill regulations for Mercury
Current landfill waste disposal regulations for inert waste forbid more than 0.01 mg/kg mercury in the waste. To meet this criterion the bulb must therefore weigh more than 500 – 1500 kg (0.5 to 1.5 tonnes) - which it clearly doesn’t.

The landfill requirement for hazardous waste (which you also can't put in your domestic waste bin) is no more than 2mg/Kg mercury, equivalent to CFL weights of 2.5 - 7.5 Kg. CFLs cannot be legitimately disposed of by landfill.

BUT according to (European Report p46) the UK appears to be fudging this, by allowing domestic disposal of a few CFLs (the word "few" is also not defined - another fudge) and could mean that up to 20 units (up to 300 mg of mercury) could be disposed of as non-hazardous waste.

How can it be safe to dispose of hazardous waste in a domestic landfill?


About Mercury

Mercury is an element. It is not destroyed by incineration and is made more dangerous if distributed in smoke as it can then be inhaled. It is a cumulative poison in the body. Note that if you break a hot CFL you will have vaporised mercury in the air. My advice is to ventilate the room and to get out fast! Or get out fast first.

A used CFL really needs to be sent for specialist treatment to separate the mercury. Alternatively you can try taking it back to your supplier and asking them to do it for you. I would be interested to hear what happens!

 

_______________________

I am very concerned that people are simply putting these bulbs and the mercury in them in the trash. Surely many of these bulbs would be broken and the mercury and mercury vapours released into the environment.

Not having government work out a safe way to dispose of these bulbs is downright irresponsible, as it is the governemnt talking about making incandescent light bulbs obsolete, and only talking about how much energy the fluoro ones save. Are we not causing a worse environmental problem for ourselves?

As a responsible member of the Byron Shire, I urge you to please take this matter under serious consideration.

If you are concerned about the mercury in these fluoro bulbs, please write to council and demand a safe disposal method for them. As I said before, sitting and complaining won't accomplish anything. Please act.


Sincerely
Paul Kimmel

 

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