Old fluorescent tubes and bulbs from a project

Fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs contain a small amount of mercury. A kitchen, basement or garage remodel often takes down a stack of them at once. They break easily when thrown into a dumpster, a trash can or a compactor, which releases the mercury. Almost all of a fluorescent bulb can be recycled, including the glass and the metals. Keep the old ones whole until they reach a recycler.

What you need

• The original boxes, or the boxes from the replacement bulbs or tubes
• Tape and a marker to label the boxes
• A shelf or corner where the boxes won't get knocked over
• For a broken bulb: stiff paper, sticky tape, damp paper towels, and a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag

Steps

1. 1

   Sort out which bulbs contain mercury

   Straight, U-shaped and circular fluorescent tubes, CFLs, black lights, bug zapper bulbs and germicidal bulbs all contain mercury. So do high intensity discharge bulbs, such as metal halide and high-pressure sodium, and neon bulbs. LED and incandescent bulbs don't.

   5 min

2. 2

   Take them down whole

   Ask whoever is removing the old fixtures to set the tubes aside instead of tossing them in the dumpster with the debris.

   10 min

3. 3

   Box them so they can't break

   Put the bulbs in their original boxes, the boxes the new ones came in, or containers from a bulb recycler. Recyclers generally take bulbs only when they arrive unbroken. Label each box and keep it where it won't fall.

   10 min

4. 4

   Find where they can go

   Search.Earth911.com lists collection sites, household hazardous waste days and stores that recycle bulbs. Many hardware stores recycle bulbs in the store, but not every location in a chain does, and some take CFLs but not 4-foot tubes. Call the store before you go.

   15 min

5. 5

   Drop them off or mail them

   Household hazardous waste collection is usually free. Some sites collect on only one or two days a year, so the boxes may wait a few months. A mail-back kit, sold by some bulb makers and recyclers, includes the shipping to the recycler. Fill it, seal it and hand it to the post office.

   15 min

6. 6

   Note what went where

   Record how many tubes and bulbs left the project and where they went, in the project's records.

   5 min

If a bulb breaks

Have people and pets leave the room, and step around the broken glass on the way out. Open a window or door to the outside and leave the room for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off the central heating and air conditioning if the house has it.

Scoop up the glass and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and put it in the glass jar or the plastic bag. Pick up the small pieces and powder that remain with sticky tape, such as duct tape, and put the tape in the jar too. On a hard floor, wipe the area with damp paper towels and add them to the jar.

Don't vacuum unless broken glass remains after everything else, because vacuuming can spread the mercury powder and vapor. If you have to, keep the window open, use the hose, and seal the bag or the canister's contents in a plastic bag afterward.

Put the jar or bag outside in a trash container or a protected spot right away, since a plastic bag doesn't stop the mercury vapor. Wash your hands with soap and water. Keep airing out the room, with the heating and air conditioning off, for several hours. For questions, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Switching to LED

An LED replacement has no mercury to deal with when it wears out. Choosing LED bulbs covers reading the label. A broken thermometer has its own cleanup, in cleaning up a broken mercury thermometer.