EcoWednesday - Handle CFCs With Care

January 16, 2008

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eco tip: be careful with CFL light bulbsLast night at bedtime we had a bit of excitement. My oldest son wanted to stay up and read after lights out, and asked if he could put a new bulb in his lamp to use on his bed. I said ok.

So he went and grabbed a new CFC, took the lamp and bulb into the bathroom to screw it in, and broke it. Uh-oh.

I’ve heard that this situation called for special precaution because of the small amount of mercury present inside the bulbs, so I shooed the kids out of the room, got my laptop and did some quick googling.CFL

What I found and what I did was this:

  • This bulb broke on a hard surface (the bathroom counter and floor), which is good, since cleaning up a broken CFL on carpet is much more complicated. I made a note to myself to make sure bulbs are changed over a hard surface in the future.
  • I opened the bedroom door (opens to the outside) to ventilate the area. Kids were already out of the room.
  • I put on rubber gloves (the EPA recommends disposable gloves, but I didn’t have any).
  • I used paper to “sweep” the broken glass into a plastic zipper bag. Interestingly, you are not supposed to sweep or vacuum up broken CFLs. I placed the first bag into a second bag.
  • I wiped the area with a wet paper towel and also put that into the sealed bags.
  • I set the package aside with the other recycling. I still haven’t found yet where I’m supposed to take it. I’ll update here when I do.

I decided to make a house rule that ONLY Adults Can Touch CFLs. Also, from now on I’ll wear a pair of rubber gloves when installing a new bulb (I’m clumsy and I’ve broken bulbs screwing them in before). And I’ll be careful not to hold/screw in the bulb by the glass but by the base.

Be careful. CFLs have many benefits including being the more frugal choice (they last for YEARS. Unless you break one. Ahem.), the more environmentally responsible choice, etc. But you do need to use caution when handling them, cleaning up a broken one or disposing of them (even if they aren’t broken, you can’t just throw them in the trash).

 

Posted by carrie | Filed Under Frugality, Homemaking, Misc, Planet Earth 

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Comments

3 Responses to “EcoWednesday - Handle CFCs With Care”

  1. Aurore Adamkiewicz ND on January 23rd, 2008 3:00 am

    Hi, I wrote a very interesting article on CFL lights-very well researched, referenced and documented about how CFL lighting causes skin cancer and other strange facts about these trendy wonder lights that alot of people don’t know.
    I would like to send my article to you to consider to air, and at least read.
    It is something important for everyone-but especially for natural health people who really believe these lights are something that …well, they are not!
    Not everyone is willing to change their positions-but I invite you as a member and creator of this amazing and much needed forum to at least read this article and consider it.
    I assure these lamps do anything but save the earth….
    Thank You,
    Aurore Adamkiewicz, ND
    http://www.beyondnaturalmedicine.com

  2. carrie on January 24th, 2008 1:07 am

    wow Aurore, I would be happy to read the article, can you email it to carrie at carrielauth dot com?

    Thanks!

  3. Reducing Your Utility Costs | Natural Moms Talk Radio on May 2nd, 2008 8:07 am

    [...] tackled the topic of reducing your utility bills. She mentioned CFLs, which I use and posted some warnings/good to know about CFLs [...]

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