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Compact Fluorescent Lights Dumping Mercury Directly into Landfills
Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs have become all the rage over the past several years, touted by many as the preferable “green” way to light a home, save energy, and promote environmental responsibility. While they may use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs are filled with toxic mercury that, when disposed of, contaminates landfills and the environment. A report released in 2008 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection revealed that when a CFL bulb is broken, it can release dangerously high levels of mercury into the air. Mercury-vapor standards generally allow for 300 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air, however a broken CFL bulb can emit upwards of 50,000 nanograms per cubic meter, or more than 166 times the safe upper threshold.
In Toronto, city officials require people to dispose of CFL bulbs at special hazardous waste facilities because they don’t want the city’s landfills to become contaminated with mercury. While used CFL bulbs are not legally recognized as hazardous waste, they are treated as such because they pose serious environmental threats when broken and released into the environment.
Waste runoff and ground seepage from landfills can contaminate rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and underground water tables. Even though landfills are generally designed to minimize this kind of contamination, the rapidly growing usage of CFL bulbs could have disastrous environmental consequences if they are not disposed of properly.
CFL bulbs also emit high levels of radiation, causing migraine headaches, sleep abnormalities, fatigue, and other health problems. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs emit excessive “dirty energy,” or electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs), a fact that has received little attention from those on the mainstream “green” bandwagon who continue to endorse CFLs as the solution to the alleged climate change crisis.
The voltage reduction technology in CFL bulbs causes high amounts of EMF pollution to be emitted. Similar to the kind released from mobile phone antennas and food irradiation machinery, EMF radiation poses serious health threats to humans who are exposed to excessive amounts of it. CFL bulbs have been found to greatly increase EMF exposure as they are often the most significant EMF polluters in homes that use them.
Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, on the other hand, are a much safer alternative to CFL bulbs. Those who wish to transition from traditional incandescent bulbs to something that uses less energy would do well to investigate LED alternatives. Although they are typically more expensive than the other technologies due to limited acceptance in the mainstream, they are better for the environment than CFLs and emit far less EMF pollution.
http://www.naturalnews.com/028034_mercury_compact_fluorescent_lights.html
That is terrible news! What do you suggest can be done to alarm the city officials to start promoting safe disposal of these bulbs? What city agency would have an oversight?
Helga
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Those of us in the field of Safety understand the consequences of CFL/Mercury pollution. The amount of mercury released into the stores these light bulbs are sold in would astonish anyone. Mercury is released into the air and onto any surface it comes in contact with. Customers unknowingly track this “most hazardous substance on earth” back to their cars and homes. Breaking a bulb at home would require a hazmat crew to come and decontaminate you entire home.
All CFL bulbs should be labeled as hazardous and extremely dangerouse to life and health.
Please provide information regarding the use of LED bulbs.
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Frankly this argument does not hold water. CFLs contain relatively small amounts of mercury. It contains 4-5 milligrams and is not likely to be any danger to you or your family. I have used them for years and they are seldom broken, ussually they burn out first. 40% of US mercury emissions come from coal-fired power plants and 65% of mercury emissions come from the combustion of all fossil fuels. In contrast, only about 3% of mercury emissions come from waste disposal. The amount of mercury spewed into the atmosphere by not using a CFL is much more than you would be exposed to from a broken CFL. But if you are really concerned about the miniscule amount of mercury you can switch to LED bulbs.
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your figures are hugely overinflated.
A CFL containing 5 mg of mercury breaks in your child’s bedroom that has a volume of about 25 m3 (which corresponds to a medium sized bedroom). The entire 5 mg of mercury vaporizes immediately (an unlikely occurrence), resulting in an airborne mercury concentration in this room of 0.2 mg/m3. This concentration will decrease with time, as air in the room leaves and is replaced by air from outside or from a different room. As a result, concentrations of mercury in the room will likely approach zero after about an hour or so.
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I’ve been bringing my used CFLs to Orchard Supply Hardware. They accept 5 at a time from customers. I wonder how they dispose of them?
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I do not use those goofy bulbs and will eventually have to order the regular incandescent bulbs from over seas. Or until they improve the LED light technology.
Mercury is neurotoxic, cumulative and we should be working towards eliminating it and not bringing it into our homes.
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I hope most CFLs are not as fragile as the ones my husband unknowingly bought. I’m sensitive to EMFs so I vetoed their use. He got upset and smashed one. So then I relented and let him use the others. I subsequently developed endometriosis and chronic diarrhea, so we discontinued their use. I very slowly recovered. My husband kept the bulbs around anyway, and last fall, he accidentally knocked a couple of them from waist height onto a carpet, where both shattered. This time, I knew about the mercury hazard, so I started mercury detoxification immediately, with cilantro and chlorella. We both suffered from reduced immune function for a while and I had very painful, heavy periods (which I think may be my body’s way of trying to get rid of the mercury), but I am starting to feel better.
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I do not use nor appreciate these mercury filled lightbulbs – they should not be allowed! now mercury is not only in our dental fillings anymore.
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Now, I’m probably a little more conspiracy theorist than 95% of the people. Yes, there’s more than meets the eye with 9/11 and the Kennedy Assassination. Yes aspartame, big pharma and the military industrial complex are the downfall of America. I know, I get it. However….
I’ve been using these CFLs for 15 years and haven’t broken one.
Even so, as Jamie pointed out, the amounts you are exposed to are miniscule. Tons of mercury comes into the air from power plants. Now, some folks may have lightbulb-smashing husbands and weak-immune systems, then OK, you need to stay away from those things, but realistically, they’re safe for families. You probably have a higher chance of getting hurt in a car accident than injured from a CFL. As we know from allergies, certain substances cause different reactions in different people. Past the first 1/3 of my life I still have my mercury fillings and I feel fine. Problem is that they work so darn well, and mixed right, can be OK for some people. Heck, the things have been in there for a quarter century. I have asked several dentists about replacing them and they’ve all said just to leave them be.
I like the new LED and cold cathode lights. Very nice. The LEDs are still very expensive but I think in about 10 years, hopefully sooner, they’ll be all the rage. For now, I’ll keep using the CFLs and bringing them to Home Depot or my local recycling center for disposal/recycling.
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It’s true, the mercury exposure from power plants is much more of a concern than that from these bulbs. That said, tey should be recycled carefully through the special channels set up for them. And if one breaks, one should ventilate the area and take precautions to detoxify. There are many natural ways to detox from mercury, two of which are mentioned in another post.
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