Even though the amount of mercury is relatively small, fluorescent lights must be disposed of as hazardous waste. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that can cause severe damage to the brain, nervous system, kidneys, lungs, and other vital organs. Pregnant women, infants, and young children are especially at risk. Ideally, place your old tubes in the same box in which they were purchased. Since fluorescent tubes are quite long, it can be difficult to find other storage options for them.
If you can't find a large enough box, try to bring them to a collection center soon after changing them out. But on the other hand, we also don't see huge risks from them going into landfills, either. John Matson is a former reporter and editor for Scientific American who has written extensively about astronomy and physics.
Follow John Matson on Twitter. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Read more from this special report: How to Green Your Office. Mercury and compact fluorescent lamps Compact fluorescent lamps also known as CFLs or energy-saving light globes are a common lighting choice in Australia since the Australian Government began to phase-out the use of incandescent light bulbs in How compact fluorescent lamps work The white powder coating inside the glass tubing of a CFL contains a fluorescent coating.
Are there health hazards when using compact fluorescent lamps? If a compact fluorescent lamps breaks When a CFL is broken, the mercury fumes are released and disperse rapidly. Clean-up guidelines for broken compact fluorescent lamps Ensure young children leave the immediate area of the broken CFL quickly and safely.
Do not: use bare hands to clean up the broken glass — wear disposable plastic gloves to avoid direct contact with the powder coatings on the broken pieces of glass use a vacuum cleaner, which can trap and spread the mercury. Do: Scoop up broken material using stiff paper or cardboard or use a disposable brush to carefully sweep up the pieces. Carefully place pieces of glass into a container which can be sealed, or wrap in paper to protect anyone from possible cuts from broken glass.
If vacuuming of the surface is needed to remove waste material, ensure that the vacuum bag is throw away or the canister thoroughly wiped clean. Dispose of cleanup equipment for example, gloves, brush, or paper in sealed containers. Always place broken CFLs in the general green topped rubbish bin, never in your recycling bin.
Local council or shire arrangements for hazardous goods collections Selected metropolitan businesses and local councils have hazardous goods recycling collection points external sites. These specialised collection stations allow for the easy disposal of: old mobile phones compact fluorescent lamp globes and tubes printer cartridges household dry cell batteries. When a specialised collection is not available Most metropolitan rubbish collection bins now send items in green bins to landfill and in the yellow-topped bins to recycling centres.
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