I heard a story on NPR awhile ago on the dangers of the new CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs being pushed on consumers lately by big companies like Wal-Mart. This weekend there was an interesting article on Canada’s National Post concerning the cleanup costs if one of these bulbs breaks…
The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges’ house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state’s “safe” level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter. The DEP specialist recommended that Bridges call an environmental cleanup firm, which reportedly gave her a “low-ball” estimate of US$2,000 to clean up the room.
Mercury is nasty stuff. We have a few of these bulbs in our house and I’ll probably replace more but going forward I will take into consideration the potential of the light getting broken – always a possibility with kids in the house! Floor and desk lamps, and other ‘risky’ lights will get conventional bulbs. Lights in fans, and on the ceiling will get the CFLs.
The important thing is if a bulb DOES break – take precautions when you clean up the mess!
This EPA Fact Sheet (PDF) from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association has this warning:
Safe cleanup precautions: If a CFL breaks in your home, open nearby windows to disperse any vapor that may escape, carefully sweep up the fragments (do not use your hands) and wipe the area with a disposable paper towel to remove all glass fragments. Do not use a vacuum. Place all fragments in a sealed plastic bag and follow disposal instructions above.
If you vacuum the broken bulb – the mercury will contaminate your vacuum as well as be blown all over. You don’t want to do this! The PDF above also has some resources on recycling bulbs which is going to become another issue as more and more people make the switch.
Wow. I use these for my exterior lights (because they last so much longer), but had no idea they contained mercury. Guess I’ll be reading these articles more carefully when I get home. And I certainly won’t be bringing them inside.
I read this yesterday as well. The colleagues that I forwarded this too all said the same thing. That they didn’t know about this either. I think there’s a lot of people that don’t know about the potential harm that these bulbs can have on their health and the environment.
Garbage article. The mercury is less than a 5ml. Older home thermometers contain 500 milligrams of mercury and many manual thermostats contain up to 3000 milligrams.
http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/ask_us/faq_compact.htm#mercury
Mike – I agree there is a bit of FUD in some of the articles concerning the bulbs but think it’s important people know about the hazard especially if you have children in the house.
I had a friend who dropped his carburetor synchronizer which contained mercury. He proceeded to use a shop-vac to clean up the mess and ended up doing the whole hazardous waste treatment mentioned in the article. It also affected his health somewhat for a period of time.
I’m going to continue to use the bulbs – but I’m going to be more aware of the possibilities of the bulb getting broken.