Mercury, Like the Planet, Gets Around
I opened my closet door the other evening after work and was instantly freaked out.
What littered the floor of the closet looked like bits of shredded paper that my dog had chewed up. Unfortunately, it was far more threatening and the clean-up was much more complicated than I had expected. The bits of thin white scraps were actually broken pieces of a compact fluorescent light bulb that had fallen off of a shelf and shattered all over the closet floor. Normally, with a broken light bulb, some sweeping up and perhaps a final vacuuming is all that's required. Not so with a CFL, because as I'm sure all of you already know, the bulbs we're all supposed to be screwing into our sockets to save energy and the planet contain the highly toxic mercury. So what's a freaked-out person to do?
I went onto the web and googled "broken CFL bulb" and learned that there are some very strict government guidelines for cleaning up and disposing of the residue from these broken bulbs. For starters, you are not allowed to vacuum up the mess, as it could send mercury vapors into the air. Same goes for sweeping. You'll contaminate the broom. Never mind mopping it up, either. And if it gets on your clothing, you can't put it in the washing machine for the same reasons. Mercury, like the planet, gets around. So if you too suffer from this broken bulb syndrome, here's what the government says you need to do. And by the way, I think I'm switching to candles. (Click for further instruction. You can also learn more about going green in your own home by clicking here)
Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room
Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces
Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass pieces and powder.
Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.
Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug
Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.
Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding, etc.
If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.
Disposal of Clean-up Materials
Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.
Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming
The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.
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The CFL has been oversold as the default bulb for household use. Its cost-efficiency drops dramatically fpr quick on/offs - like your closet situation.
Florescent lights STILL emit a hostile hyper-institutional light temperature; and are thus of limited suitability for extended detail work. Results vary from person to person.
Their only useful niche is extended outdoor lighting..
I don't know where you're buying CFLs, but all the ones in my house have the warm-white spectrum we've become accustomed to from incandescents. I've got the damned things all over my house - kitchen, baths, living room, study, etc. If they produced a harsh, clinical light, I wouldn't use so many of them, and neither would anyone else.
Agree on the closet comment, though my town has code that prevents incandescent bulbs in closets due to the extra heat they put out in an unventilated area.
The higher temperature light from CFLs is closer to daylight, so I don't understand why they cannot be used for extended detail work.
You don't mention their application in regular room lighting. I have them in most fixtures in my home and have no issues.
People, are you aware that ALL fluorescent lights contain mercury, not just compacts? Education about proper cleanup is appropriate, and should have come around sooner, because every public place you've entered in your life, and most of our homes, have been using fluorescent lights for at least 60 years. Regular fluorescent lamps contain much more mercury than CFL's. CFL's did not introduce mercury into our environment. Educate, don't panic. CFL's with breakage resistant shells are in the stores. And LED lights are already cheaper than compact fluorescents were 10 years ago, so start buying them.
What I'd like to see is a testing program to determine the actual amounts of mercury in our bodies so we can determine the actual extent of the problem.
There have been mercury testing programs, some by environemental organizations like the Sierra Club http://www
and of course the EPA
http://www
but your risk of exposure from a light bulb is miniscule compared to the amount you get through eating fish, especially tuna. Elemental mercury (the type found in CFLs and thermometers) is less hazardous to your health than methyl mercury (the type in fish) Use caution when cleaning up, but theres no need to panic
What if you don't eat fish?
Right. I have to handle conventional fluorescent lights where I work. Sometimes they break. I just learned a few things from this article about cleanup, but generally my caution has been appropriate. Minimize exposure, yes, but it's not ricin.
And the dangers may not be limited to mercury vapor either. I know the powder coating on the glass used to contain beryllium compounds, which are also toxic. I'd be very surprised if that had changed.
When we put mercury in vaccines, that's A-Ok.
Lisa:
You're afraid of mercury from a CFL? 4mg per CFL. There's about 1 mg of mercury in a kg of tuna. So, chow down about 9 pounds of tuna and you will EAT more mercury than what is contained in a CFL, and if the CFL doesn't break and is properly disposed of, its mercury content will never be near you at all, and your FOOD will pose more harm to you than the CFL. Also, much of our electricity comes from coal, which dumps huge amounts of mercury into the air. The amount of energy saved by a CFL, thusly reducing the amount of coal burned for its use, results in a negative mercury value far beyond the piddling 4mg in the lamp.
Nothing like fearmongering for a living. I hope you're proud.
Soon enough, LEDs will be colour balanced, and we will get rid of CFLs. But CFLs are VASTLY better than incandescents, so get over it.
Let me know when they solve the flickering problem. When given a choice regardless of cost, people prefer Incandescents.
Get a CFL with an electronic ballast, it blinks in the kilohertz range, or thousands of times a second, assuming you have normal human eyes, you would be unable to notice the flicker. The most common type of CFL ballast is an electromagnetic ballast, which some might complain about the flicker. CFLs with an electronic ballast might cost more and will have a lighter, less dense base than a CFL with an electromagnetic ballast.
Buy good ones. The cheap ones you get from Home Depot for $2.99 flicker. They also don't last as long. Mine don't flicker. Now, the nasty big tube ones at work, flicker. But again: they're cheap junk (thanks boss...). I bought some nice ones at Canadian Tire for about $6 each. I can even put these on a dimmer! They've lasted well - none have broken and all give good solid light.
LEDs are not as efficient as CFLs.
I used to play with blobs of mercury when I was a kid. Nothing happened to any of us from it. Its another example of booga booga from the media, which loves to frighten us.
How I survived this long is a miracle.
Mercury is an environmental contaminant. We have used it in a large number of processes, and we have spilled a lot of it into the environment. Old ship anti-fouling bottom paints used 1/2 pound of mercuric oxide per gallon of paint, and when they sand-blasted ships most of that was lost to the local environment.
But, as many have said, don't get scared by the warnings. Use common sense. Remember that CFLs will be phased out in a few years in favor of LCDs, which use even less energy and last longer.
Also remember that people's reaction to exposure to mercury lies on a scale, and one individual's reaction may not be the same as yours. That's why some people need to have their amalgam fillings removed, and others don't.
I've compared lumens per watt for LEDs and CFLs, and a simple calculation shows that CFLs are more efficient. Either that, or the numbers provided by the manufacturers are bogus.
Some additional information on newer technologies may be found at
http://www
A more general article is at
http://www
I am glad an article was written about this since many people do not even know the dangers of CFL's. I myself am more for LED lightbulbs as they last around 10x longer than a CFL and the light isn't as funny looking (no greyish gaze). The great thing about LED light bulbs as well is that once they burn out, which takes around 12-15 years, then all you do is buy another bulb and no cleanup ever as they do not break. The only problem with LED right now is that it will cost you around $30 a bulb. I think the prices will come down soon though to make it practical.
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http://mea
The CFL bulb is an energy saver, but it is now obsolete and unnecessary.
The sooner we see LED bulbs made for regular screw in fixtures, and see them popularized by mass production methods, the sooner we will have an even better lighting system.
The LED is cheaper to make, last longer, does not break easily, and has no pollution issues.
Howabout the long tube shaped floruscent bulbs like they in office buildings? How should you properly dispose of those? Back in high school, when I worked for a cleaning service, I used to have a ball shattering those things against one another in the trash compactor.
The are the same, except they have more Mercury since they are bigger. Your municipaI garbage service should have a policy regarding florescent bulbs, and if they dont then stores like Home Depot will now recycle them for you.
Each tube contains around 4 grams.
Won't it be great when billions of these "green" bulbs are sitting in our landfills? Also of course, there will also be the rash of lawsuits concerning children, pets, etc. They are a fine example of putting the horse before the cart as far the environment is concerned.
Read the next comment down. More mercury from the energy needed to run the incandescents.
Yes CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, approximately five milligrams per bulb -- this is becoming less as technology improves. The amount of mercury in each bulb is less than the amount of mercury that a coal plant would emit to produce the electricity needed to power the inefficient bulb that the CFL replaces. While the clean up issue is a concern please don't use this article as an excuse to promote incandescents. Replacing only 8 bulb will save over $100 per day not to mention the environmental benefits from reduced energy.
LED lights are much more efficent and become more consumer-friendly everyday.
There are many low level environmental dangers in our lives which we encounter and manage. But to dwell so fearfully upon this relatively minor source of mercury reveals another kind of pollution. This is the pollution of the fearful mind which sees danger everywhere and reinforces that fear by projecting danger onto its world.
I for one think these toxic light bulbs or "CML's" or "Compact Mercury Lightbulbs" as I call them should either be recalled for public saftey reasons or banned and slowly taken off the shelfs. Burning coal produces swathes of mercury, sulfur, and yes the dreaded carbon that we so want to tax. I don't think putting mercury light bulbs in the lamps next to where our children sleep is a better alternative to Incandescent bulbs that are harmless and may cost a little more and to go green in my mind should mean totally GREEN. No toxins. Where is the outrage from our politicians?
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