How to Properly Recycle or Dispose of Fluorescent and Incandescent Light Bulb Products
May 10, 2023
This blog entry reviews the ways in which different sorts of lighting products should be disposed of or recycled. Q&As include:
1. What is an incandescent bulb?
2. Are incandescent bulbs illegal?
3. How do you recycle incandescent light bulbs?
4. What are fluorescent tube lamps?
5. Are fluorescent tube lamps illegal?
6. How do you dispose of fluorescent tube lamps?
7. What are CFLs?
8. Are CFL’s still legal?
9. How do you recycle CFLs?
10. What are LED lamps?
11. What are the advantages of LED lamps over incandescent bulbs?
12. What are the advantages of LED lamps over fluorescent tubes?
13. Where can you get help disposing of spent incandescent and fluorescent lighting?
1. What is an incandescent bulb?
For most people, an incandescent bulb is probably the image that instantly comes to mind when someone says “light bulb.” It is, after all, a “bulb” of vacated glass, inside of which resides a filament that heats to incandescence (i.e., it glows) when an ample electrical current is passed through it. Cheap, reliable, and effective—no wonder they’re nowadays effectively illegal (see Q.2).
2. Are incandescent bulbs illegal?
They will be in two months. However, the question is largely moot. Ask the guy in the aisle at your local big box home-improvement emporium, “Where do I find the incandescent light bulbs?” He’ll look at you as if you were trying to light up your crib with beeswax candles. In fact, the store more likely has beeswax candles. Anyway…
Rules enacted by the DOE back in April 2022 will take effect this August, banning the production of any light bulbs that produce less than 45 lumens per watt. Incandescent light bulbs are guilty as charged. So, companies have ceased manufacturing them. But they’re not coming for your light bulbs. You can still bask in the amber glow of any incandescent bulbs that you already own (see source).
3. How do you recycle incandescent light bulbs?
You don’t. Instead, you dispose of incandescent light bulbs in your regular waste stream. This is because they contain small amounts of metal and glass, which are difficult to separate. Most recyclers won’t even accept incandescent bulbs. If you have large quantities to get rid of, it’s best to wrap them in some sort of packaging material so as not to injure your waste-material handlers (see source).
4. What are fluorescent tube lamps?
Fluorescent tube lamps produce light by ionizing mercury vapor in a glass tube. This induces ultraviolet light that becomes visible when it contacts a phosphor coating on the tube’s inside, thereby rendering that horribly bright & harsh fluorescent hue that turns potatoes green (as well as some complexions).
The environmental problem this poses has to do mainly with the mercury hazard. Mercury is only moderately toxic in liquid form. But it becomes extremely noxious in its gaseous state, as it’s easily respired by the human body, entering the bloodstream to contaminate any number of vital organs that you’ve come to depend on over the years.
Such toxicity has engendered ever-increasing levels of mercury hazard regulation at federal, state, and local levels. Among them are stricter product-labeling requirements; sale prohibitions on certain products containing mercury; and, in many jurisdictions, outright bans on mercury disposal, along with mandates for mercury recycling.
5. Are fluorescent tube lamps illegal?
Not yet. But the handwriting is on the proverbial wall. Prohibitions are evolving on the federal level. And individual states are moving toward a ban. In fact, Vermont and California have already banned the sale of fluorescent tube lamps starting in 2024.
6. How do you dispose of fluorescent tube lamps?
Fluorescent tube lamps (FTLs) contain mercury. Mercury is a characteristic waste for its being toxic. So, FTLs require RCRA “cradle-to-grave” hazardous waste management. In other words, you should engage a properly licensed hazardous waste handler or a local recycling center.
In the interim, while spent FTLs are stored onsite, don’t “break them down” for compaction. Instead, put them in their original boxes or some other protective container. Also, store FTLs away from rain or water so that they don’t contaminate waterways in the event of breakage.
7. What are CFLs?
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were the next big thing in the 1980’s. But like big hair, spandex, and other fruits of the Greed Decade, people want to make believe CFLs never happened. Why?
In addition to their ungainly curlicue architecture, CFLs are damnable for needing 10-to-20 seconds to achieve their full brightness. So, lighting a room with a CFL is not as easy as flipping a switch. You better wait before trying to traverse that dark stairway.
And there are other disincentives.
Akin to their tubular fluorescent forebears, CFLs are a mercury hazard. Thus, they require recycling. And things get complicated should you break one. In such an event, per this source:
“…you should open a window or a door to let in the air. Leave the room for about 15 minutes and turn off the HVAC system. Then use sticky tape or damp paper towels to pick up the broken glass.”
8. Are CFLs still legal?
Bans against CFL bulbs are making their way through state legislatures. Vermont was the first to pass one, forbidding sales of CFLs as of last February, nosing out California by an impressive 11 months, where the ban doesn’t go into effect until January 2024—a major upset.
Also, as the cost of LCD lighting has become more affordable, the market for CFLs has tanked. Manufacturers have noticed this and stopped making them. GE threw in the towel as long ago as 2016 (see source).
9. How do you recycle CFLs?
The same way you do fluorescent tubes. And just as carefully. See Q.6.
10. What are LED lamps?
These lamps use light emitting diodes in place of an incandescent filament, and at the risk of stating the obvious, LED is the initialism for “light emitting diode.”
A diode is a semiconductor that passes electricity only in one direction. That’s fine if you’re dealing with DC current. It only flows in one direction, hence it’s “direct.”
But the current coursing through the walls of your home or business is 120 VAC @ 60Hz, meaning it’s 120 volts sinusoidally changing directions 60 times per second. And therein lies a technical challenge.
LEDs require DC current at single-digit voltages. So, tiny, sophisticated circuitry must be built into the lamp to convert the AC current to DC, as well as significantly lower its voltage for the diode to emit light. That’s why LED lamps started out expensive. But like most electronic technology, the price has come down as manufacturers become more smart, more efficient, and more competitive.
11. What are the advantages of LED lamps over incandescent bulbs?
Relative to incandescent bulbs, LED lamps use 75 percent less energy. E.g., an LED that shines as brightly as a 50-watt incandescent bulb uses only 11 to 12 watts to do so. And at lower power levels, the difference is even larger.
This difference is due to the inconvenient fact that 90 percent of the energy used by incandescent bulbs is sloughed off as heat. Another way to look at it: an LED lamp will yield 50 lumens per watt, while an incandescent light bulb is only good for ten (see source).
12. What are the advantages of LED lamps over fluorescent tubes?
The economic case for converting from fluorescent to LED tubes is compelling. Consider:
LEDs last longer than fluorescent tubes—and by no small sum. Wherein new LEDs can last roughly six-to-11 years in service, the typical disposal of fluorescent tube lights is between .80 and 1.9 years—except you can’t put them in the trash bin (see Q.6).
LEDs are directional. This means they emit all their light downward within 180 degrees. This minimizes energy loss from the need to reflect light. In contrast, fluorescent tubes are omnidirectional. They emit light over 360 degrees, so fully one-half of the illumination needs to be reflected downward from the fixture, requiring it to be more, which squanders light and energy (see source).
13. Where can you get help disposing of incandescent and fluorescent lighting?
Obviously, the energy, capital, and maintenance-cost advantages of LEDs over both incandescent and fluorescent lighting are manifest.
But if you completely convert to LEDs in one fell swoop, then you’ll need a hazardous waste management plan for recycling or disposing of light bulbs and fluorescents, the latter posing a mercury hazard that will be of significant interest to the EPA, as well as to state and local authorities.
In sum, when it comes to the disposal or recycling of bulbs and fluorescents, you need an environmental services partner with a solid history of providing safe, efficient, and compliant hazardous waste disposal and waste management services.
Contact us today. Or call 877.200.2029.
And thank you for reading our blog!