How to deal with broken compact fluorescent (and its mercury) without breaking the bank?

Question

We're now out of the compact fluorescent era, fortunately, but we wound up with 3 or 4 broken CF bulbs from somebody not being careful with a box of them in the garage ...

We're moving and I want to handle this stuff responsibly but I don't have $3000 for official remediation. So should I:

Wrap the current recycling bin where the broken CFs are stored with packing tape and make sure it's sealed and not leaking, put a sign on it DANGER, MERCURY and move it to the new garage and just sequester it that way?
Put on gloves and a filter mask and sweep the bits into a plastic bag that's then put into 2 more layers of plastic and saved in a coffee can and sent to the landfill that way?
something else?

Any suggestions are welcome; I'm very happy to be into the LED ERA!

Gloves to avoid getting a cut are a good idea as the phospor-containing coating on the inside of the glass can stop blood from clotting: The dangers from phosphor-coated glass of broken CFL bulbs. — Andrew Morton, Jan 07 '18 at 16:28
Note that CFLs contain only a few milligrams of mercury. That means that you'd have to break about a thousand of them to collect mercury with the weight of a single sheet of standard A4/letter printer paper. — David Richerby, Jan 07 '18 at 19:13
@Mark did a remediation company actually quote you that? i guess if you shout loud enough "somebody take my money", someone will... — Harper - Reinstate Monica, Jan 07 '18 at 21:03
@Harper, no, a remediation company quoted the local school district a figure similar to that, which promptly made the local newspaper as a "ways our school district is wasting money" story. — Mark, Jan 07 '18 at 21:48
@AndrewMorton this is the first I've read about the anti-clotting effect of phosphors, and I can't find an independent source. Do you know of one? — Spencer Joplin, Jan 08 '18 at 02:26
what mercury are you worried about? anything in the tube was a gas, not a liquid; thus, there's no mercury left in your pile of broken glass. — dandavis, Jan 08 '18 at 05:48
For $3000 I am all in - depending on your location .. I will simply follow the EPA guidelines and you will be good to go.. see my answer with EPA Link.. or I can be available to do it for you.. — Ken, Jan 08 '18 at 06:05
@dandavis it's only a gas in operation; if the bulbs were broken in storage there was likely to be a little liquid (though it's probably evaoprated by now) — Chris H, Jan 08 '18 at 09:45
@SpencerJoplin It looks to me like the original material for the link I gave could have come from The Fluorescent Lighting System. There is anecdotal evidence at Cut by a broken CFL that it isn't that harmful (in that sense), and one contributor there suggests that it was arsenic-containing phospors which were to blame... — Andrew Morton, Jan 08 '18 at 10:33
(continued) An article in Scientific American Are Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs Dangerous? makes no mention of it, and I would have thought they would have mentioned it. So, maybe there is no such effect? — Andrew Morton, Jan 08 '18 at 10:34
@SpencerJoplin I have asked over on Skeptics.SE: Are the phosphors in fluorescent lamps anticoagulant? — Andrew Morton, Jan 08 '18 at 11:16
Just throw out any debris large enough to be visible, forget it happened, and move on. If $3000 worth of legitimate environmental badness happened every time a CFL broke, you would not be legally allowed to just walk into a store and buy one. — aroth, Jan 08 '18 at 11:48
How long has those been hanging around? If its a couple of years, and its not all the time freezing cold there, the mercury is long gone. — PlasmaHH, Jan 08 '18 at 12:17
When I was in high-school chemistry class 50 years ago, the last step in cleaning up spilled mercury was to dust the area with sulfur and then sweep that into the trash. — Hot Licks, Jan 08 '18 at 22:56

Harper - Reinstate Monica · Answer 1 · 2018-01-09T06:40:10.447

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The $3000 cleanup was never a thing. It's an urban myth created from a political slander. The goal of the slander was to resist CFLs at any cost, both to resist government regulation generally, and efficiency due to its association with climate change. This also tied into 50 years of activism to reduce mercury in the environment. The fact is, if the mercury in a broken CFL were any danger, or any problem in the waste stream, they would never have gotten government or UL approval in the first place.

So this was not a surprise; the mercury "problem" was contemplated and resolved long before it became a spiral shaped political football. EPA and various state DEQ's have collectively rolled their eyes and said "allriiiight... Since you insisted on bringing this up, here are some best practices for cleaning up a CFL" and they involve stuff like mopping it up with the sticky side of duct tape.

You would be best following that advice.

(if you called enough remediation companies, eventually someone would take your $3000, but don't.)

If CFL recycling facilities exist at a nearby city or big box store, use them.

Otherwise just put it in the normal waste stream, not commingled or encased with recyclables. Don't put in a steel can. You may not be aware of it, but they don't just tip the truck at the dump anymore, now it goes through a complicated screening to find recyclables. Some of it is automatic (magnets to pull out steel, magnetic-field tricks to flip out nonferrous metals etc.) and and hand inspection for bundles of newspaper and the like.

Using a steel can as a jacket for something nasty will only get the nasty thing into the steel recycling stream.

edited Jan 09 '18 at 06:40

answered Jan 07 '18 at 18:08

Harper - Reinstate Monica

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Most kinds of products don't need government approval to be sold. Also, fluorescent tubes predate most environmental law. – Spencer Joplin Jan 08 '18 at 04:04
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In the US, Home Depot has CFL recycling bins with plastic bags you're supposed to put them in. I'd get one of their bags, clean up the bits, and put it in their bin. I expect the whole thing is processed en masse. – Tim B Jan 08 '18 at 05:33
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@WayneConrad - No, it's accurate enough. Though the real reason for the paranoia-mongering around CFL's has more to do with vested interests in power companies and the fact that endorsing anything on the grounds that it uses less energy than the thing it replaces is counted as tacit acceptance of climate-change science, than it does the government "taking away" people's incandescent bulbs. – aroth Jan 08 '18 at 11:45
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This happens from time to time. Someone says something fairly neutral about the general politics around a decision, and it's taken well. Then, with a notable time lag, someone complains about politics, ascribing a political position and level of extremism that nobody else saw.Actually, all the kerfluffle is being manufactured by the latecomer. He is politicizing a discussion that wasn't about him (now it is). He "strawmans" points which don't say what he wants to argue with, so he can argue. Nothing they say is true. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 08 '18 at 19:26
@aroth part added to answer. Part I'll debunk in comments: power companies are actually driving conservation, not the government. (The government is happy to help). There isn't room for a discussion of he economics of it in 600ch, but new power plants cost $5/watt and have a painful lag time for approval, construction and payback. They don't want to build anymore! Cheaper and more profitable to help consumers conserve. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 08 '18 at 20:07
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@WayneConrad rewrite of that section done to address tone. Intermediate edit removed as it contained false statements and was no less political. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 08 '18 at 20:10
The breaker box in your house is UL listed; the (live) wiring coming into it and going out are dangerous (and not that hard to get to if you wanted).. I'm not sure your first paragraph is a good way to get your point across. – Andy Jan 08 '18 at 23:11

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 07 '18 at 13:22

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the epa says you can put it in the trash

Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.

https://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl

(detailed cleanup instructons as well)

answered Jan 07 '18 at 13:22

agentp

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I was on the first posts page clicked and was in such a hurry I responded before reading the posts and did not see yours. But yes you are correct, however there are other factors for cleanup the op needs to follow , taking to HHW regardless of the ability to toss it in the trash - is the responsible thing. – Ken Jan 08 '18 at 06:11

Spencer Joplin · Answer 3 · 2018-01-08T04:20:51.600

Here's the math to show that a few broken fluorescent bulbs don't pose a significant mercury hazard, and that you should clean it up the same as any other broken glass.

A CFL contains 5 mg of mercury vapor, less for new models.

Unless you plan on eating the broken glass, the primary exposure pathway is inhalation. Adults breathe about 8 liters per minute when sedentary. That's about 4 m^3 in 8 hours.

Therefore, if you huffed all of the gas inside one CFL, your 8-hr average exposure would be 5/4 = 1.2 mg/m^3.

What does 1.2 mean? For comparison, here are some airborne mercury exposure limitations from this OSHA fact sheet. The numbers are low, because mercury accumulates in the body over a lifetime.

0.1 mg/m^3 (OSHA PEL, 8-hr average, a maximum for workers in the US).
0.05 mg/m^3 (NIOSH 10-hr workday, a recommendation).
0.025 mg/m^3 (ACGIH 8-hr average, another recommendation).

1.2/0.1 = 12× the OSHA PEL. That's 12 work-days worth of acceptable exposure. (Better call in sick.) However, the cited fact sheet, above, is for industrial fluorescent tube crushing machines; the workers near such a machine would be exposed every work day for their career, not your once-a-decade accident.

In conclusion, you should be concerned about mercury vapor from fluorescent tubes only in the most extreme and improbable circumstances, or if it's your job. If you ventilate the affected room with open doors and windows, and don't do this very often, you'll have bigger things to worry about.

If you still want to handle the waste with extra care, the only authority would necessarily be your trash hauler. Ask them. They may tell you to throw it in the regular trash. A dedicated waste steam for fluorescent tubes would be regulated (in the US) as "Universal Waste", which is for hazardous wastes that are politically infeasible to regulate as such.

Nice math and good information , but does not deal with disposal - which EPA has good info on. In short they say here is how to mitigate the risks during cleanup and from the damage - NOTHING costly or DIFFICULT.. sweep (not vacuum)..put in sealed container. Take to Household Waste Center - air out room with no AC/Heat [for 4 hours] Remediation is done. However I am game for the $3000 if the op wants to pay me.. — Ken, Jan 08 '18 at 06:15
This. How you "deal with a broken CFL" is that you leave the room first, then come back and clean it up later. — Mazura, Jan 08 '18 at 19:12

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 07 '18 at 10:06

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The second option but instead of landfill, take it to your local recycling facility (UK: household waste recycling centre) and put it in the "fluorescent light tubes" section.

answered Jan 07 '18 at 10:06

RedGrittyBrick

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At my local "solid waste transfer station" (bulk trash + recycling) (Maryland, USA) they have a long row of specialized areas for collecting fluorescent bulbs, paint, batteries, computers, oil, etc. - pretty much any potentially hazardous and/or specialty recyclable material found in a normal house. But not every place has such a good facility. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Jan 07 '18 at 15:19
Some specifically exclude broken bulbs (though as they'll clearly get broken in transit given the container this is probably just "don't handle broken glass on our premises") – Chris H Jan 08 '18 at 09:48

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 08 '18 at 15:26

Ok it sounds like you are in the USA:

Here is a wonderful article from https://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl

Abbreviated info: Sweep it up , not vacuum, seal it up - if your local government requires florescent bulbs (broken or not) to be taken to Household Hazardous Waste do so - otherwise throw in the trash (You might consider HHW regardless).

Instructions copied from the EPA page linked above:

Before Cleanup

Have people and pets leave the room.

Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment.

Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.

Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb:

stiff paper or cardboard;

sticky tape;

damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and

a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag.

During Cleanup

DO NOT VACUUM. Vacuuming is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken. Vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor.

Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder. Scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag. See the detailed cleanup instructions for more information, and for differences in cleaning up hard surfaces versus carpeting or rugs.

Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

After Cleanup

Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including vacuum cleaner bags, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.

Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.

If practical, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating/air conditioning system shut off for several hours.

Ed Beal · Answer 6 · 2018-01-07T11:34:51.223

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Since you are in the U.S. put them in a plastic or zip lock bag and take them to a big box store for recycling. A mask will not help but nitralite or rubber gloves are a good idea more to protect from cuts. There are mercury spill kits available but to tell the truth there is not enough in a CFL to be a concern to me in a garage but having it recycled properly is a good idea. Mercury evaporates breaks down over time and releases unhealthy byproducts but normal ventilation would be sufficient in a garage. If heated mercury can be lethal in gas form above 400deg or so when I worked with large high power lamps of one exploded we left the area until the equipment cooled down then we would clean up and wipe down. There are inexpensive spill kits Most work by having a material that the mercury will bond to and then can be cleaned up much easier but then all the material is now contaminated and is hazardous waste.

edited Jan 07 '18 at 11:34

answered Jan 07 '18 at 11:17

Ed Beal

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will the box stores actually take broken ones? – agentp Jan 07 '18 at 13:14
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@agentp chances are they will get broken in the bin anyway. I've never seen a notice at stores saying not to recycle broken bulbs. – Kat Jan 07 '18 at 16:44
I tried taking in a broken one years ago (I think it was Home Depot but can't remember distinctly) and was told no. – Mark McWiggins Jan 08 '18 at 02:06
@Kat The issue is not really whether they can be recycled, it's whether these stores will actually accept them for recycling. – GalacticCowboy Jan 08 '18 at 17:40
I have taken in quite a few my point was it can be taken in for disposal and if needed there was a cleanup kit for less than 30$ for those that looked at the link. But there are better answers. – Ed Beal Jan 08 '18 at 19:51
So I'm assuming something specific happens around 400deg, but I was amused by your wording. Most gases are lethal at 400deg. Most humans will not survive being put in an oven =) – Cort Ammon Jan 09 '18 at 04:44
Mercury in a vapor state if inhaled can be fatal, when high power lamps explode the vaporized mercury is airborne and it takes a few minutes to disperse even with laminar air flow that is used in a clean room. I do not know of any one that was injured by the gas but this was part of the training we received when working on the uv systems. – Ed Beal Jan 09 '18 at 17:53

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 08 '18 at 05:40

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Spencer's analysis of the OSHA recommendations is misleading. The OSHA quotes 0.1 mg/m^3 as a maximum. That means that if you are working in a room which is 6m x 3m x 3m the maximum amount of mercury permitted in that room on average over eight hours is 5.4 mg. The amount you ingest would be much lower than that.

The acute lethal dose for most mercury compounds is listed by the EPA as being between 1 and 4 mg for a 70kg person, so I advise against "huffing" the mercury. See the top of page 3:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/mercury-compounds.pdf

answered Jan 08 '18 at 05:40

AlDante

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"between 1 and 4 mg" is 1-4 grams (1000× higher) in the linked document. My point was that even absurdly conservative assumptions led to a conclusion of safety. – Spencer Joplin Jan 08 '18 at 15:24
It's badly phrased in that document. It's 14-57 mg per kilogram, which works out (for a 70-kg person) to 1-4 grams. – GalacticCowboy Jan 08 '18 at 17:47
Sorry for adding to the confusion. You are both right.
Spencer's analysis is still not the way to get to the toxicity, though - the 1-4g is (presumably) the LD50.
– AlDante Jan 09 '18 at 18:04

How to deal with broken compact fluorescent (and its mercury) without breaking the bank?

7 Answers7