I know that nearly all you green girls have replaced some or all of your light bulbs with the energy-efficient, compact fluorescent kind (the curly ones), however, it’s really important to know how to dispose of them safely and even more important to know what to do if one breaks in your house – did you know that you should leave the room for 15 minutes and shut off your A/C or furnace?? This was all news to me and something I was compelled to research because I dropped one on the hard slate floor of my laundry room last week – and it broke into teeny pieces. Yes – there are certain safety steps that you need to take. So please visit www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/ to find out exactly what to do.
Gosh – I remember when I was little and my brother and I purposely broke a thermometer so we could get out the mercury and run it over the palm of our hands or any surface that seemed like fun!
Also, remember that CFL’s need to go in your “hazardous waste” box when they are either broken or done – www.earth911.org will take you to your nearest unit.
Look into Earthmate Super Mini-Size CFLs- they’ve been proven to have 75% less mercury than standard CFLs. And the only ones out there packaging earth-friendly CFLs in earth-friendly packaging!
I bought a couple of the Earthmate ones from my local grocer cause their packaging wasn’t plastic. Bulbs are very bright!