CFL Safe Handling

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are used safely by millions of people around the world. They do contain a very small amount of mercury (four mg, compared to 500 mg in a mercury thermometer) and should be recycled to capture the mercury for reuse. No mercury is released when CFLs are intact or in use.

Read more about CFL safety, mercury and its occurrence in the environment and household products:

• What you should do if a CFL breaks
• What you need to know about mercury in CFLs
• What is mercury?
• Mercury in CFLs is vapor
• The declining use of mercury in CFLs
• Mercury in your household and community

What you should do if a CFL breaks

A broken CFL poses no immediate health risk to you or your family if it's cleaned up properly. Because CFLs contain such a small amount of mercury, being injured by glass shards is your greatest risk from breakage. To minimize any risks, follow these clean-up and disposal guidelines recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency:

1. Open a window, leave the room, and restrict access for at least 15 minutes.
2. Remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner.
• Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available (do not use your bare hands).
• Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard.
• Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
• Use sticky tape (such as duct tape) to pick up small glass pieces and any powder. Do not use a vacuum cleaner.
3. Place all cleanup materials in a tightly sealed container such as a glass jar. Place the broken fragments and powder in a plastic bag, seal it and place the bag in a second sealed bag. Then place the bag into the outside trash, as there is no longer mercury contained in the bulb to be reclaimed. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.
4. Vacuum the area where the bulb was broken. After the first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once you finish cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

What you need to know about mercury in CFLs

Using CFLs results in less mercury going into the environment than using standard incandescent bulbs— but not directly through the bulbs. It's because some of our electricity is produced by coal-fueled power plants that release mercury into the environment. Using CFLs uses less electricity and results in fewer mercury emissions, as shown in the following graph:

A CFL provides the same amount of light with 70 percent fewer emissions than an incandescent bulb. CFLs help to reduce greenhouse gases, other pollutants associated with electricity production and landfill waste (because the bulbs last longer and can be recycled).

What is mercury?

Mercury is an element found naturally in the environment, but exposure to high doses can negatively affect human health. Mercury emissions in the air can come from both natural and human-made sources. Coal-fired power plants produce roughly 40 percent of the mercury emissions in the U.S., the largest human-made source. When coal is burned to make electricity, mercury that naturally exists in coal is released into the air. Mercury in the air eventually settles into water where it can transform into methyl mercury and collect in fish, the most common source of mercury exposure today. Children, women who are pregnant and women who expect to become pregnant should avoid mercury exposure.

Mercury in CFLs is vapor

The mercury in a CFL is in vapor form, not liquid. It cannot spill out of the bulb or be handled and absorbed as with liquid mercury. As a CFL ages, the mercury inside slowly bonds with the phosphor coating inside the lamp, making it generally unavailable to the atmosphere or for human absorption. In fact, the lack of available gaseous mercury is one reason why the lamp eventually fails. This means that burned-out lamps pose very little human health risk. Also, A-Lamp or capsule CFLs pose no human health risks.

The declining use of mercury

The use of mercury in CFLs is declining. Many manufacturers have taken significant steps to reduce mercury used in their fluorescent lighting products. The amount of mercury in a CFL is expected to drop even further due to technological advances and commitments from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

Mercury in your household and community

Mercury is contained in some of the products we use and in some of the fish we eat. It can be found in your home, in health care facilities, at the dentist and at schools. Mercury is used in products because of its excellent conductivity and high surface tension. Here are some home, community and health care products containing mercury:

For more information on CFLs and mercury, visit the ENERGY STAR website.

• 1 www.capecodextension.org
• 2 Dental from MVS Solutions, Inc, www.mvssolutions.com