Boring Post on Recycling Fluorescents

With all of the posts we have done about CFL's and the debate about the dangers of mercury in them, the fact is that everyone knows what to do about it: Collect and recycle them. IKEA does it; there is a bin in every store where you can take back your bulbs when you need a new one. The standard four foot fluorescent that is omnipresent in office buildings has five times as much mercury in each bulb as a CFL; responsible businesses have been keeping these out of the garbage for years.

One innovative system is LampTracker, which provides "collection and safe recycling of fluorescent bulbs using integrated on-line tracking capability and a unique shipping container design....It is a total-care approach to storage, handling, transport and recycling of fluorescent lamps. WM LampTracker offers the exclusive Vapor lock foil bag that has been specially engineered and custom-manufactured to safely contain residual mercury vapors during the storage and transportation of fluorescent bulbs. "

It is not an exciting business and it is hard to write an exciting post about it. But it exists and demonstrates that huge amounts of mercury are being kept out of the environment in the commercial sector, and the same techniques can be applied to the residential sector. ::Lamptracker