CFLs contain Hg!

[alexpgp]

According to a story in the Financial Post (Canada), this woman in Maine dropped a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb as she was installing it in her daughter's bedroom. We'll pick up the story here:

Aware that CFLs contain potentially hazardous substances, Bridges called her local Home Depot for advice. The store told her that the CFL contained mercury and that she should call the Poison Control hotline,which in turn directed her to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges' house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter. The DEP specialist recommended that Bridges call an environmental cleanup firm, which reportedly gave her a "low-ball" estimate of US$2,000 to clean up the room. The room then was sealed off with plastic and Bridges began "gathering finances" to pay for the US$2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company wouldn't cover the cleanup costs because mercury is a pollutant.

Now, I'm all for saving money and have actually installed a number of these CFL units here at the house in Webster, secure in the knowledge that - despite being about 4 times as expensive as incandescent bulbs - I'll save money over the long term.

But something stinks somewhere. Either the hazard associated with mercury is way overblown, or there are a whole bunch of people out there - including a lot of environmentalists - whose motives must be questioned if they desire the widespread use of such lamps. Notes the article:

Usually, environmentalists want hazardous materials out of, not in, our homes. These are the same people who go berserk at the thought of mercury being emitted from power plants and the presence of mercury in seafood. Environmentalists have whipped up so much fear of mercury among the public that many local governments have even launched mercury thermometer exchange programs.

Then again, one has to wonder what causes such a cleanup to cost two grand. Might it be the bureaucracy?

Cheers...

Comments

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

It's the cost of the hazmat suit, the paperwork, the dump fees (because I can take an item of hazardous waste to the local center for free, but a commercial business can't--since they generate more waste and are making money off it, they have to pay), the paperwork, the insurance, and did I mention the paperwork?

As a sealed system, the bulbs really aren't that big a deal, any more than the old mercury thermometers* were: as long as they're intact, no big deal. I've survived breaking one of them, and I think I'd survive breaking a CF bulb as well. I've survived having the mercury slowly leach out of my 15 amalgam fillings, after all. I'd probably want to air the place out, though, just on general principles. It's not so much the one-time exposure with low levels of mercury, it's the continual exposure over a prolonged period that does it to you.

*Remember those? Breaking them was a pain because collecting free mercury is like herding cats, only with a poisonous metal.

[dyfferent.livejournal.com]

TBH if it was my house I would just ditch the carpet and be done with it. 2 grand indeed.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I'd just vacuum the carpet and be done with it.

[dyfferent.livejournal.com]

Eh, if the mercury thing is that serious, I wouldn't want to blow it all over the house with my vacuum's motor.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

That's what good filters are for. And I don't think it's as serious as they like to claim. In high school, they gave us liquid mercury to rub on nickles. I still have some in a little bottle somewhere. I certainly didn't die or get sick from the contact. *Twitch, twitch*

[silpol.livejournal.com]

I bumped once into mercury issue, obviously with thermometer... in Finland lowest barrier is 6000 EUR per room - we have quit expensive workforce, with all legislation all the way around... and the other part was, they were actually helpless, I mean when we (ok, ksamis, and I was rather dealing with consequences) broke thermometer, we were trying to contact everything what local city services suggest to (http://www.ytv.fi/ENG/waste/waste_management/ytv_waste_management/frontpage.htm)... contacting them was separate story - they all started with old FInnish stanza that immigrants are ignoring rules in waste management and-all-the-other-crap, but once they heard that I have Hg problem, it was momentary footballing me to next phone, as if I have nothing to do but call yet another 10 minutes... After chain became a ring, well, I went down to local pharmacy, they ARE supposed to get all medical dangerous waste, no matter what exactly... ahem, local pharmacist was mumbling something about going another pharmacy as he was about to closed door for day... and then he told again about 6000 EUR, for start... at the time I was between 2 jobs, and local legislation prevents insurance companies to jack off on Hg-cases and caused troubles.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

Our local dump amuses me. When I used to take 4 foot fluorescent tubes, I'd ask them what they wanted me to do with them, and they said to just toss them on the floor. So I did. Then it changed to take them to the hazardous waste building, which is only open 2 days a week, and not the two days I typically go to the dump. So now I break them and toss the pieces in the garbage. Bad me. No cookie ;)