I have a bone to pick . . . with the idea of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for illumination. CFLs have been in the news recently because a California legislator (Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys) wants to mandate "Dairy Queen" bulbs to replace incandescents. That same week, the Australian government announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country. The announcement by the Australian government reminded me of a story the Associated Press reported two years ago. Fidel Castro had launched a similar program, “sending youth brigades into homes and switching out regular bulbs for energy-saving ones to help battle electrical blackouts around the island…” The AP story went on to say that “The idea was later embraced by . . . Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who announced his own program to save energy and in recent months has given away millions of fluorescent bulbs in neighborhoods nationwide.”
Now, I’m a card-carrying bleeding-heart, green liberal. But the fact that politicians around the world are warming up to CFLs is just goofy, and the reason can be summed up in one word: mercury.
The news outlet that got it right was National Public Radio (NPR), although it took some listener thumping to get their attention. The original feature aired on “All Things Considered” (ATC) on Feb. 8, 2007, a puff piece about Wal-Mart’s push to sell 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs in 2007. The result, Wal-Mart said, would be grand savings on the part of consumers—to the tune of $3 billion over the life of the bulbs. There was a lot of happy talk after that.
The following Thursday, when ATC aired its segment with listener responses, there was a moment of clarity. NPR Environmental Editor Elizabeth Shogren responded on-air to a listener’s criticism with some hard facts. She had talked to John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, a national trade association for trash and recycling companies and dumps. Skinner noted that while it’s legal in most states for people to throw out compact bulbs, it’s not a good idea because the bulbs often break before they get to the landfill. As a result, trash collectors can be exposed to very high levels of mercury or the mercury could seep into the soil.
Shogren went on to look into recycling the bulbs. She discovered that even cities that have curbside recycling wouldn’t take the bulbs; they have to go to a hazardous waste collection bay. The closest center to Shogren’s home turned out to be 95 miles away. (One good source of this information is www.lamprecycle.org. They list 25 companies in the U.S. where you can drop off your CFLs, and 30 that have some kind of pickup service.)
Then Shogren talked to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An EPA spokesperson said that the agency had been urging stores that sell the bulbs to help recycle them, but that so far the biggest sellers of the bulbs haven’t stepped up to the play. The one company that does recycle its CFLs is Ikea. (Wal-Mart was mentioned specifically; but they had not, at that time, responded to Shogren.)
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