California Diverts Fluorescents From Landfills

The state agency is working in collaboration with the U.S. EPA under the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program, NPEP.

Cal/EPA, the first state agency to join the partnership program, would like to help lead the nation in continued efforts to remove mercury from the environment.

The state aims to divert approximately 4.5 million compact fluorescent light bulbs from landfills in one year.

Celebrated for their efficiency, CFLs have one drawback - mercury. (Photo credit unknown)

"Reducing the impact of mercury on human health and the ecosystem is a priority for the EPA," said Wayne Nastri, administrator for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. "We are very pleased to have our state partner Cal/EPA join this program and set an innovative example for other states throughout the country."

"The problem with the bulbs is that they'll break before they get to the landfill," says John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling.

"They'll break in containers, or they'll break in a dumpster or they'll break in the trucks," Skinner told NPR. "Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens."

Because mercury is so persistent in the environment, and so toxic at such minute quantities, the EPA launched the NPEP Mercury Challenge in 2004 to focus on the elimination of mercury.

"We already are working hard to reduce mercury through our Take-It-Back program, and by combining those efforts with NPEP, we hope to achieve even greater reductions," said California Secretary for Environmental Protection Linda Adams.

Cal/EPA has committed to reducing mercury through its own California Take-It-Back Partnership, a collaboration of government, private business, and non-profit organizations that provides free, local and convenient ways for California residents to recycle everyday household wastes such as batteries, fluorescent lamps and cell phones.

Since the beginning of 2007, about nine million fluorescent bulbs have been purchased in California, preventing the release of 1.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.

While these bulbs are extremely energy efficient, they each contain trace amounts of mercury. The partnership helps keep mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain damage, out of the environment.

When the time comes to replace a compact fluorescent bulb, seal the old bulb in a plastic bag and take it to the nearest Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Site - see Earth 911 to find the site nearest you.

NPEP, a voluntary federal program, aims to reduce the use or release of four million pounds of toxic chemicals in the United States by 2011.

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