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Energy-friendly but toxic: Compact fluorescent lightbulbs pose a recycling dilemma

Energy-friendly but toxic: Compact fluorescent lightbulbs pose a recycling dilemma

I confess that as kids, my friends and I loved to come across fluorescent light tubes that someone had thrown in the trash. We’d take them into the alley and toss them in the air. We enjoyed the lovely pop they made as they exploded on the ground, blissfully unaware of the toxic mercury and God knows what other poisons we were releasing.

We know better now, of course. We as a society no longer blithely dump fluorescent lights in the garbage, where they end up in landfill. But as energy conservation has expanded the use of fluorescent lighting products into our homes, efforts to recycle them remain spotty. A significant number of fluorescent lights – perhaps one in two if Statistics Canada’s figures are right – get tossed in the garbage.

Federal regulations initiated the phasing out of traditional incandescent bulbs in favour of more efficient fluorescent and LED lights, which use a fraction of the electricity and last longer.

At the time, the Conservative government was expected to develop regulations for the mandatory recycling of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), but CBC News reported this week that instead, it is opting for voluntary return program for CFL sellers and developing a voluntary code of practice. The deadline for stakeholders to file submissions is today (Nov. 28), with the new code to be implemented next year.

Waste disposal, including recycling, is a provincial responsibility, a spokesman in Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq’s office told CBC News.

But critics say the absence of firm federal guidance leaves disposal of CFLs and old-school fluorescent tubes as a national checkerboard.

Environment Canada’s own discussion paper notes only British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec have legislation requiring those who deal in lamps containing mercury to be part of a program for their safe disposal.

In B.C., for instance, several retailers accept CFLs for recycling but the majority are dealt with through the province-wide non-profit LightRecycle program, which last year collected more than 625,000 CFLs and more than two million fluorescent tubes, according to its annual report. Still, that’s just 74 per cent of the estimated CFL bulbs that could have been collected and only 36 per cent of fluorescent tubes, suggesting a lot still end up on the trash heap.

Elsewhere in Canada, participation in recycling programs is voluntary or left to municipalities to regulate.

Fluorescent light recycling system a patchwork in Canada

“It’s such a patchwork system,” Maggie MacDonald, Environmental Defence's toxic substances specialist, told Yahoo Canada News.

"You can be living in a small town next to a big city and you might have two different toxic waste disposal systems. You really have to call your local municipal office to get the correct information or go to one of the businesses participating in recycling the CFL bulbs.”

While fluorescents contain only a small amount of mercury, she said, it is highly persistent in the environment and can get into the food chain and build up in the body, causing a myriad of health problems.

Some retailers have been accepting old CFLs for recycling but the giant Home Depot chain told customers last year they would no longer take them.

"We believe the collection and disposal of CFLs and paint can be more effectively managed through a third-party recycling program and as such, will no longer be accepting these products for recycling," the company says on its website.

The company posted notices in its stores last January and its web site includes links to recyclers in various regions, Home Depot told Yahoo Canada News via email.

Actively supporting an in-store CFL recycling program was an important step to build awareness around ways to recycle CFL bulbs, said Paul Berto, Home Depot Canada’s director, corporate communications, external affairs and sustainability.

"As we reviewed our CFL recycling program, we determined it would be more appropriate for authorized third-party CFL recycling programs, such as those offered regionally or through municipal hazardous waste depots, to deal with used CFL bulbs," he said. "This decision was made to ensure the safety and well-being of our customers and associates."

By contrast, Canadian-owned RONA Inc., which operates more than 500 stores, has elected to continue in-store recycling programs as part of its sustainability program. The company’s sustainability report for 2013 said its stores recovered almost 380,000 CFLs and fluorescent tubes last year, up 73 per cent from 2012.

“For us we didn’t see any advantage to stop it because it is a good program that works well in our stores,” Jules Foisy-LaPointe, RONA’s director of sustainability, said in an interview.

"We operate it on a national level. It’s not something that’s extremely complex to operate on our side, even though there is some challenges. It’s still feasible. We consider the value for our customers.”

Great strides in reducing mercury use, less with disposal

MacDonald said the federal government has made strides in reducing the amount of mercury in a range of products, pointing to new limits published Nov. 6 in the Canada Gazette.

But it also has a responsibility to be more involved in disposal, especially since it mandated the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs. Lower levels of government have set up programs and some businesses are being proactive, she said.

“But when it’s left to the goodwill and the leadership of businesses, then you end up with a patchwork system that’s just not adequate to having people all do the right thing in an informed way,” MacDonald said.

Ottawa could do more to help raise awareness among consumers, many of whom may not even know the low-energy CFLs aren’t safe to just toss in the trash. Health Canada and Environment Canada web sites contain lots of information but it’s often coached in technical language, she said.

"At the end of the day the main thing is to not see these things end up in landfill; it’s to see them disposed of safely," said MacDonald. "There are ways to do that but if people don’t know how to do it, that’s a problem.”

The problem may eventually recede on its own as CFLs are supplanted by even more efficient LED lights for the home. The range of LED products, which are also recyclable but not toxic, is proliferating rapidly and prices have begun falling, but for now CFLs remain the low-cost alternative.