Home Depot Offers Recycling for Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a
way to save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a hazard,
because they contain small amounts of mercury.

Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation's
second-largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back
old compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United
States, creating the nation's most widespread recycling program for
the bulbs.

"We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of
concern about mercury in the C.F.L.'s," said Ron Jarvis, Home
Depot's senior vice president for environmental innovation, using
the industry abbreviation for the bulbs. "And if the C.F.L.'s were
in their house, how could they dispose of them?"

Until now, consumers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or
smaller retail chains willing to collect the bulbs for recycling, like
Ikea and True Value. Some consumers have waited for retailers like
Wal-Mart to have a designated recycling day. Others bought kits to mail
the bulbs to a recycling facility.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been looking into putting bulb
drop-off boxes at post offices, said Jim Berlow, director of the
agency's hazardous waste minimization and management division.

But those plans are not final, and across most of the country,
recycling the bulbs has been inconvenient at best. Industry
professionals estimate that the recycling rate is around 2 percent.

Home Depot's program, which will accept any maker's bulbs, will
bring relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households.
Mr. Jarvis estimated that 75 percent of the nation's homes are within
10 miles of a Home Depot.

"We're trying to do the right thing," he said. "Some of the
things that we do are for the community and not for the bottom line."

Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, have
vigorously promoted the bulbs as part of their commitment to the
environment. Wal-Mart announced in October 2006 that it wanted to sell
100 million compact fluorescents by the end of 2007. It surpassed that
goal, selling 193 million bulbs to date.

Wal-Mart has accepted expired bulbs at take-back events in particular
markets and is exploring how to do it consistently on a national level.
Wal-Mart has more than twice the number of United States stores as Home
Depot.

The need for a national recycling program became apparent to Home Depot
as sales of compact fluorescents, which had been slow compared with
sales of incandescent bulb, climbed to 75 million last year, from about
50 million in 2006. And a recycling program is likely to drive even more
people to Home Depot.

"We haven't really had to develop the infrastructure" before now,
said Steven Hamburg, interim director of the Center for Environmental
Studies at Brown University. "The demand wasn't there." But
lately, consumers have been getting the message - in stores, from the
media and through awareness campaigns - that compact fluorescents use
up to 75 percent less energy, last longer and cost less over time than
incandescent bulbs.

Mr. Hamburg says the average household reduces its energy budget by $12
to $20 a month using compact fluorescents. Additionally, better
technology has made the bulbs' harsh glow somewhat warmer and softer,
though many people still object to it.

More innovations are on the way. Home Depot has plans to introduce more
dimmable compact fluorescents within the year. Mr. Hamburg and
colleagues at Brown recently developed a box that absorbs mercury - so
there would be no need to fret if a bulb breaks in the box.

Mercury is found in other common household items like electronics,
appliances and pesticides. Its vapors, however, can harm people and
pollute the environment, which is why recycling is encouraged. (In some
places it is against the law not to recycle the bulbs.)

"We generally think using these bulbs are over all a good thing for
the environment," said Mr. Berlow of the E.P.A. "The only thing you
have to be aware of is the potential for them to break."

The E.P.A. devotes pages of its Web site to cleanup instructions for
broken compact fluorescents. Before even beginning to clean up a spill,
consumers are advised to leave the room (along with their pets), open a
window and shut off any operating air heating or cooling systems.

That may seem foreboding, but experts see a greater health risk from
the mercury emissions produced by coal-burning plants to power less
efficient bulbs.

"The avoided mercury emissions are much larger than the mercury
we're using in the bulbs," said Mr. Hamburg of Brown, referring
to compact fluorescents.

Home Depot's bulbs contain 2.3 to 3.5 milligrams of mercury, which is
below the National Electrical Manufacturers Association recommendation
of 5 milligrams or fewer. It is a small amount, equivalent to the volume
of the steel ball in the tip of a ballpoint pen. "Most people in their
home have 1,000 times more mercury literally in their thermostat, let
alone thermometers," Mr. Hamburg said.


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