Recycle Old Tube Lights

How to recycle fluorescent tubes.

Recycle old tube lights.

You fill up a kit with old bulbs seal it and bring it to the post office or leave it for your postal carrier. That can lead to short term health risk for exposed individuals and lasting environmental damage to soil and water. Be sure to call the store ahead of time before you bring in your old tubes. Fluorescent bulbs or tubes fall into the hazardous waste category since they also contain mercury.

Recycle fluorescent lights cfls and hids at no charge throughout washington state. The epa recommends that you bring old cfls to qualified recyclers rather than disposing of them in trash cans or curbside recycling bins. Luckily these tubes will last up to 15 000 hours so you won t need to worry about recycling them often. Visit the eco options website to learn more.

Dave lake of colerain township has been replacing his unattractive fluorescent light bulbs in his home with new led bulbs. While compact fluorescent lightbulbs cfls have extensive recycling options through retail drop offs and mail in programs the same can t be said for fluorescent tubes. So he has been taking his old bulbs to lowe s and home depot for recycling. Given the current situation we encourage you to reserve your recycling for when the covid 19 pandemic has passed.

Fluorescent tubes serve as an energy efficient alternative to incandescent light bulbs but they contain low levels of toxic mercury which can be released into the air or water if the tubes are broken. Note that some stores may only recycle certain types of bulbs such as cfls or 4 ft 1 2 m fluorescent tubes. If you re concerned about the mercury content in cfls consider led bulbs. Social distancing is strongly encouraged as is staying home.

Some bulb manufacturers and other organizations sell pre labeled recycling kits that allow you to mail used bulbs to recycling centers. If you have old christmas or string led lights these can sometimes be accepted at your local lowe s or home depot so be sure to check when you are getting ready to replace your decorative lights. Because it can be hazardous to transport the tubes you ll want to make sure the store will actually take them off your hands once you get there.