A Fox News story a few weeks ago discussed problems with compact fluorescent light bulbs. When these light bulbs were advertised, I went out and bought a few of them and put them to use. I was told that they would save money and be good for the environment – and according to a number of experts they are! I’ve been using them for a few months now, and they do seem to have saved me money on my electric bill.
But. . . . . . what happens when one of these bulbs breaks has me more than a little concerned. Luckily for us, it hasn’t happened, but what if it does?
I didn’t know that if one of these bulbs breaks, you can’t simply sweep up the pieces with a broom or vacuum them up. Apparently, you have to evacuate the room for at least 15 minutes to make sure that the toxic mercury has completely escaped, and THEN turn off the ventilation system, and THEN you have to find two pieces of cardboard to scoop of the pieces in, (you can’t touch the glass or any part of the bulb with your hand, and you can’t use a dustpan or vacuum cleaner either), and THEN if the bulb broke on a carpet, you have to use duct tape to get the pieces out of your carpet, and THEN you have to take the broken pieces in a plastic bag to a hazardous waste facility to dispose of them. This seems like an awful lot of work just to clean up a broken light bulb!
If you live in a home where they are no kids or pets and nothing every breaks, the bulbs might be great. But I don’t live in a house like that. As a parent and pet owner, I never know when a kid or a pet will knock something over. And as the parent of a child on the autistic spectrum, I’m really concerned about the possibility of mercury, even in tiny amounts, oozing into my home as a result of a broken light bulb.
As much as I like the bulbs, I’m not comfortable with my home being the possible site of a hazardous waste accident, even if it is a very tiny one. For me, it’s just easier to remove the bulbs from my home and take them to the hazardous waste facility before an accident happens. I’ll miss the savings on my electric bill, but it’s just not worth the worry.
I found out about these several months ago, and I no longer allow them in my house. Completely not worth the risk!
Everything that seems like a real savings is just too good to be true! I think we’ll be removing these lights from our home, too!