Why Recycle Fluorescent Lamps?

With the ever increasing popularity of the CFL-Compact Fluorescent Lamp (Or as some would say, the "Ice Cream" shaped lamp), comes the added responsibility of knowing what to do with them when they are at the end of life? There have been some great features on CFL's and the benefits of them. From saving energy, to lowering the impact of carbon footprints and green house gases.

We will not be discussing this today but instead would like to ask the question, "Why recycle fluorescent lamps"? All high energy efficient lamps contain mercury for the operation of the lamps. My Eco Lamp

Earth911 has summarized it this way on it's site under the topic of Facts About Light Bulbs We especially like the area that asks "What’s the Deal With Mercury?

Some lamps include mercury and are regulated by local governments as it relates to proper disposal. Throwing your burnt-out lamps in the trash is not only dangerous, but illegal. In such states as California, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and many more, it is unlawful for anyone to dispose of fluorescent lamps as universal waste. If you’re looking for somewhere to drop your spent CFL, you can recycle CFLs using Earth911.

* Every year, about 600 million fluorescent light bulbs are disposed of in U.S. landfills.
* This amounts to about 30,000 pounds of mercury waste.
* These bulbs can break and the vapors can harm not only workers, but also the environment through seeping into groundwater.
* In 1992, mercury containing bulbs were added to the U.S. EPA’s list of hazardous substances. Five years later, they moved to number three on that list.


To find out more about the topic of lamp recycling or to start a program at your home or business, visit My Eco Lamp online. We offer affordable solutions for lamp recycling. In addition, we would love to hear from you. If you have a question about recycling or just curious about something, drop us a line.

Welcome to our blog on lamp recycling. We are delighted you have stopped by. Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking for ways to help with getting the word out about the benefits of recycling mercury containing lamps and also the dangers that we are facing in regards to lamps being discarded in landfills.

Is green good? "Green" end caps is great marketing. Over the last few years, I have been hearing this comment a little more often when it comes to lamps with green end caps, "Well, we purchase lamps that have green end caps and these do not have mercury in them and I can throw them away". This is one of the bigger challenges facing many towns and communities as many are unaware that these lamps do contain mercury. In fact, as of today on a 4 foot linear T-8 fluorescent lamp that has green end caps, there is actually about 1.7 milligrams of mercury. Some of the other green end cap lamps have much more mercury content.

Some facts about Mercury containing lamps (more to come in proceeding posts):
It takes just 1 milligram of mercury to contaminate up to 5,300 liters of water.

If a person were to throw away just 10 of the green end cap lamps using the above amount, that would be 17 milligrams. 100 would be 170 milligrams and 1,000 would be 1,700 milligrams.

To find out more about lamp recycling visit My Eco Lamp

My Eco Lamp is looking for help with spreading the word about our community program "Planting Seeds of Hope". If you would like to find out more, please drop us a line. We would love to hear from you.

Happy 4th of July

My Eco Lamp wishes you and your loved ones a Happy 4th of July. We thank the troops who are serving our country here and around the world. We would not have the freedom we have today if it were not for the brave ones who have gone before us. Thank you and Happy 4th of July.



My Eco Lamp
"Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Solutions"