Retail recycling

The Home Depot steps up to take back compact fluorescents

By SANDY LONG

MATAMORAS, PA — One of the nation’s largest retailers announced last week that its nearly 2,000 stores will begin accepting compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) from consumers for recycling. The Home Depot is placing receptacles at each of its stores, including its Matamoras location, which has already begun accepting the bulbs, and its Honesdale location, which will begin participating in September.

CFLs have revolutionized the lighting industry with their energy-reducing and pollution-cutting qualities. Consumers love seeing the savings in their electric bills; retailers revel in the wild growth in sales; environmentalists tout the bulbs’ role in efforts toward more sustainable energy practices.

But casting its shadow over the chilly glow of the economical bulbs is the specter of mercury, a hazardous waste material contained in every twirly bulb.

Although the amount of mercury in the typical household bulb is five milligrams or less, comparable to the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, caution should still be exercised when handling and disposing of bulbs.

If a CFL bulb is accidentally broken, special cleanup measures are advised (see www.epa.gov/region07/factsheets/2008/what_to_do_if_a_cfl_breaks_2008.html for more information). Other common sources of mercury in homes are thermostats and thermometers, both of which contain far greater amounts of the substance.

The retailer is making it easy for consumers to return any brand of expired, unbroken CFL bulbs by simply placing them gently in plastic bags and depositing the bags in recycling containers located near the returns desk at the front of the store. The program applies to compact bulbs only, not the standard tube-style fluorescent bulbs.

Jeff Wilson, HazMat captain at the Matamoras Home Depot, said that bulbs brought to that location will be responsibly recycled by PSC, a recycler based in Hatfield, PA. Wilson added that thermostats may also be returned to the store for recycling.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans could save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from 800,000 cars by simply replacing one incandescent bulb with an Energy Star qualified CFL.

The Home Depot is making other efforts to improve its environmental impact, and that of its customers, through a program called Eco-Options ((www.homedepot.com/ecooptions)), which focuses on various recycling-and-light-replacement initiatives and provides customers with a way to identify products with less environmental impacts. The retailer also accepts rechargeable batteries (with the exception of car batteries), such as those found in power tools and cell phones, for recycling.