Recycle your CFL bulbs at Ace Hardware
Read the article in the Great Falls Tribune.
May 15, 2008
Recycle your CFL bulbs
at Ace Hardware
By RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer
Until this month, consumers in Great Falls and around the state lacked a place to take burned-out compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Now they have two.
A pair of Ace Hardware stores in Great Falls and other Ace stores across Montana, South Dakota and Utah are taking part in a pilot program for recycling compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Montana Department of Environmental Quality and local utilities are paying for the program in Montana.
CFLs conserve energy by cranking out as much as 13 times the amount of light that regular incandescent light bulbs can. However, they often contain tiny amounts of gaseous mercury, a naturally occurring toxin that can affect the nervous system. The mercury can be harmful if released, which happens when a CFL is crushed in a garbage can or in a landfill or incinerated.
So recycling the bulbs is a better approach.
Women's Voices for the Earth, a Missoula-based organization, came up with the idea for the program. The group worked with ACE Hardware and the Product Stewardship Institute, another nonprofit group, to put the program together.
For many years in Great Falls, residents have been able to bring old thermostats and thermometers containing liquid mercury to the City-County Health Department for recycling.
That program continues, but it does not include CFLs or other fluorescent light bulbs like the Ace program does.
"We think it's a great idea," said Allen Mares, executive director of the Cascade City-County Health Department.
After collection, all the products will be shipped to Veolia Environmental Services and the Thermostat Recycling Corporation, which will remove the mercury and recycle other materials.
"The goal of this program is to provide consumers with a way to safely recycle these mercury products at easily accessible retail outlets," said Scott Cassel, executive director of the Product Stewardship Institute, in a news release. "Ace Hardware has taken a leadership position on this issue and will provide residents with a simple way to recycle used CFLs, fluorescent tubes and mercury-containing thermostats."
The use of CFLs has exploded in the last few years amid rising energy costs. But as the bulbs begin to burn out, disposing of them has become a thorny issue.
"The only responsible way to promote energy efficient CFLs is to also promote recycling of those bulbs," said Dori Gilels, executive director of Women's Voices for the Earth. "We're proud to be involved in a project that shows how consumers, retailers and energy companies can work together to save energy costs and maintain a healthy environment."
More than 250 million CFLs were sold in the United States in 2007. At the same time, only an estimated 2 percent of CFLs are recycled.
"By providing a safe and convenient location for fluorescent lamp and thermostat recycling, retailers can play an important role in reducing mercury pollution," said John Essmann of Ace Hardware.
"Although CFLs have an average lifespan of five years, efforts are needed now to create an infrastructure that supports recycling of these products," Cassel said. "With the lessons learned here, we'll create a how-to guide for retailers across the country to institute their own CFL and thermostat recycling programs."
Montanans can participate in this program at select Ace locations in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Hamilton, Helena, Kalispell, Laurel, Missoula, Polson, Ronan and Whitefish.
Reach Tribune Staff Writer Richard Ecke at recke@greatfallstribune.com or at 406-791-1467 or 800-438-6600.