Fluorescent tubes?

[Mike in Ohio]

What do you guys do with you burned out fluorescent light tubes? I got some used lights for my shop and about half of the tubes were burned out.
Thanks a lot,
Mike

 

[fatboy99]

Check with your town to see if they have collection places. Our local Sear's has drop boxes for them i dont know if they all do

 

[Gary S]

I don't burn them out.

 

[kbs2244]

Mine just go in the trash can.
Nobody seems to mind.
But I have never put in more than three at a time.

Are they supposed to be hazadous?
I remember the maint department at a factory around here had a 30 gal drum that they had mounted an electric motor centered on the top.
It spun a rod about 2 inches below the top.
Kind of like a rotory mower.
Out at the edge they had a hole with a 16 inch peice of PVC pipe acting like a coller.
They would turn it on and drop the tubed into the pipe.
The spinning rod would bust them up real good.
When the drum got too heavy to move around, it went into the dumpster and they got a new one.
But that factory covered over 20 acres.

You could do the same thing with 5 a gallon pail.

 

[nate379]

Chuck them in the dumpster, same place reg light bulbs go.

 

[A_Pmech]

Are they supposed to be hazadous?

Yes, they contain Mercury. I think they're supposed to be disposed of as hazardous waste.

I remember the maint department at a factory around here had a 30 gal drum that they had mounted an electric motor centered on the top.
It spun a rod about 2 inches below the top.
Kind of like a rotory mower.
Out at the edge they had a hole with a 16 inch peice of PVC pipe acting like a coller.
They would turn it on and drop the tubed into the pipe.
The spinning rod would bust them up real good.
When the drum got too heavy to move around, it went into the dumpster and they got a new one.
But that factory covered over 20 acres.

Pure genius! I used to hate "bulb duty" because disposing of the tubes was such a hassle. (We just threw them into the dumpster as hard as we could.)

Still, I believe the correct thing to do with old fluorescent tubes is to turn them in for collection.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Question: How do I dispose of fluorescent bulb or lamps from my home?

Answer: If used fluorescent lamps/bulbs are generated from a household, they are not regulated as hazardous waste, because a homeowner's waste is excluded from Ohio EPA's definition of hazardous waste.

Fluorescent lamps from your home contain small amounts of mercury and other heavy metals, though, so we do recommend that you handle them safely to prevent breaking them. Although you can put fluorescent bulbs from your house in your trash, a better option is to take them to your local household hazardous waste recycling event. More information on disposing of hazardous waste from your home and events in your area can be found at: http://ohio.earth911.org/master.asp

Ohio EPA, Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Web site
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsiwm/pages/recycpro.html

More information about compact fluorescent lamps is available here http://www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/cfl_info.html.

 

[jkeyser14]

Even though you can throw them in the trash for regular pickup, our county has a special drop off at the dump for them where they would prefer you take them.

 

[pattenp]

Well I probably shouldn’t admit to this, but I bought a plastic protector sleeve and slide the bulb in and tape up the ends of the protector and smash the bulb up with a hammer. I then un-tape one end and dump the smashed bulb into a trash bag and into the garbage it goes. I use 8' T12's so it would be a pain to take somewhere to be disposed.

 

[Jay H 237]

I toss mine away too, there's no place around here that accepts them for recycling.

 

[diggertodd]

I talked to a EPA rep one evening Lions club meeting, he said " Although there is mercury, there is an unconcernable amount and there is no reclamation drop off in the area, and we have larger concern than fluorescent lights."

I take a larger garbage bag, bigger "lawn bag", tie the end and the smash them up.

 

[nate379]

It's tons of fun to play swords or spear of Heman with them too

 

[malibu101]

Where I work all of our "universal waste" including but not fully limited to- all flourescent tubes of all shapes and sizes including self-ballasted CFL's, all flourescent ballasts whether potential PCB or not, all HID bulbs, all batteries from small sealed lead acid to basic D cells, and much, much more is sent to the company in the first link below.
The second link is to the page of how they recycle flourescent tubes to their smallest components. Tubes in one end of the machine and individual buckets of glass, phospher powder, aluminum, and mercury at the other end.
Cool stuff.
http://www.aercrecycling.com/
http://www.aercrecycling.com/solutions/lamps.php
EDIT- The few burned out tubes I make at home, I take to work. They have no problem with it and I'm doing the right thing easily and free.

 

[river1]

i had some 8 footers that were burned out. i checked with lowes they wouldn't take them. so i went across the street to home depot and they did. home depot will take all flourecent bulbs for disposal. home depot got my business for the new bulbs because they took the old ones.

later jim

 

[Rickster]

I pack them back in the box the new ones came in and write "new bulbs don't throw out" on the box and then place them at curbside for trash pick-up. They're never there in the morning before the garbage guys get there so sombody picked them up.