Broken
Here are the instructions on disposing of a new light bulb in Maine — this is not a joke:
* Do not use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the breakage. This will spread the mercury vapor and dust throughout the area and could potentially contaminate the vacuum.
* Keep people and pets away from the breakage area until the cleanup is complete.
* Ventilate the area by opening windows, and leave the area for 15 minutes before returning to begin the cleanup. Mercury vapor levels will be lower by then.
* For maximum protection and if you have them, wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the sharp glass.
* Carefully remove the larger pieces and place them in a secure closed container, preferably a glass container with a metal screw top lid and seal like a canning jar.1 A glass jar with a good seal works best to contain any mercury vapors inside.
* Next, begin collecting the smaller pieces and dust. You can use two stiff pieces of paper such as index cards or playing cards to scoop up pieces.
* Pat the area with the sticky side of duct tape, packing tape or masking tape to pick up fine particles. Wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel to pick up even finer particles.
* Put all waste and materials into the glass container, including all material used in the cleanup that may have been contaminated with mercury. Label the container as “Universal Waste – broken lamp.”
* Remove the container with the breakage and cleanup materials from your home. This is particularly important if you do not have a glass container.
* Continue ventilating the room for several hours.
* Wash your hands and face.
* Take the glass container with the waste material to a facility that accepts “universal waste” for recycling. To determine where your municipality has made arrangements for recycling of this type of waste, call your municipal office or find your town in this list municipal collection sites…
* When a break happens on carpeting, homeowners may consider removing throw rugs or the area of carpet where the breakage occurred as a precaution, particularly if the rug is in an area frequented by infants, small children or pregnant women.
* Finally, if the carpet is not removed, open the window to the room during the next several times you vacuum the carpet to provide good ventilation.
In September GE closed its last US factory making Edison’s light bulbs. Something simple has been replaced by something vastly more complicated, toxic, and expensive. America, as we enter 2011. (HT: Mark Steyn)
December 30th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
This is way overblown. These bulbs have far less mercury in them than the conventional florescent tubes we’ve had for years. The idea that they pose a health hazard is a bit ridiculous.
December 31st, 2010 at 12:30 am
Some random thoughts:
Someone in Maine is consuming a salary to come up with this balderdash.
If one issues a procedure such as this and no one pays any attention, does it matter? Is it a worthwhile endeavor?
OTOH, if I was an employer, this is why I would NEVER use CFLs and would be stockpiling light bulbs.
Back when I had a real job, I had an employee that would have undoubtedly insisted on a trip to the emergency room had they been exposed to the iota of mercury from a broken CFL. And that in turn would have required an accident report to be filled out, reporting the incident to the insurance carrier (possibly driving up premiums), and an entry in the OSHA 200 log. Something no one wants. That trip alone would have cost enough money to buy incandescent light bulbs for eons.
January 1st, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Jay – the article you link to gives PRECISELY the same instructions for cleaning up a broken CFL that Dinocrat does, as well as other detailed instructions.
If CFL’s are so harmless, why do these authorities give very detailed, long drawn out instructions for cleaning up when one breaks?
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:43 am
A few Monday morning links…
NYT: Public Workers Facing Outrage as Budget Crises Grow FrontPage’s Person of the Year: The Tea Party David Warren: Is history bunk? VDH: I, I, Me, Me, My, My — for Pacifism! The Olive Tree Initiative: A Fig Leaf for Anti-Semitism? Disposing of…
January 3rd, 2011 at 10:45 am
While this may seem overblown to people like Jay, the fact is that regardless of the amount, mercury accumulates. It does not decompose to something else. I fully expect future generations to execrate the folly that led to the adoption of CFLs.