Recycling
Resources
Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov
Association of New Jersey Recyclers
http://www.anjr.com
US Green Building Council http://www.usgbc.org
Sustainable New Jersey http://www.sustainablejersey.com
US Department of Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov
The Green Guide http://www.thegreenguide.com
Because CFLs contain a small amount of mercury,
EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines:
1. Before Clean-up: Ventilate the Room
• Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone
walk through the breakage area on their way out.
• Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
• Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning
system, if you have one.
2. Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces
• Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff
paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid
(such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining
small glass fragments and powder.
• Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable
wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
• Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb
on hard surfaces.
3. Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug:
• Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass
jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic
bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining
small glass fragments and powder.
• If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed,
vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
• Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister),
and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding, etc.:
• If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact
with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb
that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be
discarded. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury
fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute
sewage.
• You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that
have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as
the clothing you happened to be wearing when you cleaned up the
broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact
with the materials from the broken bulb.
• If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing
powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable
wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag
for disposal.
5. Disposal of Clean-up Materials
• Immediately place all cleanup materials outdoors in a trash
container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
• Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags
containing clean-up materials.
• Check with your local or state government about disposal
requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash
disposal and require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing
bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.
6. Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Ventilate the Room During
and After Vacuuming
• The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central
forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior
to vacuuming.
• Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off
and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.
Large amounts of mercury become airborne
when coal, oil, wood, or natural gases are burned as fuel or when
mercury-containing garbage is incinerated. Once on the air, mercury
can fall to the ground with rain and snow, landing on soil or in
bodies of water, causing contamination.
Lakes and rivers are also contaminated when there is a direct discharge
of mercury-laden industrial and municipal waste into these water
bodies. Once present, mercury accumulates in the tissue of fish
and other organisms and may ultimately reach the dinner table.
Although mercury is a very useful element with many unique properties
and applications, it poses a very real health risk. We can minimize
this risk by reducing our use of mercury-containing products and
properly disposing of mercury-containing waste.
While Mercury is one of the most useful of the heavy metals found
in our daily lives, it is also one of the most deadly. When carelessly
handled or improperly disposed of, mercury gets into drinking water,
lakes, rivers and streams and becomes a clear threat to human health
and the environment. Recent studies have linked mercury exposure
to increased risk of heart attack in men, to mental retardation
and neurological disorders in children, and to dangerous levels
of mercury in the blood of women of childbearing age.
Not only is Mercury a threat to our quality of life when it is not
properly recycled, it can also be a significant threat to the overall
health of your business. Local and state environmental regulations
combine with the strict EPA enforcement of the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental
Mercury has become an environmental pollutant because agricultural,
industrial, commercial and household products and wastes containing
mercury are not properly managed, allowing the mercury to escape
into the atmosphere and waterways.
Mercury has long been known to be toxic; the phrase “mad as
a hatter” refers to the 19th-century occupational disease
that resulted from prolonged contact with the mercury used in the
manufacture of felt hats. Some workers today, especially laboratory
technicians, nurses, and machine operators, continue to be exposed
to mercury on the job. Elemental mercury (the silver liquid familiar
from thermometers) is the most common occupational source of exposure.
Exposure typically comes from inhaling mercury vapors For most of
us, fluorescent lamps present the single greatest risk of mercury
exposure in the work place. A recent study of exposure to broken
“low mercury” lamps by the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection entitled “Release of Mercury from
Broken Fluorescent Bulbs”* demonstrated that “elevated
airborne levels of mercury could exist in the vicinity of recently
broken lamps, and …could exceed occupational exposure limits.”
Elemental mercury and mercury salts, although
fairly inert when deposited on the bottom of waterways, are converted
into organic mercury, typically methylmercury, by microorganisms.
Organic mercury compounds, especially methylmercury, are more toxic
than other forms because they easily cross cell membranes. Methylmercury
then enters the food chain where it is biomagnified up to 100,000
times in predacious fish. Eagles, osprey, loons,turtles, mink, otters,
and other fish eating creatures are at risk from eating mercury-contaminated
fish. Mercury in their diets can cause early death, weight loss,
and problems with their ability to reproduce. Unfortunately, wildlife
cannot read fish advisories or change their eating habits in order
to avoid mercury contamination
.
The most common human exposure to methylmercury is through consumption
of contaminated fish or animals that eat fish. Minamata disease
was named after the occurrence, in the 1950s and 1960s in Minamata,
Japan, of many cases of severe mercury poisoning. It was found that
a chemicals factory was discharging mercury-containing wastes into
the local waters, contaminating fish that residents caught for food.
Joining forces with the mass movement to
clean up our environment, National Bulb Recycling is beginning and
developing a recycling program in the State of NJ for all mercury
containing lamps or bulbs. It is a little-known fact that beneath
the glass casing, fluorescent lamps contain from 5 to 50 mg. of
mercury, usually exceeding the EPA’s regulatory 2mg./liter
threshold. The mercury, excited by an electric current, produces
ultraviolet energy which is converted to visible light by a phosphor
coating on the inside of the bulb. When these lamps are thrown into
landfills and shattered, or at the very worst incinerated, mercury
vapors are released that can travel up to 200 miles. Last year an
estimated 600,000,000 fluorescent bulbs were disposed of in landfills,
amounting to about 30,000 pounds of mercury waste.
As most are aware, mercury is a highly
toxic substance. Once absorbed, it is distributed via blood to all
areas of the human body, wrecking havoc upon the nervous system
and kidneys, among other areas. Its acute (immediate) effects include
nausea, blurred vision, painful breathing, excessive salivation
and pneumonitis, and its chronic (long-term) effects include memory
disturbance, hypertension, vision problems, hallucinations, tremors
and personality changes. In extreme cases, mercury poisoning has
been shown to even cause death. Its effects are also of special
concern to pregnant women as it crosses the placental barrier affects
brain development. Several studies have linked mercury to cerebral
palsy and the sudden prevalence of autism.
Due to the new Federal Environmental Protection
Agency's regulation on lamps, which went into effect on January
6th, 2000, most non-residential facilities are now required by law
to properly dispose of their lamps. Landfills are increasingly intolerant
of lamps from non-residential sources due to the amount of mercury
found in each lamp. Lamps later found in landfills are subject to
retroactive clean-up costs under CERCLA. Recycling of the lamp components
is the recommended method of disposal by the Environmental Protection
Agency and helps to minimize facility liability.
You can view this article at the EPA's website
or click
here for a direct link.
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Break
a Bulb? National Bulb Recycling safety tips that can help keep you
and your workplace safe.
National
Bulb Recycling Environmental Factors. 