Earth Day is an exciting time of year for a sustainability-minded company like Relumination. We are happy to report that participation in Earth Day is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, one day of participation a year is not enough. We need your help every day!
Only 2% of homeowners and one-third of businesses actually recycle their used CFLs, according to sustainablebusiness.com, while the rest of the population throws them in the garbage. The broken lamps end up in landfills, and approximately four tons of mercury from the lamps are released into the environment, according to the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers.
The U.S. government passed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007 in order to phase out incandescent lamps that consume too much energy. Consequently, the government and other businesses have been promoting more efficient lamps, such as compact fluorescents. CFLs do consume less energy than incandescent lamps, but with one huge problem: they contain enough mercury to contaminate a 6,000-acre lake.
Incandescent lamps are also contributing to mercury emissions. In fact, coal-burning power plants are the number one contributors to mercury emissions, which produce energy for these lamps to run. CFLs are releasing about 10% as many mercury emissions as coal-burning power plants. What can we do to curb these toxic emissions? Sustainablebusiness.com suggests a federal recycling law, like the one for automobile batteries. The best thing for consumers to do is to put the CFLs back on the shelf and choose LED lighting instead. LEDs don’t contain mercury, consume far less energy than CFLs, and last three to five times longer!
In the meantime, recycle your CFLs at your local Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, or Ikea.
Happy Earth Day from your friends at Relumination!
