[Sqg-program] Home Depot CFL Recycling

Tue Jun 24 11:06:45 EDT 2008

Great news today - Home Depot will start providing CFL recycling at all their
stores nationwide. 

I talked with a local Home Depot manager in Tallahassee who said they only
learned about the program yesterday and haven't gotten orders for rolling it
out - sounds like a great opportunity to help promote CFL sales and recycling
in your area when the program gets started! 

Read the article from the NY Times below, or see the press release on the
Home Depot web site:
http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?&cm_sp=homepage%2d%5f%2dwk21%
2d%5f%2dF1%2d%5f%2dCFL%5frecycling%5fat%5fTHD%5f062608%2d%5f%2dlearn%5fmore

Home Depot Offers Recycling for Compact Fluorescent Bulbs 

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: June 24, 2008
Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a way to
save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a hazard, because
they contain small amounts of mercury.

Sales of compact fluorescents climbed to 75 million last year for the
retailer. 
Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation's
second-largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back old
compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United States,
creating the nation's most widespread recycling program for the bulbs.
"We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of concern
about mercury in the C.F.L.'s," said Ron Jarvis, Home Depot's senior vice
president for environmental innovation, using the industry abbreviation for
the bulbs. "And if the C.F.L.'s were in their house, how could they dispose
of them?"
Until now, consumers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or
smaller retail chains willing to collect the bulbs for recycling, like Ikea
and True Value. Some consumers have waited for retailers like Wal-Mart to
have a designated recycling day. Others bought kits to mail the bulbs to a
recycling facility.
The Environmental Protection Agency has been looking into putting bulb
drop-off boxes at post offices, said Jim Berlow, director of the agency's
hazardous waste minimization and management division.
But those plans are not final, and across most of the country, recycling the
bulbs has been inconvenient at best. Industry professionals estimate that the
recycling rate is around 2 percent. 
Home Depot's program, which will accept any maker's bulbs, will bring
relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households. Mr. Jarvis
estimated that 75 percent of the nation's homes are within 10 miles of a Home
Depot.
"We're trying to do the right thing," he said. "Some of the things that we do
are for the community and not for the bottom line."
Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, have vigorously
promoted the bulbs as part of their commitment to the environment. Wal-Mart
announced in October 2006 that it wanted to sell 100 million compact
fluorescents by the end of 2007. It surpassed that goal, selling 193 million
bulbs to date. 
Wal-Mart has accepted expired bulbs at take-back events in particular markets
and is exploring how to do it consistently on a national level. Wal-Mart has
more than twice the number of United States stores as Home Depot. 
The need for a national recycling program became apparent to Home Depot as
sales of compact fluorescents, which had been slow compared with sales of
incandescent bulb, climbed to 75 million last year, from about 50 million in
2006. And a recycling program is likely to drive even more people to Home
Depot.
"We haven't really had to develop the infrastructure" before now, said Steven
Hamburg, interim director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown
University. "The demand wasn't there." But lately, consumers have been
getting the message - in stores, from the media and through awareness
campaigns - that compact fluorescents use up to 75 percent less energy, last
longer and cost less over time than incandescent bulbs. 
Mr. Hamburg says the average household reduces its energy budget by $12 to
$20 a month using compact fluorescents. Additionally, better technology has
made the bulbs' harsh glow somewhat warmer and softer, though many people
still object to it.
More innovations are on the way. Home Depot has plans to introduce more
dimmable compact fluorescents within the year. Mr. Hamburg and colleagues at
Brown recently developed a box that absorbs mercury - so there would be no
need to fret if a bulb breaks in the box.
Mercury is found in other common household items like electronics, appliances
and pesticides. Its vapors, however, can harm people and pollute the
environment, which is why recycling is encouraged. (In some places it is
against the law not to recycle the bulbs.)
"We generally think using these bulbs are over all a good thing for the
environment," said Mr. Berlow of the E.P.A. "The only thing you have to be
aware of is the potential for them to break."
The E.P.A. devotes pages of its Web site to cleanup instructions for broken
compact fluorescents. Before even beginning to clean up a spill, consumers
are advised to leave the room (along with their pets), open a window and shut
off any operating air heating or cooling systems.
That may seem foreboding, but experts see a greater health risk from the
mercury emissions produced by coal-burning plants to power less efficient
bulbs.
"The avoided mercury emissions are much larger than the mercury we're using
in the bulbs," said Mr. Hamburg of Brown, referring to compact fluorescents.
Home Depot's bulbs contain 2.3 to 3.5 milligrams of mercury, which is below
the National Electrical Manufacturers Association recommendation of 5
milligrams or fewer. It is a small amount, equivalent to the volume of the
steel ball in the tip of a ballpoint pen. "Most people in their home have
1,000 times more mercury literally in their thermostat, let alone
thermometers," Mr. Hamburg said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/business/24recycling.html?ref=environment

Laurie

Laurie J. Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
PH: (850) 245-8759
FAX: (850) 245-8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us 

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http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm

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http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm

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