Beware of the bulb

In one year’s time, more Canadians can expect to save money on hydro bills, reduce energy consumption and decrease carbon dioxide emissions – simply by flicking on a light.

The federal government is ending the sale of incandescent light bulbs in January 2012 under the Energy Efficiency Act. Most Canadians will turn to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) instead.

CFLs are energy-saving light bulbs that last longer than incandescent bulbs. The only catch: they contain about two and a half to five milligrams of mercury, which vaporizes when the light is turned on.

The only safe place to dump your bulbs.

“No amount of mercury is good,” says Sarah Mills, program director of the Take Back the Light program, which works with Canadian Tire to ensure the safe recycling of CFL bulbs in Ontario. "It’s always very dangerous."

The federal government is currently in talks with Canadian provinces and territories to develop regulations that would require manufacturers of mercury-containing light bulbs to collect and recycle the bulbs when they’ve burnt out, says Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson.

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Canadians can return burnt-out CFL bulbs to home furnishing and home repair stores across Canada, like RONA, IKEA, Home Depot, and in Ontario, Canadian Tire, where they’ll be recycled properly.

Once the bulbs are returned to retailers, they go to a recycling plant where they’re smashed inside a reverse vacuum, Mills says. The glass is reused in fibreglass, and the metals can go into various other products. The mercury goes to another plant to be refined further and reused - sometimes to make more CFL light bulbs.

“The nice thing about CFL bulbs is that all the parts can be reused, so there’s no reason not to recycle them,” Mills says.

The science side of things

While the use of CFLs will lead to lower electricity use and coal-burning, there remains an environmental downside as mercury can escape if Canadians don’t recycle the bulbs properly, Johnson says.

Most mercury-containing products, like CFLs and batteries, end up in Canadian landfills where they release small amounts of mercury into the environment, he says. That means discarded CFLs can still have an impact on water, wildlife and human health.

“No amount of mercury is good. It’s always very dangerous.”

When mercury from light bulbs ends up in landfills, it can damage the environment in a number of different ways.It can leech into soil, dissolve in groundwater and travel to larger bodies of water. Or it can become gas in incineration, says Robert Burk, a chemistry professor at Carleton University.

When mercury becomes vapour, it can land on water and become methyl mercury, one of its most dangerous forms, he says. In this state, it can easily bind to cells and be stored in the body. It can work its way up the food chain in a process called biomagnification.

Methyl mercury binds with cells in bacteria, which are eaten by small fish. The small fish are eaten by large fish, and the large fish are eventually eaten by humans.

Mercury damage

Johnson says methyl mercury can also harm birds, animals and marine mammals, contaminating food webs and threatening ecosystem health.

Choose your style and shape. CFLs come in all sizes.

Humans are most at risk because they’re at the top of the food chain and absorb all the mercury that has accumulated until it reaches the top, Burk says.

Mercury can harm the brain and nervous system in adults, and cause learning and developmental problems in children, Johnson says. Pregnant women and their babies are most at risk of accumulating low quantities of mercury over a period of time.

That's why mercury must always be extracted and contained properly, Mills says.  

Despite the environmental impacts, CFL bulbs are still a good choice for Canadians because they don’t require as much electricity.

“When CFLs are substituted, the amount of mercury emissions goes down,” Burk says, “And when they’re recycled properly, the emissions will be lower still.”

Broken bulbs and blue bins

Are you prepared if your CFL bulb breaks? Watch these step-by-step instructions to learn about proper disposal.