About two years ago, we changed out the majority of the bulbs in our home to compact fluorescent bulbs.
I think most of us know the difference just doing that can have on your energy usage, on your budget, and on the environment. And with the increased usage of CFLs, there has been pretty clear information out there that you need to smartly, safely recycle them.
Many major hardware stores have set up recycling programs to take old CFLs. (To find a location near you that recycles CFL bulbs, check out this EPA link.)
But what about the old incandescent bulbs?
I wondered what to do with them. I tried contacting several of the major light bulb companies, and none of them ever contacted me back. Ahhh, customer service.
I searched online. And all I could find was information saying it was safe to throw them in the trash. Which is great and good, but not my point. Why throw something away if it could be recycled?
And just when I was feeling like I might not get an answer to this question, I hit IKEA one weekend.
Right by their customer service area they have a little wall of recycling. I was putting some of my burned out CFL bulbs in the proper holes when I noticed a slot for incandescent bulbs.
It read:
Why recycle incandescent bulbs? Why not!
Brilliant. Thank you, IKEA. I was so excited.
Yup, geeked out excited. About recycling light bulbs. Welcome to the dork that I am.
I decided to call them just to confirm. Here's how it went.
THEM: IKEA Customer Service, how can I help you?
ME: Sorry in advance, I am going to be your random question person of the day.
THEM: Oh my dear, I do that all day. No worries, you won't be the first!
ME: Cool. Okay, so I noticed that your recycle incandescent bulbs. I just want to make sure that is really the case.
THEM: Wow, yeah, that is random. I have no idea, let me transfer you.
[sit on hold for a bit and then a guy picks up...]
THEM: Heeelllooo
ME: Yeah, I was just checking to see if you still recycle incandescent bulbs.
THEM: Yuuup.
ME: [probably a bit overly enthusiastically] Really? Oh that is great. I am so happy to hear that!
THEM: But you know, ma'am, you can just safely throw them in the trash. There's nothing bad about them.
ME: I know it's safe to throw them away. But that is like saying it's safe to throw newspaper away. Sure it's safe, but why do that if you can do something better?
THEM: Um okay. [thinking: Um okay crazy lady...]
ME: And everywhere I searched all I could find was that message that "it's safe to throw them away." But the fact still remains that you are throwing them away.
THEM: Yup, okay, great. Yeah, well we have a service that hauls them away to be broken down and recycled.
So before you throw that next bulb in the trash, consider setting it on the shelf for your next trip to IKEA.
I know that many of you don't have a convenient IKEA around, but if you have found a way to recycle your incandescent bulbs, I'd love to hear about it!
So what else does it drive you nuts that you can't recycle...or wonder if you can?
Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert. These are just my experiences and I am not being compensated in any way for this post. Just writing it to make my green heart a little happier.
