AUSTRALIA’S switch to low-energy light bulbs is creating a new environmental disaster as tonnes of the mercury-filled fluorescent lamps end up in council landfills.
With 95 per cent of discarded home light bulbs tossed into household rubbish bins, councils say there is an urgent need for a national scheme to recycle globes to ensure the mercury inside them does not find its way into water supply systems.
Mercury is one of the key ingredients of low-energy bulbs, but can cause neurological damage and birth defects if consumed by humans.
The lighting industry says the new bulbs contain just 5mg of mercury fluorescent tubes have three times that much but only 5 per cent of the bulbs are recycled.
Did the greenies really think people would recycle their spent mercury bulbs after 100 years of throwing burnt out light bulbs in the trash?
We played with mercury when we were kids. Unless you had some skin disorder that absorbed the stuff or ate it, it is not harmful. Add to that there are two common forms of mercury compounds, one is really bad for you, the other is meh. Just more scare stories. However a concentration of it from 50 years of landfill can/could be an issue, so I agree the bulbs should be handled seperately.
“With 95 per cent of discarded home light bulbs tossed into household rubbish bins, councils say there is an urgent need for a national scheme to recycle globes to ensure the mercury inside them does not find its way into water supply systems.”
This elephant in the room has gone on for years. Either it’s hydrargyrumphobia, and not a real hazard, or it is a hazard, and the bulbs shouldn’t be sold to the public. The greentards need to pick one or the other.