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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 You Asked ... by Karin L. Nauber
The question was raised recently: ìWhat do they do with the
fluorescent bulbs that you have to pay for to get rid of?î
The answer came from Tim Cadwallader, director of the solid
waste department for the county.
Cadwallader said they go through a licensed bulb recycler.
That is why they charge $1 to take your fluorescent bulbs off your hands
because they have to pay the recycler.
You might find it interesting to know that every piece of
the bulb can be recycled, but that the main reason they recycle these
bulbs is to capture the mercury.
Cadwallader said that when this program was first
implemented, the recyclers hoped to be able to capture 400 pounds of
mercury. Because newer bulbs have less mercury, not as much is collected,
however.
The state of Minnesota mandates the recycling of these
bulbs.
I also found out some other interesting information from
the Wilmar Municipal Utilities about the difference between incandescent
bulbs and the compact fluorescent bulbs.
If you left one 100-watt incandescent light bulb on for one
year (8760 hours) it would cost you approximately $57.87 in electricity
and $.50 each time you had to replace the 750 hour bulb. In order to match
the 10,000 hour average life of a compact fluorescent, you would have to
replace the bulb at least 12 times during the year. The cost of the 12
bulbs would be $6. The total cost for the year would be about $63.87
(these prices were from a couple of years ago).
If you purchased and installed a 26-watt compact
fluorescent (equivalent light output to the 100-watt incandescent) and
left it on for one year, you would spend approximately $15.04 in
electricity and about $8 for a 10,000 hour bulb, or about $23.04 a year.
This would amount to a 64% savings or about $40.83 a year.
And remember, the cost to recycle a bulb is only $1 per
fluorescent bulb.
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