Green Bulbs leave a Black Mark
Henry Aubin is The Gazette’s regional-affairs columnist wrote this and I was as surprised as him. I am passing it along for you to think about:
I used to think I was making a better world for my grandchildren by using compact fluorescent bulbs. Now I’m not so sure. It’s not that I doubt the claim that they use a quarter as much energy as regular incandescent light bulbs and last many times longer.
(Aside from me: However people have had to raise the heat in their homes at the bulbs used to help warm the house. So we might be taking a step forward but also a step back . It’s like taking a medicines but haning to put up with its side effects.)
Nor is it that I don’t applaud their utility in fighting climate change: The Washington-based Worldwatch Institute says that if everyone in the U.S. alone were to replace traditional bulbs with the corkscrew fluorescent sort it would reduce greenhouse gas as much as taking 30 million cars off the road.
No, one of the things that’s giving me second thoughts is this summer’s advice from Health Canada. The bulbs contain a tiny amount of mercury, a cause of birth defects and harm to the nervous system, kidneys and the liver. If I were to paraphrase the ministry’s startling advice, you’d think I was making it up, so I’ll quote extensively.
In the event a bulb breaks:
1 -Ventilate the room for at least 15 minutes, prior to starting cleanup, by opening windows.””Do not use a vacuum to clean up the initial breakage, as it will spread the mercury vapour and dust throughout the area and may contaminate the vacuum.
2 -“Wear disposable gloves, if available, to avoid direct contact with mercury.”
“Scoop or sweep up the broken pieces and debris with two pieces of stiff paper or cardboard. Do not use a broom.”
And, finally, this for a ba-da-boom finale:
“Use sticky tape, such as duct tape or masking tape, to pick up any remaining fine glass or powder.”
Oops, did I say “finale”? I’m way ahead of myself. Your work would have just begun. If you can’t shake the carpet outdoors, vacuum it after closing the door of the room and opening the windows. Then: “When the vacuuming is done, remove the bag, wipe the vacuum with a damp paper towel, cloth or disposable wet wipe, and then place the vacuum bag and paper towel in a sealed plastic bag outside. In the case of a canister vacuum, wipe the canister out with a wet paper towel and dispose of the towel as outlined above. Continue to ventilate the room for 15 minutes once the vacuuming is completed.”
But you’re still not done. You’ve got to get rid of the debris you’ve so meticulously picked up. Health Canada says:
“Place the broken glass and cleanup materials in a glass container with a tight fitting lid to further minimize the release of mercury vapour.”
“Immediately place waste material outside of the building in a protected area away from children.”
“Dispose of the waste at a household hazardous waste location as soon as possible.”
You’re thinking, “Phew, at least then I’d be done with the environmental heroics.” Wrong.
Health Canada makes it sound as though disposal at a waste location is easy. It’s not. That goes not just for broken bulbs but also ones that are intact but kaput. That’s the second reason I have to wonder about the wisdom of mass use of these bulbs.
Montreal has only six sites – “ecocentres” – where you can take them (as well as old batteries). It’s hard to expect many people to travel to these few-and-far-between locations, especially in the city with Canada’s lowest per-capita rate of car ownership.
Until this year, many stores that sold the bulbs would take back the defunct ones, then transport them to the ecocentres. But now the municipal ecocentres say they’ll only take stuff from ordinary citizens, not from stores. “The city cannot assume the costs that properly belong to merchants,” says a spokesperson. Result: Many retailers now no longer accept old bulbs.
A third reason to question the widespread use of the bulbs (six of 10 Canadian households have some) is the lack of publicity about safety. Health Canada hardly trumpeted its advice. And packages containing bulbs don’t spell out the need to deal with the mercury.
Most people toss old bulbs in the trash. From there they go to the dump. Imagine the effect on the water table.
Meanwhile the federal government has decided that Canada will phase out all incandescent bulbs by 2012. Unless this country launches very serious public-education and recycling initiatives, that’s a reckless objective. The alarming complexity of dealing with busted bulbs is but a small part of the problem.
haubin@thegazette.canwest.com