Light reading
By Adela Talbot
analbant@uwo.ca
Melissa Cronin was painting in her living room when she accidentally knocked over a lamp and broke a mercury-containing compact fluorescent bulb (CFL).
“I wasn’t worried, and my dad didn’t seem too worried either – and he knew the dangers,” she said.
David Cronin and his daughter left the room to allow the mercury vapour to disperse. After a few minutes, they came back and carefully collected the debris. David Cronin dabbed the rug with a washcloth.
 |
| Photo by Adela Talbot |
| Melissa Cronin replaces a CFL in her living room. |
That’s all it took, he said.
The Cronin family stopped buying traditional bulbs almost eight years ago, but their love affair with CFLs isn’t universal. The federal government’s plan to ban incandescent light bulb sales has raised concerns for some Canadians.
Shortly after the ban was announced, Health Canada published a report outlining the potential health risks of CFLs, among them exposure to ultraviolet radiation and toxic mercury vapour.
The amount of mercury in CFLs is relatively low but consumers are still worried about its toxicity, said Nancy Hutton of London Hydro.
Despite the benefits of a 75 per cent drop in energy consumption, a decrease in energy bill costs and a life expectancy of seven years, Hutton said the warnings that accompany the use of CFLs could raise red flags.
“If they’re dropped, they recommend you leave the area to let (mercury) gasses dissipate before inhaling them. You also don’t want to throw them someplace where they are easily broken – that would put the garbage people at risk.”
She added that the environmental benefits of CFLs would be overshadowed if the bulbs were not properly discarded.
“The concern from an environmentalist is what would happen when the bulbs come to the end of their life cycle – how are we going to dispose of them?”
Because CFLs have a longer life expectancy, Hutton said it’s unlikely that consumers will have to replace more than one or two at a time. While it is convenient to throw the old bulbs in with the regular garbage, she said it is just as easy to take them to one of the recycling depots at a hardware store, when buying replacement bulbs.
Proper disposal would ensure the mercury in CFLs doesn’t end up in landfills, Hutton said.
Tom Weihmayr, president and ecopreneur of Green Energy Dynamics Corp., said mercury content is a valid reason for concern.
“Mercury is a neurotoxin and comes in liquid and in vapour forms. About 20 per cent of (our) exposure comes from vapours. The bulbs do contain mercury and they must be disposed of safely.”
Weihmayr nevertheless said that the mercury in CFLs doesn’t pose a great risk.
“Prolonged exposure, ingestion and physical contact cause long-term damage. Breaking a light bulb isn’t going to cause much damage.”
Like Hutton, Weihmayr thinks the mercury concerns boil down to proper disposal.
“The problem that we have in Ontario is not what happens to one person breaking a bulb. It’s when 30 million lamps are thrown into landfill. We are contaminating rivers and the fish that we eat,” he said.
“We collect newspapers, tin cans and glass bottles for a week. There is no reason we can’t do the same with light bulbs. Once we adopt and understand recycling as a way of life, there would be no problem.”
Weihmayr added that 98 per cent of one CFL is recycled when the bulb is taken to a depot.
“The lamps are transported to a recycling facility where they are crushed in a machine that is in a special, contained area. The aluminum ends are recycled. The glass is ground up finely and used as bunker sand for golf courses and an additive for paint and bricks,” he said.
“The phosphorus and mercury are collected separately, captured and resold to manufacturers, and can still be used for certain things. The mercury’s not entering our waterways.”
But it’s not the mercury content of CFLs that has Vince Trudell worried.
“Mercury is one thing. Radioactivity that comes off the bulbs is another. Some people can feel it – this has been reported in many cases,” he said.
“I can feel it when I’m close to a bulb; you just feel energy coming off them. The energy they emit is not good for us.”
Trudell, who owns and operates De Dell Seeds in London, said he is stocking up on incandescent light bulbs before retailers take them off the market in January.
“There should be concern – people writing about this and researching. Just because the government pushes something up our laneways, it doesn’t mean it is good for us,” he added.
While Weihmayr noted that research of CFLs has yielded no empirical evidence to suggest any danger of radiation, he said some people still report a sensation in the presence of fluorescent bulbs.
“They may feel that way when there is a certain frequency, but you would have to sit in a room full of bulbs for months on end to get the same level of radiation as from the sun.”
Environmental concerns aside, David Tuckey of Tuckey Home Hardware thinks more people will start stocking up on incandescent light bulbs.
 |
| Photo by Adela Talbot |
| CFL recycling bins can be found at local hardware stores. |
“A lot of people don’t like the look of them, and some are burning out prematurely – earlier than (expected),” he said.
Tyler Bryant, an energy policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation, said the benefits of CFLs shouldn’t be overlooked.
“The long and short of it is that CFLs will lead to lower energy consumption and a reduction in greenhouse gasses.”
He stressed the importance of recycling CFLs once they burn out and added that in an ideal situation, citywide recycling programs would make this easier.
“Putting the recycling onus on manufacturers is not too realistic. The cities should be responsible for disposing of them properly,” Bryant said.
“Right now, it is important to communicate to people where they can drop off CFL bulbs and, for now, it’s good to have the retailers dispose of them.”
David Cronin, who had no problems cleaning up a broken CFL in his living room, puts burnt out bulbs in a plastic bag and stores them in a safe spot.
Cronin takes them with him to work at 3M Canada where there is a hazardous waste recycling collection twice a year.
He said CFLs really do save him money because they last longer and use less electricity.
“It’s not the same as when you replace a fridge, but the difference is noticeable.”
