Tag Archives: Huffington Post

Recycle or mutate!

Kate Kelly’s very informative Huffington Post piece about compact flourescent light bulbs tells us this:

In 2008 industry experts reported that only 2 percent of all CFL bulbs were being recycled.

Fluorescent bulbs that are not recycled go into the trash that then gets dumped into a local landfill. As rain comes down on the landfill, mercury from thousands of CFLs seeps into the local water supply, which then exposes both animals and humans to more mercury in the environment.

What are the implications of this?  Govi Rao, the chairman of Lighting Sciences Group, explains:

“If everyone recycled, fluorescent lights would be all right, but it took people 25 years to become accustomed to recycling paper. Why do we think people will start recycling bulbs more quickly?  Short-term, the CFL bulbs save energy, but long-term — without recycling — we cause mutation of the human race by poisoning our environment with mercury.”

If you use dangerous compact fluorescent light bulbs, you have three choices: recycle, mutate, or send your light bulbs to Washington!



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