Why do low-energy light bulbs need to be recycled?

Date: 15/4/2011

More and more of you lovely people are now using low energy light bulbs like me – in fact most households now have at least one and some of you may have little Berties all over the place. What you may not know is that low-energy light bulbs, which are also known as energy-saving light bulbs or Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), contain a small amount of mercury. It’s the mercury that gives them their long life. Low-energy light bulbs usually last over six times as long as traditional incandescent light bulbs, and use a quarter of the power. More importantly we save you energy and reduce your electricity costs.

 

The amount of mercury is very small, less than 4mg per bulb which isn’t harmful to humans, but it does mean that like lots of other things in your house (the fridge or washing machine for example), it’s best not to send old bulbs to a landfill site or tip because lots of mercury in one place would be bad for the environment.

 

There is a lot of information on low-energy light bulbs on the Recolight website – your questions answered is a good place to start or post your question here and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.

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