• Jaysyn
    2•6 months ago

    Not in my area, I have to take them to Lowes or Home Depot.

    • guyrocket
      1•6 months ago

      Second this.

      CF bulbs have some mercury in them and need to be disposed of properly. DO NOT put these in the trash!

      I took mine to the collection box in the customer service / returns area at home despot.

      ETA: I think I am now rid of all the compact florescent bulbs in my house. LEDs are now cheap enough that I’ll get rid of good CFs for the energy savings.

      • MxM111
        1•6 months ago

        I guarantee that more than half of the households just through it into trash.

        • ares35
          1•6 months ago

          in my state they encourage recycling where it is available, but if the CFLs come from a household they can be chucked in the regular trash. where i live it would require a 100 mile round-trip to a big block store that accepts them or pay per bulb at a local annual e-waste recycling drive.

            • MxM111
              1•6 months ago

              The solution that people should voluntarily reticle these lamps does not work and will never work. The other solution should be found. Wither sort the garbage, or make sure that the bulbs do not contain poisonous material.

      • AWizard_ATrueStar
        1•6 months ago

        Only problem I have had with LED lights is they stop working after maybe 6 months whereas the CF bulbs would go for years. I have CF bulbs in fixtures that have been working since before I got my first LED installed. What has your experience been? What brand of bulb are you using? I am willing to pay more for a bulb that will last.

        • guyrocket
          1•6 months ago

          What has your experience been? What brand of bulb are you using?

          Happy to answer your questions.
          Most of my LEDs were purchased at Costco for dirt cheap prices. Like $1 USD for a 4 pack. They occasionally have special deals where the utility company subsidizes the price so they are ungodly cheap. I’ve mostly stopped looking for bulbs because I have a houseful now. Costco also reduces your risk with their easy returns.
          The brand is Feit electric which seems to be a common bulb brand around here. Nothing special as far as I can tell.
          And I cannot recall an LED bulb failing. My CFs were also not generally failing. You might call an electrician to see what they might suggest. I suppose there are power supply situations that are unfriendly to LEDs.
          The last LEDs I bought are Feit electric Item 1715918. These are 100 watt replacement LEDs with a switch on them to choose the color (temperature) of light between soft white (2700K), bright white (3000K), cool white (4000K), daylight (5000K) and cool daylight (6500K). Seems like a great idea to let you choose your color. I prefer daylight over the harsher whites.

          cobra89 mentions Philips brand and I have heard they sell some of the best bulbs. I don’t think I have any but I may eventually get some for specific applications.

          Tangential, but here’s an interesting video about dim-able LEDs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbvVnOxb1AI

    • Drusas
      1•6 months ago

      I didn’t know that Lowe’s and Home Depot accept these for disposal. Useful info.

  • @psychothumbs@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1•6 months ago

    Yeah just go ahead and put them in the metal / glass / plastic recycling, they will figure it out on that end with all the others that get thrown in there.

    • CrimeDadOPAEnglish
      1•6 months ago

      Makes sense to me. They aren’t really just trusting everyone to have already sorted their recycling perfectly, right?

  • @gibmiser@lemmy.world
    2•6 months ago

    Those weird bulbs are called compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs. They are energy-efficient light bulbs that contain a small amount of mercury, which is toxic to humans and the environment. they should never be thrown away in the household trash.

    Your local dump or transfer station will (usually) have an attendant who knows how they deal with them.

  • @reddig33@lemmy.world
    2•6 months ago

    Some Home Depot and Lowes locations take these for recycling if you live in the US. Ask about it at the customer service counter.

  • m-p{3}
    2•6 months ago

    Some cities are now using a service from ReCollect that let you figure out how to dispose of most materials, you could look on your smartphone if there’s literally an app for it.

    It even comes with your waste/commpost/recycling collection schedule, reminders, etc.

    That kind of hazardous material such as CFL lightbulb will likely require special handling, so for that kind of stuff I keep a box for those items I can easily dispose of, that I’ll bring to my local ecocenter when it’s full.

    • CrimeDadOPAEnglish
      2•6 months ago

      Every home has the miscellaneous hazmat box.