Your light bulb has already burned out and you are wondering how to properly dispose of it? In the following article, we will clearly describe how to handle particular light sources and we will add advice, what to do when a fluorescent light breaks.
Throw standard and halogen bulbs in a garbage bin
At our online store you can find a wide selection of light sources – standard light bulbs, halogen bulbs, energy-saving bulbs and LED bulbs – and to the price of the bulb has already been added the recycling fee. However, that doesn’t mean, that you shouldn’t care about how to dispose of the bulbs, as some types of bulbs should be thrown away in special waste containers. So how to do it right?
Disposing of standard, reflector and halogen bulbs is very easy because you can simply throw these bulbs in mixed waste, which means in your garbage bins or in public waste containers.
Bring fluorescent lights and LED bulbs to collection points or - electronics stores
With other types of light sources you have to be careful. What that means is that vacuum tubes, LED bulbs, linear fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent tubes and energy-saving bulbs have to be handed in collection points within a take-back process – in other words for recycling. The reason for this is because LED bulbs contain electronic parts and fluorescent tubes contain a small amount of mercury (roughly 3-5 mg). And mercury, as it is known, is a toxic substance, which at a higher concentration can damage the environment as well as harm human health. Apart from protecting the environment another reason to recycle is reusing materials, which saves the natural resources of raw materials.
Thus, don't throw away discarded energy-saving light sources in standard waste bins, but either return them in an electronics store when buying new bulbs or hand them in a collection point.
Advice when breaking a fluorescent tube
As mentioned above, linear and compact fluorescent tubes contain a small amount of mercury, so if a fluorescent tube breaks, we recommend following these guidelines:
- avoid contact with parts of a fluorescent tube
- ventilate the room and try not to breathe in released fumes
- collect all parts of a fluorescent tube using cardboard or another tool, which you will dispose of along with a fluorescent tube
- put all parts of a fluorescent tube in airtight packaging and hand it in a collection point.
