California Diverting Fluorescent Bulbs From Landfills

California Diverting Fluorescent Bulbs From Landfills

November 2007 
 The California 
Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to keep millions of compact 
fluorescent bulbs out of landfills because they contain small amounts of 
mercury. 
The state agency is working in collaboration with the U.S. EPA under the 
National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program, NPEP. 
Cal/EPA, the first state agency to join the partnership program, would 
like to help lead the nation in continued efforts to remove mercury from 
the environment. 
The state aims to divert approximately 4.5 million compact fluorescent 
light bulbs from landfills in one year. 


"Reducing the impact of mercury on human health and the ecosystem is a 
priority for the EPA," said Wayne Nastri, administrator for the EPA’s 
Pacific Southwest region. "We are very pleased to have our state partner 
Cal/EPA join this program and set an innovative example for other states 
throughout the country." 
"The problem with the bulbs is that they'll break before they get to the 
landfill," says John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste 
Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle 
trash and recycling. 
"They'll break in containers, or they'll break in a dumpster or they'll 
break in the trucks," Skinner told NPR. "Workers may be exposed to very 
high levels of mercury when that happens." 
Because mercury is so persistent in the environment, and so toxic at such 
minute quantities, the EPA launched the NPEP Mercury Challenge in 2004 to 
focus on the elimination of mercury. 
"We already are working hard to reduce mercury through our Take-It-Back 
program, and by combining those efforts with NPEP, we hope to achieve even 
greater reductions," said California Secretary for Environmental 
Protection Linda Adams. 
Cal/EPA has committed to reducing mercury through its own California 
Take-It-Back Partnership, a collaboration of government, private business, 
and non-profit organizations that provides free, local and convenient ways 
for California residents to recycle everyday household wastes such as 
batteries, fluorescent lamps and cell phones. 
Since the beginning of 2007, about nine million fluorescent bulbs have 
been purchased in California, preventing the release of 1.5 billion pounds 
of carbon dioxide compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.
While these bulbs are extremely energy efficient, they each contain trace 
amounts of mercury. The partnership helps keep mercury, a neurotoxin that 
can cause kidney and brain damage, out of the environment. 
When the time comes to replace a compact fluorescent bulb, seal the old 
bulb in a plastic bag and take it to the nearest Household Hazardous Waste 
Disposal Site - see Earth 911 to find the site nearest you. 
NPEP, a voluntary federal program, aims to reduce the use or release of 
four million pounds of toxic chemicals in the United States by 2011. 

---


More Aging Earth Headlines >> 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - Aging Earth Home

AGING EARTH HOME

---

© 2009; Aging Earth .com
Powered by WorldsLargestNetwork.com