Thursday, July 24, 2008

CFLs, Good For The Environment, But Bad For Your Health

Could this light bulb be the cause of your demise?

You know those people who go around the dorms asking you to change your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs?

Well, those CFLs are not all they are cracked up to be. CFLs contain mercury and are hazardous to your health if one is broken. Having lived in a dorm where 2 light bulbs were broken during the course of the year, I feel this is appropriate. Here are the EPA guidelines as to what you should do if you break a CFL.

Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room

  • Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
  • Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
  • Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces

  • Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
  • Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
  • Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
  • Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug

  • Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
  • Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
  • If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
  • Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding and Other Soft Materials

  • If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
  • You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
  • If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials

  • Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
  • Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
  • Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming

  • The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
  • Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

So if a student breaks a CFL in a dorm that has central heating and air conditioning (such as Marks, Benson, Stark, Fawcett, Auen, or Claremont Hall), somehow the student is supposed to get the central heating and air conditioning turned off, leave dorm room for 15 minutes, return later and clean up the mess, place glass and other materials in a glass jar, and dispose of it according to state and local laws. Not only that, but the next several times that room is vacuumed, the central heating and air conditioning needs to be turned off and a window opened, plus the air conditioning needs to be kept off at least 15 minutes after the vacuuming is completed.

But we don't have to worry about broken light bulbs because students don't drink and accidentally break things...

10 comments:

cmc alum said...

Whats the point, Sam?

Just to put things in perspective, those facts are actually true of all fluorescent bulbs, which if I remember correctly, are in every dorm room and hallway. And I've been in a room where one has come down and shattered. I imagine a little CFL would be a lot less of a mess to deal with than your standard overhead dorm light.

Anonymous said...

I don't trust the EPA because it is part of the Government and therefore full of liberals. Then again, because global warming is a liberal hoax designed to take our hard-earned money away and give it to lazy poor people, why would I buy CFLs anyway?

Charles Johnson said...

Who said anything about buy? We're coerced into replacing our old bulbs with those new ones.

Anonymous said...

The liberals in government can't force you to buy CFLs. This is America. This is why Bob Barr needs to be elected. He would never make us use CFLs.

Why would you post something from the EPA, btw? You know that anything coming from it is going to be full of liberal, junk science. I don't trust them.

Charles Johnson said...

No one is saying in govt. We are talking about the kids who came around and tried to coerce switching light bulbs by going door to door.

As for Bob Barr, I'd vote for him in a heart beat if it weren't a vote for Obama. I'm going to hold my nose and vote for McCain.

Anonymous said...

You're in liberal California anyway. Why don't you vote your conscience and vote for a real American hero like Bob Barr? Your vote won't count anyway, because of all the brainwashed San Francisco-types who vote straight-ticket liberal.

Anonymous said...

That's exactly what it is: coercion. When they come to my dorm room and try to get me to change the bulbs, it makes me feel downright uncomfortable. I mean, I'm not pushing my politics on them; why should they push their politics on me? All in the name of "the environment." What a load of garbage. If the the state of the environment were really important, there would be a market-driven solution. But it's not, so there's not. Resist intimidation! Just say no!

Anonymous said...

Oh noes! Somebody came to my door and talked to me! Do you morons even understand the meaning of "coercion"? You're making the exact same argument that dumbassed liberals make when they say "your speech makes me uncomfortable, you should be censored."

If you can't handle somebody asking you about switching your lightbulbs, you don't deserve to be in college.

Sam Corcos said...

I have had students come to my door and ask me to vote for Obama, change my lightbulbs and be a part of some kind of climate challenge (I think thats what it was called). Not to mention the emails that Gann sends out about how CMC students should be more conscious of the the environment and how we should work to reduce our carbon emissions. When was the last time you had a conservative student come to your door and ask you to do something along those lines? I haven't had any.

Daniel O'Toole said...

The funny thing is, the main guy posting on here actually thinks he's clever.