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Mercury My…Oh My As a part of the plea agreement resulting from my last article, I have been required to make the following statement. “The views presented by Bart in no way, shape or form reflect the views or policies of Oneida County, this fine publication, WDNR or anybody else. Reader discretion is advised.” So, now that we have the legal niceties taken care of, on to business! Two years ago, I felt pretty certain that the majority of people would not accept the concept of global warming. Nowadays a day does not go by without hearing about it several times whether on the news, in the papers or magazines and now even commercials! One way that we can all reduce our carbon footprint is by switching from incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs take nearly 70% less energy to produce the same light output and last longer than incandescent bulbs. So we not only reduce our electricity consumption (and remember, production of electricity in the first place is only about 40% efficient at best!) but also reduce the amount of raw materials, manufacturing and packaging. All of these further reduce the carbon footprint of lighting and SAVE you $10 or more over the life of the bulb!. But there is a possible downside to fluorescent bulbs and that is mercury. Small amounts of mercury are present in all fluorescent bulbs. Mercury is a heavy metal that is a cumulative poison in people. That is, our bodies tend to not want to give it up, and thus mercury levels tend to increase over time. Mercury can cause all sorts of problems, particularly on a person’s nervous system. Symptoms typically include sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination. Ooy! Maybe that’s my problem! Reducing our electricity use, largely derived from burning coal, also reduces mercury emissions since burning coal is the greatest source of man made mercury being released into the environment. However, if we break our fluorescent bulbs, or put them in the garbage, where they will break, we ultimately release mercury into the atmosphere. Kind of one step forward and two steps back! So what to do with your old fluorescent bulbs? Regular fluorescents can be recycled at the Oneida County Solid Waste site or at any of our mobile hazardous waste collections,held in June in Minocqua, July in western Vilas County (usually Lac du Flambeau) and August in Eagle River. The cost to recycle fluorescents is 50 cents per bulb. Your still saving a net of $ 9.50 per bulb compared to incandescents! Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy is sponsoring a free recycling program for compact fluorescent bulbs from residential users. Locally, this program is being done at Lakeland Tru Value in Rhinelander and the Ace Hardware Stores in Woodruff and Eagle River. Just bring in your old COMPACT fluorescents to any of these establishments and they will recycle them for free. Two other common mercury sources around the house are old mercury switch thermostats and mercury containing thermometers. We accept these at the Oneida County Solid Waste site as well. Thermostats are accepted for free as a part of a manufacturer program and thermometers for 50 cents to $1. So there ya’ go. A couple simple ways to reduce mercury pollution in the environment and a half of them are FREE! Hey, a couple of these views might just be the policy of Oneida County, WDNR, Wisconsin Focus on Energy and probably a couple other entities… but I DIDN’T say that! |
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PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
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