What do you do with used or broken light bulbs? If you’re like most people, you throw them away and forget about it.
But sending light bulbs to the landfill – especially fluorescent or compact-fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs – can be dangerous for the environment.
That’s because fluorescent lights, CFLs, and other types of modern-day bulbs – like the high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs used in car headlights and flashlights – contain small amounts of mercury, a highly toxic substance that poses serious environmental threats to wildlife, water systems and humans when released into the air.