How to recycle Energy saving light globes?

[King]

Hello to everyone,
im an electrician from germany so please sorry if my english is not correct...

My question is what to do with the energy saving light globes, how to recycle?

Thanks for your help.

[murdock]

you can take them to your local builders express if they have a recycle bin for this type of lamp or if you take them to your local electrical wholesaler they sometimes have a special bin...by the way for those who dont know...thowing them into the bin so they break is not the idea...they should only be broken once put into a special vessel.

[AndyD]

Hi King, welcome to TFSA.

Most people I know just throw them in the trash. It's a trade off, either dump carbon into the atmosphere by driving to a special collection point of put trace amounts of mercury into the ground when they end up at the local land-fill if you throw them in the trash. With the price of petrol and lack of time it's an easy decision for most.

[King]

That what im scared of, that people throw it in the trash...
it should be recycled, so the "green" energy savers actually not good for the nature!

[Dave A]

It's a trade off, either dump carbon into the atmosphere by driving to a special collection point of put trace amounts of mercury into the ground when they end up at the local land-fill if you throw them in the trash.

Makes you wonder what the carbon footprint would add up to compared to the "energy inefficient" incandescent light bulb if we all did the right thing

[AndyD]

That what im scared of, that people throw it in the trash...
it should be recycled, so the "green" energy savers actually not good for the nature!

You're right, they're not good for the environment but neither is burning fossil fuels whilst driving to a recycling depot.

It's business politics. The ideal solution would be to remove built-in obsolescence from all consumer products. Energy saving lamps are designed to last a certain length of time. This lifespan is carefully calculated by the manufacturers along with their pricing points. They don't want it to fail under warranty but they certainly don't want it to last ten years either because this would have a negative effect on sales volumes. In the last two/three decades products from the far East have amplified this issue, the product price has dropped to the end user by 50% perhaps but the product lifespan has dropped by 70% in some items. Allowing the manufacturers to decide the lifespan of products has a massive cost to the environment. As long as consumers have a 'cheapest price' mentality when purchasing the only way around this I can see is with legislation.

[Dave A]

As long as consumers have a 'cheapest price' mentality when purchasing the only way around this I can see is with legislation.

Can I suggest that legislation should always be a last resort when it comes to prescriptive issues. Legislation should prevent harmful conduct, not enforce best practice. The moment you go beyond "bare minimum standards", the unintended consequences count starts climbing and most often you only end up placing the diligent at a disadvantage to the unscrupulous.

I've been a firm believer for some years now that before you resort to legislation, one should give education a really good crack first if you want to adjust social norms.

[Justloadit]

Dave, can not agree with you more on legislation. The more legislation gets implemented, the slower systems seem to move, its like a growing iceberg, and we are the Titanic, it can only go one way, yes there will be a few survivors, but the ship goes down.

[murdock]

the problem seems to be education....a lack of it and sliding.

it seems the educated people have left the buildings....at least some have realised this and are advertising to try encourage some to go bac.

one of my gripes at the moment...are the fully rigged brilliant training centres (appy schools) which are sitting empty with all the facilities just the lecturers missing....hello we are talking goverment facilities...its not like they have to spend money buying buildings and equipment....its all there...maybe thats where i am missing the boat....its not about the facilities...its about the kickback for the new building... tender... etc which some family member would miss out on...and this is just how i see it watch it going on everyday on the news.

[AndyD]

Can I suggest that legislation should always be a last resort when it comes to prescriptive issues. Legislation should prevent harmful conduct, not enforce best practice. The moment you go beyond "bare minimum standards", the unintended consequences count starts climbing and most often you only end up placing the diligent at a disadvantage to the unscrupulous.

I've been a firm believer for some years now that before you resort to legislation, one should give education a really good crack first if you want to adjust social norms.

How would you propose to educate customers to buy longer lasting products if they cost double the price? How would you educate manufacturers to built longevity into their products at the cost of sales volumes? This problem has been around for decades and the only thing that's going to have an effect on the status quo is when the raw materials get scarcer but then it's too late.