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How to Recycle Light Bulbs

How to Recycle Light Bulbs

Updated 27 April 2018 04:30 PM

Household light bulbs are usually incandescent, LED (light emitting diode) or CFL (compact fluorescent lamps). 

Incandescent light bulbs are pretty much being phased out. They cannot be recycled and should be wrapped in newspaper and disposed of in your household waste bin.

LED lights are the most efficient and environmentally friendly lights you can use, but until now recycling them has been an issue.  

CFLs contain about 4mg of mercury, which is poisonous, but recovered during recycling. In an environmental contradiction, mercury is the element which is essential to achieving energy savings in CFLs.

There are a number of places who will now take your light globes like Mitre 10 and Ikea. Simply put your location into the FIND A RECYCLER box on the right, choose your materials and you will get a bunch of drop off options close to you.

All light bulbs are generally recycleable at your local transfer station. 



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Science Notes
LED lights are by far the cheapest lights to run, at about half a CFL and one tenth the cost of an incandescent. They don’t contain mercury (although they contain nickel and the red ones contain lead and arsenic). LEDs emit half the CO2 of a CFL, have a life span of 50,000 hours compared to 8,000 CFL hours). 

CFLs contain about 4 milligrams of mercury (Hg) - about the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. To put that into perspective, those old fashioned thermometers contain about 500 milligrams of mercury.

The mercury in CFL bulbs can be harmful if appropriate disposal is not undertaken. Mercury, glass, aluminium and phosphor powder can all be recycled from light bulbs.

Related Tip
Handle bulbs carefully, especially if broken. Open a nearby window during cleanup. Place pieces in a sealed bag or wrap in newspaper before putting in the bin.

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