Forest Grove Live

Not sure who this guy is, but I did have a need to recycle some fluorescent bulbs today.  Naturally, all 4 in the laundry room looked shot, so I zipped on over to Home Depot and picked up a few packs.  (sorry Ace/ BiMart – I had to go out that way anyway)

A few hours later, as my laundry room lit up like Qwest Field again, I now faced the problem of what to do with the old tubes.  My natural reaction – toss them in the can, and then toss something on top so they all shatter.  But no – that would not be – well – green like now would it? Let’s see if we can recycle.

My first internet search turned up this wonderful factoid – you can recycle fluorescent tubes at – wait for it – HOME DEPOT!  Now why didn’t I look this up BEFORE I bought the new ones?  Sheesh, back to Home Depot again.  And then I thought – wait a minute – am I really helping the environment, by using even more gas and oil – just to go back to Home Depot – again – just to recycle these silly things?  There’s got to be another way.

There was.  And it was just a phone call away.  Our own Forest Grove Waste Management.  The nice lady behind the phone informed me they DO take fluorescent bulbs.  There’s just a bit of work to get them ready.

1. Do NOT break the bulbs.  They contain mercury, and the glass can be hazardous to our garbage men.
2. If your new bulbs came totally encased in a cardboard package, simply put your old bulbs back in this package and set it out next to your bin on trash day.
3. Do NOT put the bulbs IN your bin.  But rather lay them on the curb beside it.
4. If your new bulbs did NOT come in a cardboard box, but cellophane (like mine), then simply wrap the bulbs in newspaper.  Tape it all shut and then sit it out on trash day.  Either way, use a permanent marker and label the package FLUORESCENT BULBS so the guys know what they are handling.
5. That’s it.  No fuss really.  And no extra trips back to Home Depot either.

Thank you Waste Management !

So if you did not know you could recycle fluorescent bulbs – now you do.  It may not seem like much, but a whole lot of little things (like this) do add up to make our environment a safer place to live.  Resuse.  Reduce.  Recycle.

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