Did you know they have mercury in them??

No, I didn't know they have mercury in them and I think they should warn consumers about it. Mercury is extremely poisonous and can kill. There should be a warning label somewhere. And disposing of them can be very tricky too. They should be classified as contaminants and must not use them if there's mercury in them. You can't just get rid of mercury, it has to be dispose of properly.

My husband is wanting to get those bulbs but we haven't so far. I didn't know they had mercury in them. I know they said they would lower cost of electric using them but not all sure. I also guess it all depends on the electrical wiring one has to depend on the longevity of the bulb. Ours blows bulbs every few months so that is another reason we are waiting cause it wouldn't be worth it if we still had to pay more but still buy as many bulbs. I guess that is what happens with older model homes.

I have never owned any of those before. I was always wandering if they really do last that long and if they actually cut down on your electrisity bill also. I hate to hear that they do not last that long at all. I think they should tell us on the lable how to dispose of them. I hope you find the information.

I don't know how environmentally friendly they are, but you are right they generally don't last 5 years. Maybe if they're in a lamp you only turn on for five minutes once a week. lol

Yeah, I did know that. My husband uses them at work, and he says if they break he has to call the Hazmat team. He still likes using them though.

That is the big issue with the new energy efficient light bulbs that they are making. Because they are florescent bulbs, they need a small amount of mercury in them to produce white light. However, the environmental impact from the small amount of mercury present in each bulb is seen by the scientific community as less of a threat than the increase in energy used by the older bulbs.

You also have to be careful to take them out of the sockets and I am slightly clumsy. Luckily mine still work, but one time our hall way light was out and I was pretty scared, but my friend told me to try the light switch again. Now I have them in our lamp, and also in the kitchen ceiling light since I do not like to get on a ladder and change the bulb (I have vertigo and am scared of heights), but I have no idea where to dispose of them. I just put them in the garbage.

I've thought the same thing about it. Makes no sense other than that you use less energy. Disposal sux. And you know what we got some years back from a dollar store those lasted longer than the brand name replacements... some of the replacements even peetered out in under a year!

You can do a search for places to return materials at the following website: http://earth911.com/http://earth911.com/

That would be a good point? What's the point of eco-friendly bulbs if everyone disposes of them illegally in the land fill? Ok.. this is what I've turned up. Sometimes you can return them to stores where you buy them. (There might be a fee to recycle.) Some municipalities also have hazardous waste disposal days. (Check with your local government.)

thats a good qution i don't know they never say how to get rid of them they just say it would last 5 years and thats it.

Disposal is very hard. In fact 90% of the landfill's wont take them. So you may be stuck with the thing. If that's the case just stick it inside of a paper bag and trash it. That's what I told my mom to do. It's not like you want to keep them for 50 year's. The closest landfill to us that will take it is in Florida. Well I am not spending $200 in gas or more to throw a dang bulb away along with a round trip of 48 hour's driving. So, my advice is paper bag it and just chuck it in the regular trash. There also is enough Mercury inside of one of the bulb's to poison you so be careful, and do not put them in kid's room's. Because if one get's broken it will not be good.

As i know that there's alot of things around us which have mercury content. For example, in our mobile phone and the battery. Actually there's more than such simple things. I hope that the greenpeace will campaign more and more about the mercury dangerous to human life and living environment. Nowadays there's alot of products on market that claim they are eco-friendly. I don't thing people will respect on that claims until there's an international certification association which specialize in giving eco-friendly label. I think it will more helpful and the manufacturer will have full responsibility on their product with that international label. Happy mylotting.