CFLs With Mercury Are Dangerous When Broken

By Patricia Jordan

A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is a fluorescent lamp that is designed to replace an incandescent lamp. CFLs contain mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing. Because mercury is poisonous, disposal of used CLFs is not permitted in landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps can be released and contribute to air and water pollution.

Many jurisdictions in the United States now require spent lamps to be properly disposed of or recycled rather than being discarded in landfills. It is unlawful to dispose of fluorescent bulbs in several states.







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Are Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs Dangerous?
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs contain a minuscule amount of mercury, and you can't safely ignore potential contact with it
By John Matson
April 10, 2008

Lightbulbs break all the time. So why would a single broken bulb in a Maine household trigger the state's Department of Environmental Protection to refer the homeowner to a decontaminator?

The answer lies in the type of bulb that broke—a compact fluorescent lightbulb—and what was inside that bulb. Compact fluorescents, like their tubular fluorescent precursors, contain a small amount of mercury—typically around five milligrams. Mercury is essential to a fluorescent bulb's ability to emit light; no other element has proved as efficient.

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