How to Recycle Light Bulbs!

When it comes to trying to be environmentally friendly, recycling should be an easy start for most people. Light bulbs, however, make things a bit more tricky.

Not only does recycling take an effort, but you have to be aware of what you can and can NOT recycle. Each bulb, whether it be an incandescent, halogen, CFL, LED, or fluorescent, needs to be disposed of differently, so here’s what you need to pay attention to!

How Do I Dispose of My Bulb?

Type of Bulb

Can recycle

Can throw away

Incandescent

Not common

YES

Halogen

Not common

YES

CFL

YES

NO

LED

YES

YES

Fluorescent

YES

NO

** IMPORTANT: Though some of these bulbs can be thrown away in your garbage, make sure that you wrap them in a plastic bag and place them in a box. This will help you avoid breaking the glass and causing injury! **

Why Are CFL and Fluorescent Bulbs So Bad?

Though many people don’t know where to recycle light bulbs, it is beneficial to do so overall. In 19 states, including AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, IL, LA, MA, ME, MN, MO, NE, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT, WA, and WI, it is illegal for you NOT to recycle fluorescent light bulbs and CFL bulbs. 

Fluorescent and CFL light bulbs contain mercury, which could cause developmental problems in unborn children if not disposed of correctly. Not only this, but mercury can have an effect on adults by causing muscle weakness, speech and vision impairment, lack of coordination, and even death.

Where Do I Recycle Light Bulbs?

There are different stores that will take your light bulbs, including incandescent, fluorescent light fixtures, and LEDs, if you can not put them in your normal recycling. Some of the stores you can go to include:

Store:

Products Recycled:

IKEA

  • Light Bulbs
  • Batteries

Ace Hardware

  • Light Bulbs
  • Batteries

Home Depot

  • Light Bulbs
  • Batteries
  • Plastic Bags

Batteries Plus

  • Light Bulbs
  • Tubes
  • Lamps
  • Ballasts

Some stores even have bins when you walk in to the store to recycle, but they don’t always accept light bulbs in the containers. If you cannot get to one of these stores, or if the closest one to you does not offer these services above, you can also send in your bulbs online to be recycled.

Check online for mail-in programs and look up if your town has a specified drop off or recycling location for you to go to. 

Reuse Light Bulbs!

Painted Light Bulbs

If you don’t want to try and recycle your light bulbs, there is still a way for you to keep them out of harms way. You can create cardboard arts and craft projects to do at home and make light bulbs into something interesting and new!

Not all light bulbs would work for some projects, and some should not be broken (CFL and fluorescent bulbs), but it could be a fun activity to keep light bulbs out of harms way.

You can create things like plant holders, salt and pepper shakers, ornaments, or really anything that you want my putting things inside! You can also paint them to look like air balloons or break them to create abstract art. There are so many options for making fun projects from light bulbs!

Recommended Reading

Recycling worksite scraps in an appropriate way can help keep waste out of landfills and help protect the environment. See how to recycle with this guide to jobsite recycling!

Recycling helps benefit the environment by reusing plastics. Check out this helpful guide to discover which types of plastics to recycle!

To combat plastic waste in Ghana, one creative network engineer discovered a way to turn discarded plastic bags into blocks. See how these visionaries take plastic bags and turn them into something useful instead of them heading to a landfill.

As recycling and upcycling become more common practices, many companies in the Atlanta area excel at it. See how these companies work to recycle and upcycle and benefit the environment and communities around them.

Danielle Abram
Danielle Abram

Danielle is a classic wordsmith and unapologetic user of the Oxford comma. Her experience includes blog posts, technical copy, social media copy, email marketing, product descriptions, scripts, and so much more. In other words, there's no limit to what she can write about!

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