CFL recycling is here

We talked about green noise yesterday, and I appreciate everyone's great thoughts on the matter. I like the idea of thinking about being green like a diet: do what you can, but don't go crazy if you're not perfect because none of us are.

One thing that has always seemed a simple enough step to being green is going with CFLs, those compact flourescent light bulbs that are everywhere, including Wal-Mart. It's something everyone picked up on pretty easily and was a simple enough concept to understand: it uses way less energy to produce a similar amount of light to regular bulbs and last a whole lot longer. Plus, there are plenty of stats out there to tell us just how much energy CFLs save.

But then came the whole MERCURY!! and what to do with them when they do eventually die thing. I've asked everyone I know that's in the know about being green on how you dispose of CFLs. The answer was easy enough, find a company that properly disposes of them or take them to the hazmat drop off day. Except that hazmat day is like a once-a-year holiday where I live and after hours of Googling CFL recycling, all I found was one company that handles the process on more of a commercial level.

UNTIL NOW.

I about had a hernia yesterday when Budget Ecoist told me that as of Tuesday, all Home Depots would accept unbroken spent CFLs to recycle. Now I can hand over the spent bulbs I've accumulated so far and have been just hanging on to until further notice.

This is cause for celebration. Now no one has a reason NOT to use CFLs as their light bulb of choice. Please thank your local HD, perhaps by buying your CFLs there.