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Beware of these bulbs
• LOW-wattage light bulbs are heralded as environmentally friendly and saving money on your bills. Cheaper to run they may well be, but environmentally friendly they most certainly are not.
It’s not just the disposal of them that’s a problem, actually using them is causing problems.
Doctors are reporting that patients are complaining about skin abnormalities such as inflammation, itching, burning, kidney problems and insomnia, caused by the ultra violet light they give out. They fear they can cause eczema, red rashes, migraine and epilepsy. Quite a list!
Each bulb contains about 5mg of mercury powder, which makes them very toxic indeed. So disposing of them safely is paramount.
What does the government recommend? It says that if you break one in your home, you must open doors and windows and vacate the room for 15 minutes.
Put on rubber gloves, and carefully sweep up all the glass and debris, taking care not to create too much dust and place it in a plastic bag.
Clean the area with a damp cloth, put the cloth into the plastic bag and seal it. Do not use a vacuum cleaner. Take the sealed bag to a recycling centre, or back to the shop where you purchased the bulb.
Which raises a few questions. How many of us know where a recycling centre is situated? Will the shop you take it to require proof of purchase? Will the shop you take it to chuck it straight into one of its own skips?
And that’s another problem. There is no recommendation, so far as I can ascertain, for disposing of bulbs that have ceased to function. If you chuck them into the rubbish they will end up in a landfill site where they will probably get broken in the rolling process.
What happens to the mercury? Exposed to the elements, it will render the site extremely toxic and dangerous. Eventually, it will get washed into the water table and poison our water.
Alarmingly, only about 25 per cent of councils know about these government recommendations, but to be fair they are pretty vague considering the gravity of the situation.
FRED GOODCHILD
Islington Pensioners Forum
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