Need to Give Your Light Bulb the Flick?

Do you want to dispose of your old energy-saver light bulbs safely?

Stores around Taranaki are taking part in a recycling scheme that will prevent these bulbs and their mercury component from reaching Taranaki landfills.

“There are stores in New Plymouth, Stratford and Hawera that will take people’s old energy-saving bulbs for recycling – just keep an eye out for the recycling boxes when you next do your shopping,” says Taranaki Regional Councillor Neil Walker, Chair of the Regional Solid Wastes Working Party which is made up of representatives from the region’s four councils.

“This free recycling service through these stores is a great example of how businesses and the councils can work with the community to benefit the environment,” he says.

The stores recycling the energy-saver bulbs – also called compact fluorescents, CFLs or eco-bulbs – are:

• Mitre 10 Mega New Plymouth.
• Mitre 10 Stratford.
• Mitre 10 Hawera.
• Bunnings New Plymouth.
• Bunnings Hawera.
• New World Courtenay Street.

The recycling is run by Interwaste, which sends the bulbs to Australia to have the mercury recovered and other metals and glass recycled.

In New Zealand mercury-containing lamps are considered a hazardous waste when the concentration of mercury exceeds 0.2mg. “Energy-saver bulbs contain between 0.3mg and 5mg of mercury, so it’s important that we keep this mercury out of our landfills and instead have it safely recycled,” says NPDC Manager Environmental Strategy and Policy Colin Comber.

Mercury is released only when the bulbs are broken, not when they are operating normally. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to keep these bulbs out of areas where they can easily be broken, such as children’s rooms.

Interwaste also offers a recycling system for businesses that use fluorescent tubes, high-intensity discharge lamps and metal halide globes.

“The more of these mercury-containing lamps that we can recycle, the better it is for our region,” says Mr Comber.

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