DP&L wants to buy you some CFL lightbulbs

CFL bulbs on sale at Sam's Club

$1.83 for 6 CFL bulbs courtesy of DP&L

$1.83 for 6 Compact Florescent Bulbs at Sams. That’s 31 cents a bulb. Cheaper than an incandescent.

Can’t pass it up- of course, now instead of DP&L spewing sulfur and Carbon Dioxide into the air- you become the polluter when you dispose of these little mercury containing bulbs.

Let’s just shift the guilt.

DP&L makes a big deal out of how these bulbs will save you money:

To help replace those inefficient, incandescent bulbs, DP&L is offering an average of $1.30 off each compact fluorescent light bulb CFL you buy, making it super affordable. At 40 bulbs, that’s $52 in savings now. And since each CFL can save you another $30 over its lifetime, that’s $1,200 in savings later for a total of $1,252 overall.

No coupons, no hassle – receive the discounted price at the register, courtesy of Dayton Power & Light.

DP&L- discounted CFLs are available at these stores in the Miami Valley area

  • Ace Hardware
  • Family Dollar
  • Home Depot
  • Kroger
  • Meijer
  • Sam’s Club
  • True Value
  • Walmart

via CFL Retailer Locator.

The amount of Mercury in these bulbs is small: 4 mg. But, for such a small amount- read about what you are supposed to do if one of these bulbs breaks:

If your CFL breaks, the EPA recommends simple, specific steps for cleaning up broken bulbs:

  1. Before clean-up, open a window for 15 minutes and turn off your heat or A/C.
  2. Scoop up the glass fragments and powder – do not sweep or vacuum. Sticky tape can help get glass or powder out of carpet. If the CFL breaks on a hard surface, wipe the area clean with a paper towel.
  3. Take the bulb to your county’s solid waste facility or visit www.earth911.org to locate other nearby facilities that will accept and recycle your broken bulb.
  4. As an extra precaution, the next time the area is vacuumed, remove the bag after vacuuming and throw it in the trash.

The above info comes from a PDF for Wasthington Twp – other material wasn’t as easy to find/useful.

Right now- following that link for CFL Disposal around here only gives Home Depot and the County Solid Waste districts.

Considering how bad our basic recycling track record is in Dayton- it’s hard to believe that a majority of these bulbs will be recycled properly. I watch the battery collection points at the 2nd Street Public Market- and although they do get used- considering how many batteries the average American uses these days- there are problems with their disposal as well.

Of course, then again this NPR article talks about both the good and the bad of CFLs:

According to the federal government, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star approved compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), the United States would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

via CFL Bulbs Have One Hitch: Toxic Mercury : NPR.

Recycling isn’t just about feeling good about the earth- it’s absolutely essential. Taking care of hazardous wastes now- can save us billions in clean up and health costs later. The economic impact of pollution isn’t just about global warming- it’s about public safety. It was poison the proverbial well- we’ll all be in trouble. So, while buying these bulbs at a discount is great- maybe there should be a mandatory quick disposal video to watch at the checkout so that we don’t end up creating more problems than we solve.

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