Fluorescent recycling faces test in Assembly

Fluorescent light bulbs provide excellent energy efficiency, but they contain toxic mercury. Lamps thrown into dumpsters often break, releasing mercury into the air and eventually into the water. They should be collected for recycling when they burn out.

Mercury is a persistent and toxic pollutant that bioaccumulates in the environment and in the food chain. A recent analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nearly doubled - to 630,000 - the number of children born annually in the U.S. with unsafe levels of mercury in their blood. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that mercury contamination in seafood can cause heart damage and irreversible impairment to brain function in children. Safe handling and collection of fluorescent lamps discarded at the end of their useful lives is critical.

That's the goal of the California Mercury Lamp Recycling Act, SB 1180, authored by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) and sponsored by Sierra Club California and Californians Against Waste. The bill has passed out of the state Senate, but faces opposition by business lobbyists in the Assembly.

The bill would place a small advance recycling fee on the sale of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps by manufacturers or distributors. The fees collected would be disbursed to recyclers, local governments, and retail and wholesale sellers that collect, transport, and recycle fluorescent lamps.

What You Can Do

Write a short letter to your assemblymember at:

State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814.

Ask them to vote for SB 1180.

Bill Magavern, senior legislative representative, Sierra Club California