Is the mercury in fluorescent globes bad for the environment and my family?

• Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) lists mercury as the most hazardous metal because it is highly toxic to humans and the environment

• the average fluorescent globe contains approximately 15 mg of mercury. High quality bulbs tend to contain lower levels of mercury than some of the cheaper less reliable brands.

Mercury and Humans:

• the risk of mercury contamination from a broken globe to a human is considered extremely low

• proper disposal of globes is essential to your health and the environment

Mercury and the environment:

• disposing of fluorescent globes in your regular garbage bin means they are destined for a landfill bad move!

• broken fluorescent lights leak mercury into the soil

• fluorescent globes are said to be the largest source of mercury contamination in landfill

• each year Australians use approximately 50 to 60 million fluorescent tubes and high intensity discharge lamps. We recycle less than 1% of our globes, that means that every year approximately10,000 tonnes of mercury is dumped into landfill

• Australia is said to be 40 years behind the rest of the world as it is illegal in America, Japan, New Zealand and many Asian nations to dump fluorescent lights into landfill

• Globe Jockeys have made a concerted effort to recycle every single fluorescent globe since 2006

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