Disposing of Broken Bulbs

• 1). Air out the room before handling any material. Open all windows, close any heating or air conditioning vents to the room, and have all people and pets leave the room for 15 minutes. Mercury is normally a liquid at room temperature, but this will allow any trace amounts in the air to dissipate.
  
  
• 2). Clean up the pieces of the bulb. Use the sticky side of the tape to capture small pieces of glass and dust where the bulb broke. Wet paper towels can also be used. Place all pieces of the bulb with any tape or paper towel in the plastic bag and seal shut.
  
  
• 3). Contact your local government or solid waste collection company to find out whether you can dispose of the bag with the broken bulb in your regular trash or if it needs to be taken to a recycling center.
  
  

Disposing of Unbroken Bulbs

• 1). Package the bulb in a way to ensure it won't be broken in transport. Wrapping it loosely in a sheet of newspaper and then placing the bulb in a plastic bag is enough in most cases.
  
  
• 2). Find a recycling location that accepts CFLs near you. Most neighborhood hardware stores accept CFLs as well as larger, big box hardware stores and even some retailers like IKEA.
  
  
• 3). Simply drop off the burned-out CFL on your next trip to that store. An unbroken CFL is perfectly safe, so there is no reason not to just hold onto it until it's convenient to visit the recycling location.