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California "greenies" can eat their organically grown artichoke hearts out as Northern Nevada steps up today as one of the West's first compact fluorescent bulb recyclers.
The concept, brainchild of John Hargrove, Sierra Pacific power's energy efficiency program manager, has its roots in 2003, when, Hargrove said, the power company encouraged its consumers to switch from incandescent (or, some would say, "normal") lightbulbs to compact fluorescents (or, some would say, "the spiral kind.")
"For more than four years we've been promoting compact fluorescent lightbulbs," Hargrove said. "They last five to 13 times as long as incandescent lightbulbs. But the first ones (people) purchased here are coming toward the end of their useful life. So, the new question is how to get rid of them."
Hargrove estimates the region in 2003 purchased about 50,000 of the energy-sipping bulbs. Fast-forward four years and there are some 2 million such bulbs lighting the area.
"Now we just have to find a way that they don't enter the landfill," he said.
Though long-lasting, the compact fluorescent light bulbs, (known as "CFLs") do contain trace amounts of toxic mercury, experts said. Until now, an effective way to recycle the bulbs hasn't been discovered.
"The problem with the bulbs is that they'll break before they get to the landfill," said Jonn Skinner, spokesman for the Solid Waste Association of North America, a trade organization for the trash and recycling field.
Even experts from the Environmental Protection Agency, long a proponent of the bulbs' use, said most waste disposal and recycling programs are not set up to accommodate for the bulbs' proper disposal.
Enter Sierra Pacific and trash-removal giant Waste Management.
"It's true that only a couple of (garbage removal) agencies are looking into a program," Sierra Pacific's Hargrove said. "But we've really tried to find a way to do this regionally without it being an expensive and difficult program."
Indeed, the program, which enables Northern Nevada residents to drop off their bulbs at waste-disposal facilities in Reno, Carson, Sparks and Incline Village, simply consists of providing containers for residents to drop-off their bulbs.
"Waste Management then takes the bulbs to one of their recycling facilities in Minnesota," Hargrove said.
What the program may lack in sophistication, it makes up for in effectiveness, Hargrove said.
"Of course, it's one of those things that we may only get several hundred bulbs recycled in the first few months," he said. "But the program is so simple. We hope it grows."
Indeed, if the Northern Nevada effort is a successful one, the model could be similarly adopted as the first generation of CFLs start to flicker.
While some places in the West, like parts of Washington State, have banned residents from throwing the bulbs away, on a national scale, a solution has yet to be found, said EPA spokeswoman Wendy Reed.
Mercury, a neurotoxin, is especially dangerous for children and fetuses. Most exposure to mercury comes from eating fish contaminated with mercury; EPA researcher Reed said fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, but using them contributes less mercury to the environment than using regular incandescent bulb because they use less energy.
"(Each) bulb doesn't have a lot of mercury," Hargrove said. "In fact, you get about 1/500th the amount of mercury in a (bulb) as you do in a wall thermostat - but you multiply that by 2 million (bulbs) and that's a lot."
The power company's California customers don't yet have the same options as their Nevada neighbors, but that could change - especially if similar CFL recycling containers are set up at retailers like Wal-Mart, Lowe's or Home Depot.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report
CFL recycling spots in Northern Nevada
Carson City: Capital Sanitation, 5560 Sheep Drive
Incline Village: Incline Sanitation, 1076 Tahoe Blvd.
Lockwood: Lockwood Regional Landfill, 2401 Canyon Way, Lockwood
Reno: Waste Management Recycle America, 1100 E. Commercial Row
Refuse Inc. Sage Transfer Station, 1390 E. Commercial Row
Sparks: Waste Management Recycle America, 1455 E. Greg Street
Stead: Refuse Inc. Stead Transfer Station, 13890 Mt. Anderson, Stead
The concept, brainchild of John Hargrove, Sierra Pacific power's energy efficiency program manager, has its roots in 2003, when, Hargrove said, the power company encouraged its consumers to switch from incandescent (or, some would say, "normal") lightbulbs to compact fluorescents (or, some would say, "the spiral kind.")
"For more than four years we've been promoting compact fluorescent lightbulbs," Hargrove said. "They last five to 13 times as long as incandescent lightbulbs. But the first ones (people) purchased here are coming toward the end of their useful life. So, the new question is how to get rid of them."
Hargrove estimates the region in 2003 purchased about 50,000 of the energy-sipping bulbs. Fast-forward four years and there are some 2 million such bulbs lighting the area.
"Now we just have to find a way that they don't enter the landfill," he said.
Though long-lasting, the compact fluorescent light bulbs, (known as "CFLs") do contain trace amounts of toxic mercury, experts said. Until now, an effective way to recycle the bulbs hasn't been discovered.
"The problem with the bulbs is that they'll break before they get to the landfill," said Jonn Skinner, spokesman for the Solid Waste Association of North America, a trade organization for the trash and recycling field.
Even experts from the Environmental Protection Agency, long a proponent of the bulbs' use, said most waste disposal and recycling programs are not set up to accommodate for the bulbs' proper disposal.
Enter Sierra Pacific and trash-removal giant Waste Management.
"It's true that only a couple of (garbage removal) agencies are looking into a program," Sierra Pacific's Hargrove said. "But we've really tried to find a way to do this regionally without it being an expensive and difficult program."
Indeed, the program, which enables Northern Nevada residents to drop off their bulbs at waste-disposal facilities in Reno, Carson, Sparks and Incline Village, simply consists of providing containers for residents to drop-off their bulbs.
"Waste Management then takes the bulbs to one of their recycling facilities in Minnesota," Hargrove said.
What the program may lack in sophistication, it makes up for in effectiveness, Hargrove said.
"Of course, it's one of those things that we may only get several hundred bulbs recycled in the first few months," he said. "But the program is so simple. We hope it grows."
Indeed, if the Northern Nevada effort is a successful one, the model could be similarly adopted as the first generation of CFLs start to flicker.
While some places in the West, like parts of Washington State, have banned residents from throwing the bulbs away, on a national scale, a solution has yet to be found, said EPA spokeswoman Wendy Reed.
Mercury, a neurotoxin, is especially dangerous for children and fetuses. Most exposure to mercury comes from eating fish contaminated with mercury; EPA researcher Reed said fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, but using them contributes less mercury to the environment than using regular incandescent bulb because they use less energy.
"(Each) bulb doesn't have a lot of mercury," Hargrove said. "In fact, you get about 1/500th the amount of mercury in a (bulb) as you do in a wall thermostat - but you multiply that by 2 million (bulbs) and that's a lot."
The power company's California customers don't yet have the same options as their Nevada neighbors, but that could change - especially if similar CFL recycling containers are set up at retailers like Wal-Mart, Lowe's or Home Depot.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report
CFL recycling spots in Northern Nevada
Carson City: Capital Sanitation, 5560 Sheep Drive
Incline Village: Incline Sanitation, 1076 Tahoe Blvd.
Lockwood: Lockwood Regional Landfill, 2401 Canyon Way, Lockwood
Reno: Waste Management Recycle America, 1100 E. Commercial Row
Refuse Inc. Sage Transfer Station, 1390 E. Commercial Row
Sparks: Waste Management Recycle America, 1455 E. Greg Street
Stead: Refuse Inc. Stead Transfer Station, 13890 Mt. Anderson, Stead
