Light Globes
Recycling Light Globes in the The City of Ryde Council area
Incandescent globes should be disposed of in your landfill bin after wrapping in paper. Various programs and companies recycle fluorescent globes including compact fluoros (CFLs).
A range of recycling programs for mercury-containing globes such as fluoroscents and compact fluoros, HIDs and metal halides are run by state or local authorities, community partnerships and commercial recyclers.
Some states and local councils also accept globes like compact fluoros for recycling at specific collection points or as part of household chemical or hazardous waste services.
The recycling drop-off locations near you include:
Willoughby City Council
Help & Service Centre: Level 4, 31 Victor Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
Phone: 02 9411 8309
Email: email@willoughby.nsw.gov.au
Willoughby City Council Website
Info: Q. How do I dispose of compact fluorescent lights?
The correct way to dispose of CFL’s is by recycling them – either at Council's Help and Service Centre or through a Chemical Cleanout event. Broken CFL’s can be recycled through the Chemical Cleanout event. They should be placed in a bag and care should be taken when handling them. They will not be accepted at Council.
About Light Globes
- Energy-efficient alternatives to incandescent globes, such as compact fluoros (CFLs), use as little as one fifth of the energy of incandescents.
- CFLs last 6 - 15 times longer than incandescents, so fewer light bulbs are used.
- Keep greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills low by using energy-efficient globes and switching off lights when not needed.
- Any type of broken globe should be wrapped and placed in your landfill bin. For clean up of broken fluoro globes, follow the federal government guidelines
Importance of Recycling Light Globes
- Compact fluoros contain trace amounts of mercury - the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, and one third of the amount used in office fluoro tubes. By recycling, the small amount of mercury can be recovered, used again and kept out of landfill.
- Recycling fluorescent household globes can also recover other valuable materials like ceramic, glass, aluminium and phosphor that are used in products like fertilizer, aluminium cans and insulation batts.
Further Information
- An Australian Government and lighting industry partnership is currently developing Fluoro-cycle, a scheme aimed to increase recycling rates for mercury-containing globes.
- Visit the DEWHA pages for more information on the Fluoro-cycle and recycling of light globes
- See 7Myths.PlanetArk.org for further details on compact fluoros and energy saving.
- Fluorescent globe processing is carried out in Australia through recycling companies such as Chemsal and CMA Ecocycle
