How to toss 4ft f lights?

What is a good way to get rid if 4 ft flourescent bulbs without cutting the garbage man? Whole or smash em?

Reply to
Thomas
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Here in NJ, I know they are accepted in household trash. They stick out of the trash can so I know the garbage man won't get surprised. I don't see anything online about illegality. Google turns up sites that will accept them for recycling for those who worry about such things.

I replaced some of those 4 ft tubes with the LED versions. GREAT improvement.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Did you have to modify the ballasts in the fixtures? I have several undercabinet fluorescent fixtures that use 18" tubes, and I'd really like to replace them with LED tubes. From what I've been able to tell, the 4-foot LED tubes come in two varieties, one of which is a direct swapout that doesn't require any ballast modifications, and the other which requires some basic mods to the ballast wiring. All of the 18" LED tubes I've seen so far require the ballast wiring changes.

Reply to
Dave Garrett

Lowe's + HD sell a plastic tube cover used protect (I suppose) people if the bulb breaks in the ceiling. It's cheap and has plastic caps on each end. Put your expired bulb in the cover; put the end in a garbage bin or empty jointing compound bucket; and hit the outside with a hammer. The whole bulb will shatter into tiny pieces. Take the cap off and literally pour the fragments into the garbage. The cover will not be damaged. I've had mine for 10-15 years.

Oh and as to mercury or other environmentally problematic chemicals, the NYC sanitation website says to just put the bulbs out with the regular garbage. No hazmat crap and they're almost as bad as California normally.

Reply to
knuckle-dragger

If they see them, I think they know how to handle them without cutting themselves. For one thing, I think they all wear leather gloves.

Today the trash man came, and I had thrown away 8 eggs that had gotten too old to eat. Two exploded when I tried to open them.

And the trash men rarely leave anything behind, but this time there were about 8 egg-shells, broken, some interiors, and a bunch of yellow parts that looked like amber.

So I'm picking it up and putting it back in the empty trash barrel, and I notice the ants picking up pieces, as big as 3 times the ant's size, and carrying them away, mostly going up an 80^ incline, the curb. I said to myself, why bother to pick up the yellow stuff when the ants will remove it all, and they'll be happy to have it**.. I was almost done by then, but tiny pieces remained. I went back 2 hours later and some of it was gone. I'll look again tomorrow.

**Can you tell the difference between a happy ant and an unhappy one? See the movie Antz for assistance.
Reply to
micky

Here's a web site that indicates the hazardous waste disposal rules in New York State - mercury contamination in fish etc

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Lots of precautions and rules for business - households can just toss them apparently ... duh.

John T.

Reply to
hubops

Yes, I removed the ballasts (you can just bypass them). Also the wiring is different, instead running current the length of the tube you are just using one end.

Everyone reading alt.home.repair should be able to figure it out. There are dozens of youtube videos showing the process.

As you say, there are tubes that don't require any wiring modifications. Since the ballast is just another point of failure, I felt better just changing the wires around.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Sounds like an animal got in your trash.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Yup, one of my favorite tweets follows:

"Somewhere along the line, politicians discovered it's more fun to tell people how to live than it is to fix potholes." - @patsajak

Reply to
Wade Garrett

I just did a couple of four footers, direct wired. It turned out to be eas y because my fixture already had unshunted tombstones. (It was a rapid sta rt; instant start has shunted tombstones that won't work.) I did take the ballast out. You only have power at one end of the tube, so you have to pu t the LED tube in the right way.

Reply to
TimR

Good one. That goes along with economy going down the toilet and politicians more worried about what bathrooms people can use.

Reply to
Frank

Not only have you added the unwanted dimension of politics to this thread, but you've done so counter to the fact that homeowners can dispose of fluorescent tubes as they see fit.

Reply to
Dan Espen

often the local hardware store will take them for recycling/disposal. give them a call.

if that is too far away just wait until you do have to go.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Maybe. I did put it out the night before. Although I thought it was in the middle of the trash can.

I forgot to mention that the biggest piece was slowly being carried up the hill by an ant when another ant "tried to help", and he got his "teeth" on the piece of egg, but he never got his legs on the blacktop, so the other ant had to carry the food and the other ant up the hill. I wonder if the second ant violated the anthill bylaws.

Reply to
micky

I don't care about "future generations." Anything that can fit into an opaque trash bag can go out with the household garbage. (With long flourescent tubes that means breaking them first.)

Reply to
Roger Blake

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