Disposing of Fluorescent Tubes

[Andy Dingley]

When I was a kid I used to make pocket money by collecting old mercury rectifiers and selling the metal off when I'd filled the carboy (some tens of lbs).

Dropped one once...

[Derek ^]

Mein Gott!

How old are you?

The only mercury arc rectifier I have seen (not to say gone round and collected, it was a a one off instance) was in Crich Transport Museum, and I am 59 !

DG

[Andy Dingley]

Young enough that these things were getting replaced at the time.

I saw one on Friday - sitting in the foyer of a local cinema.

I think I'll offer to remove their dreadful hazardous device for them

8-) I wish I'd kept one of those glass octopuses.

[Andrew Gabriel]

There are still some around the London Underground (or at least were quite recently). I believe they are for escalator and elevator motors, rather than the trains.

[James]

One also needs to consider the energy expended to recycle / dispose of a fluorescent tube once it is at the dump, compared to energy expended on a filament bulb.

James

[Dave Fawthrop]

|On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 20:58:01 GMT, "Harry Bloomfield" | wrote: | |>> The problem with fluorescents is the mercury vapour in them. |>

|>Liquid mercury I believe. | |Depends on the pressure. There hasn't been significant liquid mercury in |them for years, since concerns over mercury hazards began. | |One of the reasons why mercury is such a scare-story is that "mercury |sniffers" are a common hand-held test device for the clueless OHS bod. |With one of these you can find "mercury" traces in almost every old |industrial site.

Maybe that is why ?many? on usenet are mad as hatters ;o)

[Kate]

Well, quite. It was just that the OP mentioned taking 'a bulb' down to the dump, and I thought I'd look at the figures. got it right the second time around :-)

I f you took a whole load of stuff down the dump, posted some letters on the way, went to the bank and the post office, and picked up something for lunch, how ever would that be described in terms of energy balance?

Even worse if you stopped for a quick pint on the way back....;-)

Quite so; and then there's the problem of manufacture and distribution too.

I wish I could find some numbers that confirm the suggestion that of the pollution created by a car, most of it is at the point of manufacture....

[Kev]

Where are we expected to save up all this waste to make a bulk run to the tip with. The tube goes so I get a new tube leaving the old one to be disposed of. It isn't exactly the sort of thing that you can leave lieing around. In fact I am surprised that a council that is so pc just left it on the side of the drive where my children could have stood on it or the local children played light sabres with it. I did notice when throwing the cardboard tube out that there is a useful wheelie bin symbol with a cross through it but nothing to say how it should actually be disposed of. Perhaps something more prominent would be useful as I had never realised that tubes were such a hazard. I only visit the tip once a year if that so having a tube lieing around all that time is not really on.

Kevin

[Dave Liquorice]

Sorry I forget some people have to live in modern rabbit hutches that don't have any storage space, no handy broom cupboard or similar. Mind having space to put things means that you slowly accumulate vast quantities of stuff that "might be useful one day" but probably won't be (until the day after you throw it out...).

[T i m]

Granted it's not 'easy' but then we are trying to save a planet here ;-)

We have bought a couple of extra dustbins and put crushed plastic milk bottles on one and paper in the other. The cardboard get's torn up and goes in a big carrier bag under the stairs. If any are sufficiently full they get taken to the recycling place outside the music centre as we drop the kid there on Sat mornings.

Like they are making manufacturers responsible for accepting equipment back at 'end of life' we should also be responsible re aquiring and disposing of our belongings?

It is sometimes difficult to do the 'right thing' and others can also be fallable .. ;-(

Because that may have been made in China / India and they don't know what our facilities are?

We often do research when buying stuff (price / suitability / value etc) so shouldn't we (not particularly Kevin, *we*) also put some effort into getting rid of it correctly? (responsibility of ownership etc) ?

Well, them along with fridges / freezers, tyres, batteries etc etc.

Anyone around that goes to the dump regularly that you could ask nicely .. ? I know I often end up collecting stuff from Mum / friends on the way to the dump. I don't mind as it make my (short) journey more 'efficient' and ensures the stuff get's processed properly ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Kate]

You need to wise up. Life's changing, especially where waste is concerned.

If you think that one measly tube is such a pain to find room for, wait 'til your local council forces you to have a wheelie bin, a box for glass and bottles, a box for plastic bottles, a box for paper and carboard, a box for tins and cans, and a composter for kitchen waste. Find room for that lot in a small garden. And a £1000 fine for non-compliance if you get the wrong item in the wrong bin, put the bins out on the wrong day, too early on the collection day, fail to get them off the street after being emptied, or leave non-standard itms by the bins for collection.

Dramatic? Most of this is already implimented somewhere or other in the UK, not necessarily all in one place. Stop whinging, it's going to get worse (or better, depending on your POV).

[T i m]

I believe some areas charge five quid or summat per trip to the tip?

I saw on Telly yesterday the idea of removing waste collection from the local taxes and us being charged invividually for the amount of waste we put out for collection.

That would work fine for most of us (who would take the responsibility of that onboard) but I forsee 'Merc 4X4 driver' simply stacking his rubbish bags outside someone elses house (I've seen a local one get their kids to do just that because they don't want the bags outside their own house for 4 days (because they can't bear to have them out back where I have a pad of concrete and they have a wooden patio, sunlounger, B-b-q and pergoda)) so they can spend the money saved on (another) 2 weeks in Ibetha .. ?

I wonder if it's ever crossed their minds what they will be leaving for their kids ... ?

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. My mother in law lives on her own in a small flat and my wife spends every Sat with her (taking her shopping, cleaning the budgies, putting the hoover round etc etc). Every week she comes home with

*her* cardboard, plastic bottles, papers, tins .... ;-)

[Dave Baker]

After 18 years of dustbins and bin bags we've just gone over to wheely bins in sunny Chalfont. A black one for normal waste, a green one for kitchen and garden waste plus the boxes for glass and paper. Nothing for tins and plastic yet thank god. I love the wheely bins though, especially the green one. Instead of having to take car loads of tree prunings to the tip they just get collected by the lorry every two weeks. It's giving me the opportunity to hack all the overgrown shrubs down to size and as no one usually puts much in their green bins I can borrow neighbours ones and fill those up too.

As for the glass and paper, those boxes got used for general storage the minute they arrived and I just go to the bottle bank in the village carpark when I do the shopping. Easier than trying to remember which week to put which box out.

-- Dave Baker

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[Matt]

Just dump everything in the wheelie bin, no sorting required. The council will most likely just ship off the plastic to the far east, the glass and paper are usually a complete waste of money to collect in the first place. The only thing of any real value are the aluminium cans. Not generating the waste in the first place is a much better solution but if in doubt chuck it in the normal bin - landfill conveniently fills up dangerous holes in the ground that children could fall in.

[Owain]

Yes, we've got lots of old coal mines we don't use any more :-)

Owain

[Dave Liquorice]

But this government is about to whap hefty "fines" on councils that use landfill and don't meet the governments recycling targets. So if you are willing to have another 10% on your council tax go ahead...

[Dave]

Ours have the option of giving us bin liners. If they tried to force us to have a wheelie bin, I would have to charge them ground rent, as I have just enough space to park 2/3 cars side by side on my front.

Got one of those, we use it to store the grandchildren's toys in :-)

This is a woven plastic bag here and is shared with tin cans.

It was to be the plastic box that we put paper into, then it got changed to a plastic bag. The first time I put the bag out was the last time I saw it. I now recycle these at the local recycle centre. Along with the glass. Cardboard is supposed to be bundled, but quite how I can do this is beyond me.

What use would I have for compost? We are slowly arranging our garden to be totally maintenance free. Just the odd application of weed killer.

Does the council tax not pay for this? I was under the impression that they are under an obligation to remove my refuse.

Since they have the option of putting their hand in my pocket and extracting what they like, I would like to think that I have a say in how they run things.

Dave

[Matt]

Have you had a humour bypass? :-)

[zymurgy]

I saw one in use in Old Swan Technical college, back in oh, err .. 1983. It was connected to the lab 3 phase supply. Very impressive when in use.

Cheers

Paul.

[Owain]

IIRC s. 75, Environment Protection Act

However s. 76 allows them to impose restrictions on the type of container etc in which you present your refuse for collection

You can write to your councillor.

You can vote in local council elections.

That's about as much democracy as the government's decided you're allowed to have ;-)

(Oh, you can also take your bags of rubbish to the council offices and dump them in reception. That might not be legal, but I know of people who've done it.)

Owain