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June 16, 2008
(Red Deer, Alberta) – The City of Red Deer is now accepting fluorescent light bulbs through the household hazardous waste program at the Waste Management Facility.
“Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) and fluorescent tubes contain mercury. Even though the amount of mercury is small, we want to keep it from accumulating in our landfill,” said Pam Vust, Environmental Initiatives Coordinator for The City of Red Deer.
City Council approved the purchase of the Bulb Eater, a machine that crushes bulbs and safely removes the mercury, to dispose of The City’s stockpile of spent fluorescent light bulbs. “Crushing the bulbs reduces our shipping costs so much that the Bulb Eater has already paid for itself,” said Vust. “Now we can use it for our household hazardous waste program and start accepting bulbs from Red Deer residents and commercial customers.”
Residents will be able to drop off unbroken fluorescent light bulbs at the household hazardous waste building at the landfill during regular operating hours. The City will accept compact fluorescent light bulbs as well as straight and U-shaped fluorescent tubes through the program. Customers with more than 50 bulbs should call before arriving at the landfill. Broken bulbs can not be accepted through this program and should be sealed in a plastic bag and discarded in the regular garbage.
For more information on this and other waste management programs, visit www.reddeer.ca or call the Blue Line at 403-340-BLUE (2583).
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For more information, contact:
Pam Vust
Environmental Initiatives Coordinator
Environmental Services
403-342-8750
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