CFLS AND SAFETY

OK, so you’ve finally decided to make a go of being green. First on the to-do list is substantially limiting your carbon footprint. So you purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs, and put them in your most used light fixtures. You’re feeling so good about your new green self that you begin planning to convert the family diet to organic, locally grown food, when disaster strikes. Instead of doing his homework upstairs in his bedroom, Junior was goofing around with his new hemp Hacky Sack and accidentally kicked it into his desk lamp, shattering the CFL.

Call in the men in the hazmat suits because those pretzel-shaped bulbs contain mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin. All hope is lost. Might as well buy a Hummer and move the family to Love Canal.

But wait. This just in from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection: a new toned-down bulletin titled “What if I accidentally break a fluorescent lamp in my house?”

DEP’s Web site explains the response in detail (www.maine.gov/dep). First, do not vacuum up the mess, because that will spread the mercury vapor and dust and potentially contaminate the vacuum. Keep the kids and pets away. Ventilate the area by opening windows for 15 minutes. Wearing rubber gloves, pick up the larger pieces of glass and place them in something like a glass jar with a metal, screw-top lid. Scoop up the smaller pieces with two stiff pieces of paper or similar stiff material like index cards. Now pat the area with the sticky side of duct tape. (You knew duct tape would be needed, didn’t you?) Finally, wipe up the area with a damp paper towel or wet wipe.

Continue to ventilate the room for several hours, and wash your hands and face.

To dispose of the mess, put all of the cleanup materials in the jar and take it to a store or municipal waste facility that handles such “universal waste.” Call your municipal office to locate one.

Last year, DEP staff broke 45 CFLs in small- to moderate-sized rooms and tested mercury vapor levels and cleanup techniques to create the recommended response report. The bulbs were broken on wood floors and carpet. Air measurements for the presence of mercury were taken at 1 foot, the height at which a child might be playing, and at 5 feet, the height at which an adult would breathe in the vapor. A key factor seemed to be ventilation; opening a window and leaving the area for at least 15 minutes reduced the mercury levels.

And to be on the safe side, DEP recommends putting down a drop cloth when changing CFLs, and suggests not using the bulbs in children’s rooms.