Trying to be good stewards of our environment can seem to be taxing at times. We swap out our old type of light bulbs for new energy efficient ones and then learn that the good bulbs have toxic mercury inside. We realize that we should not just toss the bulbs in the trash but then find it hard to find places that are offering fluorescent light bulb recycling.

To the rescue are now a number of retailers and online sources that can help us get rid of these lights. It only takes a few minutes of research to learn about why mercury is toxic to the planet and why it is not okay to toss these bulbs into the trashcan. A couple minutes more and it is easy to find a place in virtually every area that will be happy to accept and recycle these lights for us.

On the retail side, there are hardware stores and even a furniture store who have stepped up to lend a hand. The Swedish retail giant IKEA, with big box stores spread throughout the U.S. offers CFL recycling for free simply by dropping off the used bulbs at their stores.  Hardware giant’s ACE and True Value have also expanded their recycling efforts and now accept the lights at nearly all of their stores.

There are tons of online resources for learning about where the recyclers are in most every community.  The federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency is a good start for educating oneself on the dangers that mercury can pose to our environment. There are even for-profit businesses that make it easy for business owners to take care of their lighting disposal with special packaging to simply mail them in.

We can all do our part to take small steps to save the planet. Using the energy efficient light bulbs was the first step in the right direction. Now taking the time to recycle these lights completes the loop and helps to ensure a cleaner environment for all.