Broken flourescent tubes - anything to worry about?

[y_p_w]

My kid was just goofing around and we have some old tubes that I was intending on disposing of only it's kind of hard to find a place that takes them these days. They seemed fairly durable and my kid stepped on them and a couple broke. Left bits of glass all over. I know there might be some liquid mercury, but I heard it tends to vaporize quickly when there's such a small amount. There was a lot of dust coming from the inside too - probably just phosphors. I just grabbed a broom and dustpan and put it into a bag. I also couldn't figure out what to do with the remaining parts of the tube, so I broke them into bits with a heavy screwdriver into the same bag.

Not sure how to dispose of this. We do have hazardous waste collection around here but I wasn't sure if it was legal to just dispose of this in the trash. I know that complete tubes should go to recycling.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Garbage, I would think the hazardous waste evaporated.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

When I worked at an Army installation, the hazardous waste people only wanted tubes that were not broken. We were told that all others went into the trash. That is the guidance I used for my own tube disposal.

 

[nomas]

I always heard that the ones with silver ends were hazardous and the newer ones with green ends were safe .

 

[97prizm]

My kid was andowet goofing around and we have some old tubes that I was intending on disposing of only it's kind of hard to find a place that takes them these days. They seemed fairly durable and my kid stepped on them and a couple broke. Left bits of glass all over. I know there might be some liquid mercury, but I heard it tends to vaporize quickly when there's such a small amount. There was a lot of dust coming from the inside too - probably just phosphors. I just grabbed a broom and dustpan and put it into a bag. I also couldn't figure out what to do with the remaining parts of the tube, so I broke them into bits with a heavy screwdriver into the same bag.

Not sure how to dispose of this. We do have hazardous waste collection around here but I wasn't sure if it was legal to just dispose of this in the trash. I know that complete tubes should go to recycling.

Home depot and Lowe's will take them for free. Take the broken bulbs and wrap a trash bag around the broken end then tape it up.

 

[y_p_w]

I can go to a hazardous waste dropoff, although I was in a hurry and just tossed the bits in a bag that contained organic waste. But I also have an old Honeywell thermostat with a mercury switch.

 

[oldcodger]

Nothing to worry about in your situation but under certain conditions they can be serious. I worked in submarine overhaul during the 1970's. If a bulb broke aboard a submarine the the crew had very specific and detailed clean up protocols. They treated them as very serious contamination issue,

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Just clean it up, and toss it out with trash. Whatever was inside vaporized anyway.

 

[y_p_w]

EPA has some recommendations, but they indicate it’s only “best practices” and there’s generally little mercury anyways. The article mentions CFLs for the most part, but parts imply it applies to any lighting with mercury including tubes.

https://www.epa.gov/mercury/cleaning-broken-cfl

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Mercury vapor… . When I was in the Navy, as a means of inventory control (read: hoarding prevention), the electrical safety shop would puncture one end of your bad tube with a sharp screwdriver, hand you a new tube, and then stuff the punched tube into a box of used tubes which were then offloaded during RASs.

 

[Donald]

When I worked at an Army installation, the hazardous waste people only wanted tubes that were not broken. We were told that all others went into the trash. That is the guidance I used for my own tube disposal.

The Army sprayed Agent Orange in Vietnam and had burn pits in Kuwait/Iraq in first Gulf Warm. I think a lot of JP-8 has been used to burn various things over the years.

Not sure I would feel the Army has the best health & occupation guidelines.

 

[JHZR2]

I always heard that the ones with silver ends were hazardous and the newer ones with green ends were safe .

As I understand it, the green ones have less mercury, but they still have mercury.

You don’t want to get the powder in you, obviously.

I’d be cautious with the green ones all the same. Even small CFLs - that powder has mercury too.

So for OP, yes I’d be concerned. Be careful and clean it up without breathing in the dust. If nothing else use your Covid era n-95 masks and gloves. Get all powder off any surfaces and/or locations it could be.