Wal-Mart to reduce mercury in CFLs

Wal-Mart announced Thursday that its suppliers of compact fluorescent light bulbs have agreed to dramatically reduce the amount of mercury in the energy-saving bulbs.

A CFL bulb can save up to $30 in electric costs over its lifetime, prevent more than 110 pounds of coal from being burned, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 450 pounds, Wal-Mart noted.

But the announcement reflects a fact most consumers probably don't realize about CFLs: unlike the dominant but less-efficient incandescent bulbs, CFLs require mercury, which is poisonous.

Mercury is probably best-known for its effects on the nervous system. It can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.

With an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and with Wal-Mart alone hoping to sell 100 million this year, some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most will end up in garbage dumps.

Wal-Mart said it estimates a third less mercury will be used in the production process of the bulbs it buys, effectively removing an average of 360 pounds of mercury per 100 million CFLs sold in its stores.

"People concerned about the environment and their health can buy these CFLs with a clear conscience," Noah Horowitz, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement released by Wal-Mart.

"In fact," he added, "the energy savings delivered through the use of CFLs will actually reduce more mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants than is added through manufacture of the bulbs."

That's because Environmental Protection Agency figures show that coal-fired power plants emit four times more mercury to power an incandescent bulb than to power a CFL, Wal-Mart said.

The company said its CFL suppliers — GE, Royal Philips, Osram Sylvania and Lights of America — "committed to achieving a greater reduction in mercury content than the 5 mg standard set by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association earlier this year. These suppliers will also adhere to clean production techniques that will minimize mercury pollution from factories manufacturing CFLs."

Poison potential alarms expert
The concern about mercury includes the fact that some of it emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain more readily than inorganic elemental mercury released directly from a broken bulb or even coal-fired power plants, according to government scientist Steve Lindberg.

"Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The mercury content in the average CFL — now about 5 milligrams — would fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and manufacturers have committed to cap the amount in most CFLs to 5 milligrams or 6 milligrams per bulb.

The majority of Philips Lighting's bulbs contain less than 3 milligrams, and some have as little as 1.23 milligrams, said spokesman Steve Goldmacher.

To prevent mercury from getting into landfills, the EPA, CFL makers and various organizations advocate recycling.

Besides commercial recyclers and some municipal waste collection services, some retailers accept used CFLs.

IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings chain, has free drop-off programs at all of its 234 stores, 29 of which are in the United States. Spokeswoman Mona Astra Liss said response was slow at first, but has since picked up.

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