What about mercury? Recently, a news article floated to top of the
Digg home page about someone in Maine who had to spend $2,000 for a toxic waste cleanup when she broke a CFL bulb. In fact, that's something of an
urban myth. The amount of mercury in a CFL bulb is about 1% of the amount in a standard mercury thermometer. A bigger nuisance if a CFL bulb breaks are the bazillion tiny shards of glass that result from breaking the spiral tubes. Still, if you're worried, you can check out the guidelines on CFL breakage and disposal from the
US Government. When a CFL bulb fades out, you should properly recycle it.
