Where can I recycle compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs?
Simply take your burned-out bulb(s) to any Home Depot or Lowe’s store and deposit them in the CFL bulb recycling container, usually located in the entrance vestibule or near the Customer Service counter. For your safety in transporting light bulbs, carry them in a paper bag or small box. Tip: save the packaging of CFL bulbs to transport them later on for recycling once they are spent.
CFL disposal used to be a big concern that prevented many people from switching to more efficient CFLs from conventional incandescent bulbs: What about the Mercury in the bulb? It’s a hazard that we don’t want released into the environment! Home Depot overturned this obstacle to lighting efficiency upgrades in 2009, by establishing CFL recycling collection in all stores. Lowe's established a program soon after. These big box stores are required by law to recycle all of their fluorescent bulbs – as are all “large quantity generators” of this kind of commonly occurring hazardous waste. It was a sensible, and very beneficial, modification to their collection system for tubular fluorescent bulbs to add capacity to collect CFLs from customers.