Care urged in disposal of low-energy bulbs

Low-voltage bulbs, which have become a common source of light in many households after the price of electricity shot up, have to be disposed of carefully and not chucked in the bin with other rubbish.

Forget using a vacuum cleaner to pick up the shards of glass from a broken bulb. Instead, experts have urged people to wear gloves and pick up the pieces carefully.

Britain's Environment Department has gone so far as calling on people to leave the room for 15 minutes if a low-energy bulb is smashed. Even air conditioners should be switched off.

Everything has to be put in a bag that is then sealed and thrown away in a designated civic amenity site.

"Use sticky tape to pick up small residual pieces or powder from soft furnishings and then add that to the bag," the department has said, as it raised concern that instructions were not available on bulb packaging.

The culprit is a small amount of mercury found in low-voltage bulbs, although the six to eight milligrams is nothing compared to the amount in a thermometer normally used to measure fever.

When contacted, respiratory specialist Stephen Montefort said any toxic material that made its way into the lining of the lungs and the ischemic circulation could be dangerous.

Chemistry professor Alfred Vella downplayed the danger of mercury from a single bulb, pointing out that fluorescent strips (tubi), which have long been used in Malta, also contain mercury.

"You have to break between five and 10 in a small unventilated room for the mercury to reach dangerous levels," Prof. Vella said.

He explained that using a vacuum cleaner could disperse more mercury particles in the air. However, he warned against people being scared off low-voltage bulbs.

"They are good environmentally and the risk is negligible," he said.

Moreover, if disposed of carefully, mercury could be recovered and reused.

A Resources Ministry spokesman said the vouchers for free bulbs specifically instructed people not to throw away used energy-saving lamps with normal domestic waste.

Instead, they should be disposed of in one of the five Civic Amenity Sites, situated in Mrieħel, Għallies, Luqa, Ħal Far and Xewkija, Gozo.

The spokesman also pointed out that a number of lamps forming part of the government scheme to give free bulbs to households, contained low levels of mercury.