Today is America Recycles Day, a nationally-recognized day that celebrates and promotes recycling in the U.S. Kissimmee Utility Authority reminds you there are a variety of ways you can contribute with items such as unused electronics or even LED lightbulbs.
Here are ways to properly dispose electronics and lightbulbs:
Electronics:
Unwanted electronics should be recycled to recover and reuse the product itself or materials like copper, steel or glass that the product contains. Other materials like lead (in the solder on circuit boards; in the glass cathode ray tube found in many televisions and computer monitors; in the batteries in uninterruptible power supplies) and mercury (in the fluorescent backlights in many flat panel displays) can be recycled to reuse the materials and to reduce the chance that these toxic materials could be released to the environment.
To recycle electronics, two locations are available for Osceola County residents:
The Bass Road Household Hazardous Waste Site
750 South Bass Rd. Kissimmee
Mon-Fri 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. / Saturday – Closed
OR
St. Cloud Transfer Station
2705 Peghorn Way St. Cloud
Mon-Fri 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. / Saturday 7 a.m. to Noon
Lightbulbs:
Properly disposing of LED vs fluorescent bulbs comes down to keeping the mercury contained. CFLs typically contain 4 mg of mercury.
- As long as the bulb is intact, the mercury is safely contained. Avoid contact with a broken bulb.
- If you break a CFL, air out the room for 15 minutes. Approach the cleanup carefully, following the Environmental Protection Agency’srecommended procedure.
- The EPA recommends that you bring old CFLs to
qualified recyclers, rather than disposing of them in trash cans or curbside
recycling bins.
You can bring old CFLs to The Home Depot for free recycling. Visit the Eco Options website to learn more. - If you’re concerned about the mercury content in CFLs, consider LED bulbs. One of many LED advantages is that they don’t contain mercury and do not have the same cleanup constraints. They are just as energy-efficient.