Recycling the Bulb in RI

By Dave Gerraughty, Program Coordinator When I began thinking about how to create a voluntary program that would get Rhode Island residents to recycle fluorescent lighting, the biggest challenge was how to make it easy for people to get burned-out bulbs from their basements to a recycling firm. Rhode Islanders are notoriously reluctant to travel more than 15 minutes from home for anything. Since Clean Water Fund was providing the service for free, the price was right, but convenience was going to be essential. Following a model that had been successful in Vermont, I decided to shoot for a mail-back program with local hardware stores in as many communities as possible as collection points. That seemed the best way to make it possible for residents to return their bulbs close to home. The major concern was whether the store owners would be willing to let their employees perform this service for in addition to their regular duties. To make it easy, we set up a system with pre-addressed containers automatically replaced when shipped to the recycler and allowed stores to limit the number of bulbs returned per visit. All employees had to do was accept the bulbs, place them in the shipping containers, seal the cases when full and call a delivery service for pickup. I targeted 16 stores that covered all areas of the state, and was pleasantly surprised when only three turned me down. The program has been successful beyond my most optimistic projections. In the first three months of full operation, eight of the 13 stores have shipped more than one full case, with a total of 1,242 bulbs recycled. That’s nearly five grams of mercury prevented from entering our environment. And the employees doing the collecting tell me that their customers appreciate the fact that a local business is offering the service free of charge. It’s reminder that, given a reasonable opportunity, people and businesses will do the right thing to protect the environment and their communities from toxic materials.