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Andrew Gabriel Andrew Gabriel is offline
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Default How should I dispose of a fluorescent tube?

In article ,
MM writes:
It's an 18" one from the kitchen. Never had one before, so I don't
know whether it goes into landfil, recycling or whatever. Surely I
won't have to make a 28 miles round trip to the council tip? It'd work
out cheaper to mail it to them.

Is there not a returns policy, like now for batteries?


There's supposed to be. As far as I know, it only works with
people who have 25 or more tubes to return, i.e. industrial
customers. There was no provision for them at my local tip
when I last visited (a year or so back).

Given how short the world is becoming of the rare earths used
to make the modern phosphors, it does seem criminal to throw
them out. (OTOH, I'm not sure if they can be recycled and reused,
as they significantly degrade by the time the tube dies.)

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Andrew Gabriel
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