How can I reuse or recycle … dead light bulbs?
EmJ has been in touch to ask how she can reuse or recycle dead light bulbs.
She didn’t say whether she meant energy efficient ones or the old type that died in a nanosecond so feel free to make suggestions about both.
Does anyone know if they can be recycled as glass or do the metal/plastic bits get in the way?
(Photo by beate, c/o sxc.hu)
if you celebrate Christmas, you can decorate them to make Christmas tree baubles.
some great examples here:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/forpreteens/l/bllightbtrt.htm
you can take off the metal on the bottom (carefully!) and remove the innards.
Then wash thoroughly.
Use as vases (when stoon in springy egg cup things, they look incredibly modern!)
OR
You can take the black bit off the bottom and remove the insides. Again, wash out thoroughly. Then, get some wire (coathangers…) and wrap it round the metal grippy bit at the bottom, so that the bulb is facing downwards.
Get a few, do this and connect them together to make different types of vases. You can affix suction cups using wire too and then suction them to windows with flowers in them (or small houseplants in soil maybe…)
Nooooo! Don’t do any of this. Lightbulbs contain mercury. They should be recyled at a local authority site.
Wrong Frank – normal incadescent light bulbs contain no mercury and cannot be recycled by most councils. Only low energy and fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. See this link for details: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200506580
I remeber seeing a lamp shade in ikea made from old lightbulbs the classic type of lightbulb I mean.
It was a clear bucket shape with a hole in the middle for the workjing lightbulb and you could fill the bucket bit with whatever you wanted and they had used old lightbulbs. It looked quite cool.
Use them to make various things. All the info on: http://www.allfreecrafts.com/decorations/lightbulb.shtml
As reported at http://www.treehugger.com, designer Helen Gifford, and her company HelenBilt, create beautiful lamps from used incandescent bulbs: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/helenbilt_putti.php
I’m planning, after a little research on appropriate glues, to try something similar with the old light bulbs I’ve collected over the years. Wish me luck!
Posted on French blog today: this lady made fantastic vases
http://www.espritcabane.com/recup/ampoules-vases.php
very trendy!
cover them in paper machie and when it dries hit on the ground, this will break the inside and will become a rattle, paint it and sell it
Are you seriously suggesting giving a child a paper mache rattle made with GLASS!!!! Stunned!
I’ve heard you can put then out for the council to collect and they will turn them back into glass!
My council has confirmed that they can be recycled at the Home Waste Disposal centre :)
To find your nearest recycling point for Energy Saving Lightbulbs, enter your postcode into the recycle-more bank locator search tool and tick the ‘Gas Discharge Lamps’ box. This will give you all the address details and an interactive map of the nearest locations.
sorry forgot to add in website URL: http://www.recycle-more.co.uk
I tried that, but it just gives me all the local recyling points, none of which recycle lightbulbs!
“matt
August 21st, 2007 at 2:24 am
cover them in paper machie and when it dries hit on the ground, this will break the inside and will become a rattle, paint it and sell it”
Please tell me you are joking?…oo! I know! Lets make a paper based container full of broken glass, then market it as a childs toy! Fantastic idea!…
Seriously though, most local authorities provide facilities for various forms of recycling, get onto thier website and have a mooch around, they may not provide recycling for mercury containing devices, but there are also private companies out there who do (for a small fee), some I think operate a service where you can post the item to them, sure i’ve seen that somewhere…time for some googling again.
Stu ;-)
Citijunk offer recycling services, junk
removal and waste disposal throughout London.
Alternative fuel source for the fossil fuel by making use of the oil extracted from jatropha curcas seeds, which is then converted into biodiesel for industrial and automotive uses.
make pears to decor , covered with rope and glued on it see here
http://picasaweb.google.com/amigasweb/RecicladoReciclagemRecycle/photo#5129108496075754210
http://picasaweb.google.com/amigasweb/RecicladoReciclagemRecycle/photo#5129108603449936626
i have painted light bulbs like santa’s and snowmen for christmas tree ornaments for years. even used skinny ones for nutcracker ornaments or toy soldiers.
I would love to see a picture of your nutcracker lightbulbs. It sounds cute. Do you have any pics?
Ikea will recycle household lightbulbs (and batteries and plastic bags).
Include one or two working ones and all your dead ones and make a lamp sculpture – http://lighting-bible.com/diy-bulb-sculpture.html
get two wiers and tie it to the bottom of the bulp then get a batery and put it at the end of those wiers and it will light
P.S=lick me
sculpture! sculpture! sculpture! let your inner child go… I saw a woman at a craft festival who made them into various types of bug sculptures (perhaps she had too much time on her hands), hadn’t thought of ornaments though… Whatever you do- thanks for caring for mother earth.
How can i recylce energy effiecent light bulbs tyou know trhe knew ones
GUYZ PLS HELP ME!!
If you can’t find out where to recycle energy efficient bulbs, get in touch with your local council. They are obliged to provide alternative safe disposal for them because of the very poisonous lead in them.
Old inefficient lightbulbs could be smashed up and the glass put in normal glass recycling bottle banks – wrap them in newspaper, break them only once you’re right next to the bottle bank, then open the paper and pick out the base and tip the glass out of the paper into the bin.
To recycle the newer lightbulbs (CFLs), go to: http://earth911.com/ Then type in “CFL” under “Find recycling centers for…”
This is a great website – for those based in the UK http://www.recycle-more.co.uk has now got a recycling section just for energy saving lightbulbs:
http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/lowenergybulb/BulbHome.aspx
This will tell you where and how you can safely dispose of the lightbulbs.
Sainsburys have a place to recycle the energy saving light bulbs in their stores.
For goodness sake ! When most people in this not so green and pleasant land say ” recycle a light bulb ” , they mean dispose of safely . Do we really need to know that you take the bottom off a light bulb fill it with organic pot pourri and hang in the bowl of the toilet for lasting freshness , or fill with organic skunk piss and put it in our pants to make us smell more attractive to other users of this sight ? Just GET TO THE POINT ! Its enough to stop you being green at all !
Grrrr!
Well, BOBCUMMINGS1 – aren’t you just the grumpiest grouch??!!!
Fancy making people feel embarrassed for trying to help others enjoy the simple artistic pursuits :-(
YOU SHOULD RECYCLE YOUR MOOD THAT’S WHAT !! :)-
To everyone else – I’m going to try all of the crafty ideas – and enjoy every minute , thank you very much indeedy.
More suggestions for how to recycle old used light bulbs can be found at the link below. Some might be the same suggestions.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-clever-uses-for-burned-out-light-bulbs.html
Energy star will take them back… florecents / energy saving lights etc must be recycled because they use mercury in them…