The Home Depot Launches National CFL Recycling Initiative

News and Blog

One way to cut down on Green House Gas emissions is to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs like Compact Flourescents. Unfortunately the drawbacks is that they contain mercury and need to be disposed of properly and can't just be thrown in the Garbage dump. Home Depot is one store that accepts old CFLs. Below is a news release on this topic.

In February 2007, the Home Depot stood beside Environment Minister John Baird to announce to the world that Canada was phasing out the sale of incandescent lightbulbs by 2012. At this announcement, the Home Depot Canada committed to two key initiatives that would support the Government of Canada’s announcement:

1. Phasing out the sale of incandescent lightbulbs in our own stores by 2011 – a year ahead of schedule

2. The development of a National CFL Recycling program that allowed Canadians to return old CFL bulbs to our stores any time.

Both initiatives are well under way. We are on our way to eliminating the sale of incandescent bulbs in 2011 and we launched a CFL recycling program in November 2007. This second commitment is very important because CFLs should not be put in regular household waste, they should be responsibly recycled. The Home Depot’s program has addressed this by providing Canadians from coast-to-coast with an avenue to responsibly recycle their old CFLs. Canadians can now bring their expired CFLs to any of the 160 Home Depot store in Canada during regular business hours and deposit them in the recycling station at the entrance of the store.

The program is being run in partnership with Philips Canada. We will be working with FLR (Fluorescent Lamp Recyclers), based in Ayr, Ontario to collect and handle all used CFL bulbs. This includes containing and storing mercury, as well as recycling all metals and glass.

As part of our continuing efforts to encourage all Canadians to participate in this important initiative, we are seeking your help to spread the word to all of your customers/members, including:

1. Posting information about the CFL Recycling Program on your company website

2. Drafting a memo to your call centre staff to let them know about the CFL Recycling Program, in the event customers call with queries.

The following is an example of information that you could post on-line or send to your customers.

Now available – compact fluorescent light bulb (CFLs) recycling at The Home Depot!

CFL bulbs should not be disposed of with regular household waste so bring your expired CFLs to any The Home Depot store, and be assured that each bulb will be recycled safely. At all Home Depot stores across Canada, customers will find a CFL bulb recycling unit located at the entrance by the special services desk. Customers can simply bring in their expired CFL bulbs, place them in one of the plastic bags provided and deposit it into the display. For more information visit homedepot.ca/EcoOptions.