Islanders reminded to recycle light bulbs

Prince Edward Islanders have for years had an option for recycling light bulbs, but now it's the law.

A federal act laying out rules for recycling bulbs that contain mercury mostly compact fluorescent bulbs receive royal assent on Thursday.

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The law requires the federal government to develop a strategy for disposal of the bulbs within two years.

P.E.I.'s Island Waste Management Corporation already has a plan in place.

"If you have any of those we take them free of charge. There's no cost to anybody to drop them off," said CEO Gerry Moore.

"We will ensure that they are properly disposed of."

Moore said IWMC used to have a machine that broke down the bulbs and recycled them, but now it packs them up and sends to a centralized facility run by the manufacturers. Included in the original cost of the bulbs is a disposal fee.

Your cart could be rejected

Moore said it is important not to put the bulbs in the black bin.

Workers do their best to sort out bulbs disposed of in that way, but if they end up in the landfill or at the energy from waste plant mercury a toxic heavy metal could be released into the environment.

If the bulb is noticed during pickup, the whole cart could be rejected by collectors.

All IWMC facilities will accept the bulbs, said Moore.

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