Where To Drop Off Used Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs In Milwaukee Area

I found this site that will take you after a few steps to a list of compact flourescent bulb recycling sites in Milwaukee county, including many of the retail stores that sell them.

I simply entered a downtown Milwaukee zip code in the appropriate box: other counties are available, too.

Hey: You know what? I'll make this even easier: The Journal Sentinel a while ago published this handy-dandy guide, complete with street addresses, hours of operation, web addresses and phone numbers - - in the entire Metro area.

Here it is:

• City of Milwaukee household hazardous waste drop-off site is at 3879 W. Lincoln Ave. Days/hours: Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call (414) 286-3500 or go to www.mpw.net.

Note this updated information from the City:

The Lincoln Ave site only accepts fluorescent bulbs (and other hazardous waste) on Fridays and Saturdays from 7 am to 3 pm. These are the hours that the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)collection is operated by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) on the City's site. In any event, the City encourages you to take the bulbs back to the many participating retailers listed on the Focus on Energy website.

• Milwaukee County residents can go to the Lincoln Ave. site in Milwaukee, or two others: in Menomonee Falls or Franklin. For more, go to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Web site at www.mmsd.com/programs/hhw5.cfm.

• Waukesha County has three household hazardous waste sites, in Menomonee Falls, Muskego and Waukesha. For more information, call (262) 896-8300 or go to www.waukeshacounty.gov/recycling and click on "hazardous waste."

• Ozaukee County and Washington County residents can go to the Veolia Environmental Services waste facility located in the Port Washington Industrial Park, 1275 Mineral Springs Drive. Call (262) 243-8998 or go to www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/hhw.

The good news is that there are plenty of easily-accessible sites, so carefully handled, investing a few dollars more in the purchase of a compact fluorescent bulb saves about $30-$40 in unneeded purchases of traditional incandescent bulbs, and requires the burning of less coal to supply the electricity needed to keep the bulb lit.

Savings for the homeowner, reduction of air pollution, production of cleaner air, and so forth.

The average home has something like 40 light bulbs - - sopme more, some less - - so multiply these energy savings per bulb times the tens of millions of households in the US, and you get an idea of how easy it is to save huge amounts of coal production, shipping and burning.

I saw one estimate that suggested a national savings of 7% of the coal burned annually if all residences make the complete switch - - an amount equal to several entire power plants.

This post is a follow-up to an earlier post and discussion on Eric Von's radio program Tuesday about this issue.