Page 11 - Everyday Kitsap 2016

Bright Lights becoming the industry

LED lights are rapidly
standard. They don’t contain
Illuminating the essential facts minimizing potenti al harm to
mercury and last for years,
health and
ncandescent lights used to be the standard, and had been, for over 100 years. Fluorescent the environment.
lights, especially “Compact Fluorescent Lamps” (CFL’s) became more prevalent aft er the year
2000. They are more energy effi cient and last much longer. Many people made the switch to save
Ienergy, and the hassle of changing out lamps in harder to reach fi xtures.
Although energy savings brings environmental benefi ts, all fl uorescent lamps contain at least a trace of mercury in the
vapor and phosphor powder inside them. Mercury is a toxic metal, and does not readily degrade in the environment. Although
fl uorescent lamps don’t release mercury during normal operati on, these items should be carefully recycled.
The LightRecycle Washington program allows anyone in the state to drop off a maximum of 10 lamps per day at
parti cipati ng locati ons. Go to www.lightrecycle.org and click on “fi nd a collecti on site.”

TRADITIONAL LIGHT-EMITTING COMPACT HIGH INTENSITY
INCANDESCENT DIODE (LED) FLUORESCENT (CFL) DISCHARGE (HID)
Contains Mercury: No Contains Mercury: No Contains Mercury: Yes Contains Mercury: Yes
Life: Up to 750 hours Life: Up to 20,000 hours Life: Up to 10,000 hours Life: Up to 3,000 hours

RECYCLE AT
DISPOSE IN
TRASH
LOCATIONS
How can you tell if your lamps contain mercury and need to go to a Light Recycle Washington locati on?
Hg Look for the “Hg” symbol (the chemical symbol for mercury) on the bulb or tube. All fl uorescent lights, even those

with green end caps, contain mercury. The packaging for the lamp should also indicate that it contains mercury.

K
Keep in Toucheep in Touch

A great way to get the informati on you need

S ome days go according to schedule, but some come with surprises. These
are the days where unexpected constructi on work or a strong wind or snow
storm throws a wrench into your day.
Not knowing can someti mes be frustrati ng. Now you can sign up to get
Kitsap County noti fi cati ons and alerts straight to your phone or email.
Sign up at KitsapGov.com. Click on the ‘sign up’ butt on on the right side bar and
follow the rest of the prompts. You can subscribe to a variety of interesti ng county
news including a list of all Kitsap County road closures.

KitsapGov.com | Spring 2016 | pg 11