How to Dispose of Light Bulbs

How you dispose of light bulbs depends on the bulb type. LED bulbs, CFLs, fluorescent tubes, and energy-saving bulbs should be recycled through WEEE or specialist light bulb recycling collections.

Businesses can arrange light bulb recycling bins and scheduled collections, while households can usually use larger recycling centres or retailer drop-off points.

Older incandescent and halogen bulbs are not usually accepted for recycling. Wrap them in paper or their original packaging and place them in general waste, unless your council guidance says otherwise.

Note: do not put any light bulbs in household mixed recycling, dry mixed recycling, or glass recycling bins.

As previously mentioned, you cannot recycle old light bulbs such as:

• Incandescent bulbs: They contain no toxic or harmful chemicals, but the fine wires within them are difficult to separate, so they can’t be recycled with other types of glass. Instead, they should be disposed of with your household rubbish or commercial general waste.
• Halogen bulbs: Like incandescent or filament light bulbs, the thin wires mean halogen bulbs are also not accepted for recycling in many cases. But they don’t contain any toxic elements, so are safe to dispose of in your household or commercial general waste bins.

Broken incandescent, halogen, and LED bulbs should be wrapped carefully before disposal or recycling so the glass does not cut anyone handling the waste. Use paper, cardboard, or the original packaging, then place the broken bulb in the correct waste stream for that bulb type.

Broken CFLs and fluorescent tubes need more care because they contain mercury. Avoid using a hoover to suck up the shards, keep people away from the area, and place the pieces in a sealed bag or container before taking them to an approved recycling point or arranging specialist collection.

If possible, businesses should alert their waste provider if fluorescent tubes or CFLs have broken before collection.

No, you should not put old light bulbs in your recycling bin at home. This is because most domestic recycling bins don’t accept glass for electrical items for recycling. Businesses should also avoid putting light bulbs in their dry mixed recycling bins and instead arrange specific bins to store and recycle your old bulbs.

There are a few places where you can recycle light bulbs:

• WEEE bins – one of the easiest ways of recycling light bulbs in bulk for businesses or households is to arrange delivery and collection of a WEEE waste bin by a licensed waste carrier. Store any used, broken, or expired light bulbs in the bin. They’re then transported to an appropriate recycling centre nearby for safe separation and recycling.
• Recycling centres – most council recycling centres have specific light bulb recycling bins where you can dispose of any type of light bulb. Check whether your local recycling centre offers such facilities.
• Select shops – certain supermarkets and other big stores have light bulb recycling bins for quick and convenient recycling. Often these are near any battery recycling bins they may also provide.