Oh Crud -- Hazardous Waste in the Home

It's past bedtime, and I hear "Mommy! Something broke!"

Huh? Why are you even up?

"What broke?"

"The lightbulb."

Oh crud. It's the curly lightbulb in the lamp.

"Girls -- go downstairs. I'll clean it up." Now their room is a hazardous waste area. Awesome.

So.... I had heard about the controversy about mercury being in the CFL bulbs. I have a house full of these bulbs. Haven't had to replace one yet. I heard that when they burned out, you can bring them to Ikea. Groovy.

I never thought about what would happen if one broke. On the carpet. Grrrr...

Here's what you are SUPPOSED to do:
1. Open the window and leave the room for 15 minutes.
2. Turn off the AC.
3. Use something hard to pick up the fragments -- put them in a glass jar or sealed plastic bag.
4. Use duct tape to pick up tiny fragments.
5. If you need to vacuum after all this, dispose of the bag in a sealed plastic bag.

This will prevent poisoning yourself & family with mercury. Also, keep it out of the groundwater (at least until the plastic bag degrades, which we know will take a LONG time...)

Did I do all these things? Uh.... Let's just say I found the handy EPA site after clean-up had taken place. But I knew not to vacuum first thing and I used something hard to pick up the fragments. Luckily the whole bulb did not shatter -- just the top part. At least, I hope that's lucky.

Really I don't know.

In the meantime, I'm looking for an adequate plastic bag I can seal because I don't have very many (any?) of those.

Good times.