Recycle CFLs from home

About 4 billion compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are expected to be used in homes by 2012, and that’s great, but there hasn’t been an easy way for Reno residents to recycle the things. Nice as the energy-efficient, curly-cue bulbs are, they contain mercury, which calls for careful disposal. Batteries have their share of heavy metals, too, like mercury, cadmium, lead and nickel.

Now, we can recycle them from home.

Waste Management just launched its home recycling program for CFLs and batteries in Nevada and California. It’s an online service called ThinkGreenFromHome.com. Customers go to the site to order prepaid-postage kits, which use something called Mercury VaporLok technology to keep those beady little drops at bay. Then customers ship them off for recycling from their house or post office. Waste Management says it expects other household electronics eventually to become part of the program, too.