My good friend Margaret Ann, as bright a thinker as I've ever met, bemoaned a while back that while CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs, the bulbs that use far less energy than incandescents and last 10 years) are an advance, what do we do about all those incandescents that have been decommissioned in the process of switching over? Just throwing them in the trash seems to dull some of the planet-saving luster of switching over to CFLs.

My short answer for that is, "I still don't know." However...

A couple of blog posts this morning address the issue of bulb recycling, so perhaps the answer is on the way. First is this, from Ecogeek, which points to recycling of CFLs, which is an issue because they use mercury and shouldn't be tossed in landfills. ('Course, if they really last 10 years, who's gonna remember by then where to send them?!) The post also mentions that IKEA is taking back all spent CFLs for recycling.

Second is this post from Ecostreet, a British blog. It tells of Ryness Lighting and Electrical, a London retailer that will accept both types of bulbs. That's not going to help anyone reading this, but if they're doing it, maybe someone will be doing it soon where I am, or where you are.