Are lightbulbs recyclable?

Not really. It would certainly cost more to recycle them than to shove them in a landfill.

Because of the mercury in them you’re supposed to find a proper disposal site, especially for CFL’s.

Not at our transfer station; they shatter too easily and the filament is an issue.

@trumi
That’s only for fluorescent lights though, afaik.

This is kind of fun. I’ve seen them made into vases before.

How funny that this question got asked tonight! I just changed out all the light bulbs in my house with the new greener enegry saving ones. Now I have a whole pile of light bulbs (that work) that I don’t know what to do with. Any suggestions?

You can make hand puppets. Cover the bulb with layers of papier maché. Let harden. Break bulb over newspaper and pick out all shards with tongs or a tweezer. Then you can paint a face, glue on yarn for hair and use some elastic and fabric for the haberdashery.

I used to do this with third and fourth graders; then we had puppet shows in French.

Also uhm… Vaporizers… :)

@trumi: I like the way you think :P

easy craft/way to recycle light bulbs: make a snowman ornament

1. Paint burned out incandescent light bulbs with opaque white craft paint, allow to dry and set aside.
2. Sew a small jingle bell at the tip toe area of an infant sized crew sock. Use remaining thread to create a small loop in same area, which will be used for hanging purposes.
Fold sock cuff over. This will serve as the snowman’s hat.
3. Apply a small amount of glue along bottom edge of the lightbulb which will be used to secure on the sock. Position sock at an angle covering metal base of bulb—sort of how you would wear a hat. Allow glue to dry.
4. Using a fine point Sharpie® pen draw on facial features nd color in features as wanted.

voila!

This is a fun winter craft for those long cold days!

@gailcalled That only puts off the disposal. I mean, what did you do with the broken shards?

@TitsMcGhee Go to your local government’s website and find out – the answer is different everywhere.