Waste Management Launches Innovative Curbside CFL Recycling Program In Rolling Hills Estates

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The City of Rolling Hills Estates and Waste Management are pleased to announce an exciting new program for residents to recycle used compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) from home. Rolling Hills Estates is the first in California to offer this convenient and innovative curbside program to help residents dispose of spent CFLs in a safe, environmentally friendly way.  

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CFLs use just one-quarter of the energy of traditional incandescent bulbs. By switching to CFLs, residents of Rolling Hills Estates will lower their household energy costs and reduce their environmental impact. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that if every household replaced just one incandescent bulb with a CFL, the US would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and save more than $600 million in energy costs annually. CFLs contain small amounts of mercury and must be recycled to protect public health and the environment according to California law.

Beginning July 12, 2010, Waste Management will mail a specially designed Mercury VaporLok® container to Rolling Hills Estates customers.  The container, which can hold up to thirteen XX-watt CFLs, is suitable to both store and transport discarded CFLs. Residents can schedule a free pickup to coincide with any regularly scheduled curbside service.  Residents need only to:

1. Place used, unbroken CFLs inside the VaporLok Foil Bag and reseal the bag.  For broken bulbs, residents should follow the EPA's clean-up instructions, available at www.epa.gov/mercury/spills.
2. Keep VaporLok Foil Bag and CFLs in a safe place away from children and sealed at all times.
3. If bulbs break while inside of the bag, do not re-open. Call Waste Management for a pick-up.
4. Notify Waste Management customer service at 1-800-774-0222 that you have a CFL collection 24 hours in advance of your regularly scheduled pick-up day.
5. Place the filled VaporLok Foil Bag on the hanger provided and hook it on the bar of the cart at the street.
6. Make sure to save and reuse the hook for additional CFL recycling.

Waste Management will deliver a new VaporLok Foil Bag on your next regularly scheduled pick-up day.

"This is just one more thing we can cross off the list of hard-to-dispose items," said Vickie Wippel, community relations manager at Waste Management.  "Now that we've made recycling CFLs easier than ever, I hope more and more Rolling Hills Estates residents will start using them and incorporate another sustainable practice into their daily lives."

This CRL Recycling Pilot Program will run for an initial 1-year period.  Learn more by visiting the city's website at http://keepingrheclean.wm.com.  

About Waste Management

Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.  To learn more visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com

SOURCE Waste Management, Inc.