We’ve been using CFLs around the house for awhile now and overall we’re happy with them, but recycling them is a bit of a pain and tossing them in the trash is bad for the environment. Things just got a little easier, though, thanks to a new recycling program launched by Home Depot:

“We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of concern about mercury in the C.F.L.’s,” said Ron Jarvis, Home Depot’s senior vice president for environmental innovation, using the industry abbreviation for the bulbs. “And if the C.F.L.’s were in their house, how could they dispose of them?”

Until now, consumers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or smaller retail chains willing to collect the bulbs for recycling, like Ikea and True Value. Some consumers have waited for retailers like Wal-Mart to have a designated recycling day. Others bought kits to mail the bulbs to a recycling facility.

[...] Home Depot’s program, which will accept any maker’s bulbs, will bring relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households. Mr. Jarvis estimated that 75 percent of the nation’s homes are within 10 miles of a Home Depot.

“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “Some of the things that we do are for the community and not for the bottom line.”

Not being much of a home handyman I don’t go to Home Depot often, but this will help to ensure it happens more than it already does. Kudos to HD for being the first to start a nationwide program that’ll help promote the use of CFL bulbs.