By John Weare, Keep Alliance Beautiful
One of the questions I field most often is: “Do you take (fill in the blank)?” Often the answer is: “Yes, you can bring that down to the recycling center.” Other times the reply is a definite no when a patron may have used lumber he’d like to drop off as well as cardboard or perhaps a broken refrigerator to go with an outdated TV.
Last week a local business owner texted to see if Keep Alliance Beautiful could use any functional four-foot fluorescent tubes (both the thicker and thinner varieties) after they upgraded to LED lighting. Unfortunately, the recycling center’s fluorescent fixtures are 8-foot. However, we are happy to play the middleman. If anyone wants a 4-foot tube call our office at 308-762-1729 and we can facilitate the acquisition. There are a few dozen available.
Connecting the public with useful – free – stuff has not been my forte. A few years ago we had people stop by the recycling center fairly regularly looking for paint. At the time there was a small stockpile that was able to accommodate most requests. So judging by that trend we took in more paint. Supply quickly outpaced what became low to occasional demand. Though we still have some in stock most of it was shipped out and we do not currently accept paint. In the case of the bulbs we are hoping to get the word out so they can have a bit more life.
Thinking if nobody wants any of this business’ bulbs or there are some left, I started to tell the owner that our facility could not accept this type of household hazardous waste (HHW) then decided to double check. We have not allowed light bulbs with the glass though Spud, our hauler, who also heads Keep Kimball Beautiful, said he’s been handing the tubes for the past four years and would tell us how to prep the fragile lights for transport.
As longer lasting LEDs continue to replace fluorescent, KAB will be accepting intact four- and eight-foot tubes. We will also be taking intact CFL bulbs. The Alliance Municipal Landfill bales the tubes, Supervisor Clint Fankhauser said. He explained the practice falls under Nebraska’s small quantity hazardous waste rules, adding “99 percent of the time they don’t come to us intact.”
Fluorescent tubes and CFLs are recycled to recover valuable mercury in addition to aluminum and glass. Earth911’s website explains that mercury may go in new bulbs, thermostats and other products. This keeps a hazardous substance from harming the environment. Aluminum has new life as scrap metal. The glass is downcycled into concrete, ceramic tile and other materials.
Earth911 has search links for locations accepting tubes and CFLs. When I entered “69301” for Alliance the nearest tube locations were hundreds of miles away while Home Depot popped up as the only place to accept CFLs within 60 miles. However, I would suggest checking with our local hardware and lumber stores. There are services that will accept both types through the mail for a fee although the option is more available for CFLs. BulbCycle is among the companies that offer a mail-back kit for tubes.
So, rather than mailing used fluorescent tubes and CFLs or driving an hour I encourage everyone to drop by the KAB Recycling Center at 107 ½ Cheyenne Ave. in Alliance for a more convenient option. We look forward to adding a new material to our list for 2026.