Today I went down to the laundry room and discovered a CFL bulb had leaped to its death off the shelf while I was hammering floors down, and there was broken glass EVERYWHERE (mostly from the globe around the bulb, though). Out of curiosity, I wondered what the government had to say about cleaning up CFL bulbs, since they contain mercury (a possible 4mg!).
Don’t use a vacuum or a broom on hard surfaces, try and manage with cardboard and duct tape. Put everything in a sealed bag or canning jar. Clothes came in contact with some glass? Discard. Take the waste to a recycle area. Wipe down your vacuum. Ventilate the area. For FOUR MILLIGRAMS.
Then I remember at the family reunion, the talk amongst the folks of the baby boomer generation talking about playing with mercury. As in rolling it around on their hands and such. Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
So, um….what did you do?
I put the big pieces in the trash bag to be tossed, and vacuumed up the rest. Granted, this was before what I read online, but considering it was all over, the cardboard method wasn’t going to work…
Hahahah I was thinking the same thing lately as I was musing on our childhood toys. I’ll probably feel different about this, this time next year, but sometimes I wonder if we wrap our kids in thick wool and never let them skin knees or eat dirt or whatever.
Course, if I hear later you got mercury poisoning, I’m going to feel like a total ass…
@J. Cullinane
I was looking at pictures of Anya from the school field trip to harvest potatoes, and there she was running around the potato field in her bare feet. BARE FEET! I’m surprised we didn’t have to amputate them later.
*laugh*
It’s very common here for people to just walk around barefoot, whether adults or children. Just walk down the street or into stores. If you walk behind them, you can see their black, dusty heels. It totally grosses us out. I don’t mind my kid running around barefoot in our grass, but walking down a crowded, dirty street… *squirm*
Although now and then she complains, Anya will often walk around barefoot even on our sharp gravel driveway. I can do that for about three feet before I start wincing in pain.