Light Bulbs!

This is what I do when I am having a day where I'm finding no scrap and have no current things to scrap, I would love to hear what others do!


Okay, So i'm gonna start off by saying what I usually do on slow days. Light bulbs...? Worth it maybe not, But if you get alot yes! The bottom of light bulbs as you may know are aluminum, They dont weigh alot but if you get them in the hundreds they will definatally fill your aluminum bucket! Ive been doing this for a short time now and its simple and only takes 5 minutes, Heres what you have to do; take all you light bubls and place them in a old sack, (Strong One) Fill it up if you have enough, And take a small board or sheet of plywood and set in ontop of the bag full of light bubls and step on it, They will all break on impact and when you open the bag just use gloves and take the aluminum out and put it in your aluminum pile! Its fast easy and makes more money than sitting around with nothing to scrap!

Thanks for the info, my only problem is what to do with all of the glass afterwards?

Ive been known to scrap a light bulbs here and there.
Also, What about the alum tops from mickeys beer bottles. pull out the plastic sealer and throw em with the alum cans.

I sure hope you don't use that large red type in all your post. It's definitely going overboard.

The payout is not worth the effort

I have some floods that appear to be brass saved. I would hate to find out they have the same gas in them as crt's. Some day incandescent bulbs will be collectable.

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Originally Posted by Jonniebrass

I would hate to find out they have the same gas in them as crt's.

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AHahaha.

depends on if they were good light bulbs and what kind older ones still can be a quick sell of 10-25cents each and always save the cf and led ones they are good money and the long overhead cfs

I seem to process more flood lights than incandescent ones for some reason. They have a nice brass socket on them. I think the payout is worth it considering that I don't make any money when I'm sitting around not doing anything. I would also hate to throw them away because that is a peice of sluminum or brass on the end and is worth money. I consider light bulbs the pennies on the sidewalk for me.

I second that Gravitar..............1 penny is better than no penny

Okay, here is my reply to all your posts:

First of all, I disagree about the payout. When you have nothing to do, and your watching tv, How much money are you making? When your scrapping lightbulbs in your garage, how much money are you making? More than none.


Secondly, How to dispose of them...? Well personally I am just a kid so I have no way of driving to recycle them so I just throw them in my trash can which I know is legal where I live but than again, when i get a truck I will be bringing them to a recycling plant.


Third, Sorry for using red font that is large, I was just experimenting and I won't use it again :]


And lastly, I find no harm in the gas's inside because I do it in an open area, In a bag and I do not breathe in any of the chemicals, as far as the enviorment goes and what harm it can cause, I have not done any prior research but I will do some research over my long weekend, And report back! Thank you for all your replies, They are appritiated (Idk how to spell- sorry) -DevinThaScrapper Out!

Gas in a CRT???? Gas in a light bulb???

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

Gas in a CRT???? Gas in a light bulb???

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Theres no gas in a CRT as far as I know.
There may be halogen (iodine etc) gas in a halogen lamp but.. quote{. General Electric claims that none of the materials making up their halogen lamps would cause the lamps to be classified as hazardous waste }end quote

I just relised, theres Xenon in some car headlight bulbs. Xenon is a anesthetic

CRT's have a vacuum, break one and stuff can bounce around. Cheap hime bulbs are filled with inert gas, then you have halogen bulbs full of gas you don't want to be wiffing all day.

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Originally Posted by DevinThaScrapper

Secondly, How to dispose of them...? Well personally I am just a kid so I have no way of driving to recycle them so I just throw them in my trash can which I know is legal where I live but than again, when i get a truck I will be bringing them to a recycling plant.

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I don't think you can recycle the glass from lightbulbs, just like you can't recycle the glass from windows panes and drinking glasses. From my understanding, you can only recycle White (Clear), Green, Brown, And sometimes blue colored glass bottles and jars in most cities. It may be different in your city, but I have never seen a city accept window, lightbulb, or drinking glass for recycling.

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Originally Posted by Gravitar

I don't think you can recycle the glass from lightbulbs, just like you can't recycle the glass from windows panes and drinking glasses. From my understanding, you can only recycle White (Clear), Green, Brown, And sometimes blue colored glass bottles and jars in most cities. It may be different in your city, but I have never seen a city accept window, lightbulb, or drinking glass for recycling.

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Why is that? Are those kinds tempered or something ?

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Originally Posted by Bear

Why is that? Are those kinds tempered or something ?

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The glass in drinking glasses and lightbulbs is a different kind of glass and can't be mixed with the glass bottles and jars. I wish it could be recycled, but it would take a tons of it to be worth it to recycle anyway and there's not much in lightbulbs.

To get this thread going with the original question. When I'm full on hauling stuff in or when I'm farming and can't scrap, I stockpile the things I'm going to break down later like computers. Then when it gets slack time or a rain day I'll get a lot of the same type of item together to break down. I find that it goes faster when you can use the same tools and don't have to go hunting for them. Sometimes I'll get going on computers and strip 20 at a time. I have also done this with starter/contactors and breaker panels. One of my future projects is a pile of 50 lbs of breakers that I'll take apart using my drill press to get the rivets out.

I have to agree with the philosophy of "something is better than nothing" and all the small things can add up pretty good. Call me OCD but I simply cannot throw away a light bulb with the aluminum or brass intact.

Devin, You are young, that is a good thing. here comes the BUT: You don't see it yet, but incandescent light bulbs will fetch a very nice premium in the near to medium future; that being the next 5 to 10 years. Why? - the new enrgey saving bulbs are the only thing on the market now. If you have space, save them. When you make enough money from scrapping to buy a truck and old enough to drive it legally, sell them at the flea-market for a few bucks each. Thats a whole lot more than scrap alu price for the base. If you dont have room, carry on with what works for you right now.

I live in Germany, due to Laws, they are not produced or sold anymore.

Happy scrap hunting

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Originally Posted by DevinThaScrapper

They dont weigh alot but if you get them in the hundreds they will definatally fill your aluminum bucket!

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Honestly curious as to how on you end up with so many light bulbs...

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Originally Posted by AAElectronicsRecycling

Honestly curious as to how on you end up with so many light bulbs...

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Devin, "Hey mom this bulb's burned out again, don't worry I'll change it." :)

CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) are considered universal waste and there is a ban on them in most states waste streams. I handle a lot of CFLs and do pick ups for my E-waste customers. They are a very good business as long as you can get a lot of them together and have a nice outlet for recycling them. The prices for disposal/recycling should range from .07-.10 per linear foot for proper recycling. This is important because most of the large accounts I deal with want some type of certificate or proof that they were handled properly.

Also, if you are storing them they require a separate permit than the normal e-waste permits most states require you to have. They are considered universal. Be very careful with lightbulbs. They contain trace amounts of mercury which is why they are considered semi-hazardous. The big companies that own the machines which process the bulbs provide a box service with return postage. Those boxes cost the consumer upwards of .50 per linear foot. I do it for half that and make a pretty nice profit. With a solid book of business collecting universal waste you can send out trailer loads of properly packaged universal waste on a semi-regular basis.

If you are interested, I will say one thing about this business opportunity that you need to be aware of. U-Bend, HIDs, etc are all very expensive to recycle due to their awkward shape. These often cost .70-85 per bulb and most consumers are very surprised to hear their cost compared to the cost of the straight lamps. I have found universal waste recycling to be extremely lucrative and there is a very large market for it. The boxes being offered by the big companies leaves a huge market for those who are willing to provide their own boxes, collect and ship the material themselves in bulk.

I am hoping/assuming the bulbs you are talking about are incandescents. These contain little to no health hazards when broken (unless you cut yourself).

Oh, good question first off I get tons of lightbulbs from all my neighbors, My dads work, My own house we also use tons, And lightbulbs collected (Some people put in their recycling bin around here because they think they fit in the glass category)

I put the incandescent ones as well as xmas lights in coffee cans or microwaves with other smalll steel items and seal them up tape them shut as well. I figure if the lightbulbs make it to where the metal gets processed then they will be recycled! I only get steel price for them but better than nothing!

I'm really enjoying this lightbulb thread. I also like saving up mindless activities to do when I'm relaxing in the evenings. It's meditative to do piddling little work.

I like to remove the brass pieces from electrical plugs, for one thing, or sort through my screw piles for the non-ferris ones.

I'm unclear what we are supposed to to with CFL bulbs.

So I have a good use for CFL bulbs. When one burns out it is normally from something shorting out on the small circuit board in the plastic base. If you are careful you can open the plastic with out breaking the tube (where the mercury is). The easiest way to do this is to crush the metal screw in piece with pliers. Break of the metal bottom. Two wires connect it to a small circuit board with a baby transformer, some transistors, and a few other goodies. There will be another set of wires on the back side of the board that connect to the corkscrew cfl tube. These I just snip.

Another method is to use a big set of channel locks to apply pressure to the plastic and crush it. Just do it on the end away from the glass to avoid breaking that inner tube. This is the fastest way but you may want to get used to how they are layed out first.


Once you get quick at it, it only take a minute a bulb or so to get the board out. Not the fastest way to get scrap but it all adds up! Then I just take the unbroken tubes and drop them in the home depot recycle bin. I believe the local land fill also takes them for free. It is also always fun to see what blew up on the board and caused the bulb to stop working.

If this sounds confusing let me know and I will take pictures as I take one apart.

Thanks, CMG. I'd love to see pics next time you do some. I'm too afraid I'd break the bulb open if I started messing with it.

The next time I find some ill be sure to take pictures of all the steps!

A bulb burnt out today (Turns out the transformer shorted) and I took a bunch of pictures as I dissected it. It seemed like Scrap Spots wasn't the right place to put it so I made a new thread under low grade electronics. http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/low-g...breakdown.html