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Changing worn out light bulbs is relatively easy, but what’s the best way to dispose of them when they’ve reached the end of their useful lives?

Due to their longevity, we seldom have cause to talk about throwing LED bulbs away, however, when the time does finally arrive, you'll be happy to learn that they’re remarkably easy to recycle.

Unfortunately, there’s no standard method of discarding different types of light bulb, so here’s our guide to their disposal:

Incandescent (Standard) Bulbs

Incandescent bulbs should be disposed of along with normal household waste. Regrettably for the environment, Incandescent bulbs cannot be recycled along with regular glass, because the fine filaments used in their production are particularly difficult to separate out, which causes the cost of recycling to be incredibly prohibitive.

Unfortunately, this means that the majority of incandescent light bulbs end their lives on rubbish dumps or in landfill sites.

Compared with the expected 50,000 hour life-span of LEDs, the 1,200 hours you can anticipate from an incandescent bulb means you’ll need to change them several times a year.

The perfect replacement for your existing incandescent light bulb, and with a base that will simply retrofit into your current light fitting, the range of B22 ‘Bayonet Cap’ LED Bulbs come in a variety of intensities so, by switching to them, you’ll not only get your light right, you’ll also be doing your bit for the environment.

Halogen Bulbs

A halogen bulb is simply another type of incandescent. The traditional incandescent bulb contains a tungsten filament sealed within a glass envelope that is then evacuated and filled with an inert gas.

When electricity is passed through the filament, it becomes hot enough (generally over 3,600°F or 2,000°C) to become incandescent.

Simply put, the filament glows white-hot and emits light. During operation, tungsten, evaporating from the hot filament, accumulates on the inside of the bulb, causing it to blacken. This process continuously reduces the light output of the bulb until it eventually fails.

LED bulbs produce relatively little or no bulb-degrading heat, which not only accounts for their extremely long life-span, but also for their incredible energy-efficiency, which is 90% greater than that of both halogen and incandescent bulbs.

Halogens, like incandescent bulbs, can be disposed of in your normal household waste bin as they too cannot be recycled. As with their traditional Incandescent cousins, Halogen bulbs invariably end up in landfill sites where they can only damage the environment still further.

Ideal to replace your wasteful and non-recyclable halogen spotlight bulb, the Dimmable GU10 LED Bulb has a concentrated 45° beam angle that’s ‘spot-on’ for feature illumination, and with a power-consumption of just 4-watts, will provide the same 315 Lumens as a 50-watt halogen spotlight.

CFLs & Fluorescent Tubes

CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) and Fluorescent Tubes are energy-saving light bulbs but, unfortunately, that’s where their eco-friendliness ends. After they’ve outlived their usefulness, they really shouldn’t simply be thrown into your normal rubbish bin, as they contain small amounts of the environmentally harmful element, Mercury.

Ideally, they should be collected separately, before being transported for disposal. Whilst this ensures that valuable parts of the lamps, such as glass and metal, are not lost, it also greatly increases their ‘lifetime’ carbon footprint. Every compact fluorescent bulb carries with it an end-of-life recycling fee.

From the 1^st of July 2007, the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations were changed, making it illegal to use landfill sites or skips for the disposal of CFLs, and by law, you must be able to prove to your Local Authority that you’ve complied with the new WEEE regulations. Even more inconveniently, you’re now required to obtain a "Hazardous Waste Transfer Note" to show that you’ve disposed of your waste in a responsible manner.

While measures such as this look good on paper, in the real world, they’re incredibly difficult to enforce. This means that millions of CFLs each year are simply tossed into the regular waste disposal system, where their breakage causes toxic chemicals to seep gradually into our soil and, thereafter, our water supplies.

Fortunately, LED light bulbs contain no harmful elements so at the end of their long lives, there’s no possibility that they’ll damage our already beleaguered eco-system.

Often used in bedside and reading lamps, CFLs can easily be swapped for LED bulbs like the E14 ‘Small Edison Screw’ and the B15 ‘Small Bayonet Cap’ bulbs, as both types are equally luminescent and energy-efficient, costing a fraction of the CFL to run, which means you’ll spend less on electricity, and your carbon footprint will be greatly reduced too!

LED Bulbs

As has previously been stated, but perhaps bears repeating, LEDs don’t contain any harmful substances, but like CFLs, do carry a small up-front recycling charge. Something to bear in mind, however, is that the price of LED bulbs has been steadily dropping over the last few years, to such an extent that now, the recycling charge has become negligible.

LEDs will continue to function at peak performance, for a very long time, and are virtually maintenance free, which also adds to their considerable lifetime appeal and cost-effectiveness.  While you can dispose of individual LEDs in your household waste, they can also be placed in your recycling bin when they eventually fail.

Alternatively, you can contact one of thousands of local recycling centres in the UK, as many of them have LED recycling programmes to take advantage of the valuable materials in these bulbs. Most local recycling centre information is available online. You can also ship them free-of-charge to online recycling programmes, which accept LED bulbs. Some of them even offer incentive coupons which will enable you to get money off similar products!

Unlike the other types of bulb, there is simply no other to replace an LED, because they’re the very best light provider on the market today.

You can also get advice about switching to LED bulbs, and the best way to dispose of them, from our friendly and dedicated customer service advisors, by ringing 0116 321 4120 or by sending an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk.