Home Depot may not be the largest retailer in the USA (Wal-Mart gets that notoriety) but it does have 1,973 stores across the country. Moreover, those stores are located within 10-miles from more than 75% of US households. That’s good news for recyclers and the energy-conscience because starting in July 2008 The Home Depot will take back defunct compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Customers can bring any expired and unbroken compact fluorescent lights (CFL) to their nearest Home Depot return’s desk. The Home Depot will collect the used bulbs and a recycling company will properly recycle and dispose of the bulbs’ components.
The Home Depot’s offer to collect used CFLs from the public makes it the first (and of course) largest retailer to offer such a service. In its press release announcing the service, Hope Depot said that it sold over 75 million CFLs in 2007, which translated into roughly $4.8 billion saved in energy costs and avoided 51.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the lifespan of the bulbs.