CFLs save the world (as long as you don't mind that little mercury thing)

City Hall was giddy last week that Peco donated 1,300 new energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. But as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and everyone else on the planet asks people to start using CFLs, they contain mercury that will get into the environment unless properly recycled.
Mark Alan Hughes, the city's director of sustainability, says anyone can recycle unbroken bulbs at local retailers including Home Depot and Ikea. The city also accepts bulbs at its household hazardous waste disposal events, the next one being September 13th at the Streets Department yard at 22nd Street and York Street. The city took in only 246 pounds of fluorescent tubes and CFLs last year, Hughes said, "But we can accept more."
Bottom line, don't break your bulbs. According to the EPA, all fluorescent bulbs contain a small amount of mercury that is released if they are broken. If you break one in your home, the EPA gives involved instructions on how to safely clean it up. Despite their mercury content, the EPA says, use of the bulbs — even if thrown into the trash — will result in less mercury in the environment, because mercury is produced in generating electricity at facilities such as coal-fired generating plants.