all florescent lights (including compact) contain mercury
it is recommended that if a florescent lamp is broken, that the person cleaning up the mess sweep the residue into a dustpan before disposing of the HAZARDOUS WASTE - it is highly recommended that YOU DO NOT VACUMN up the HAZARDOUS WASTE
now that we have CFLs, what do you do if one breaks on a carpeted area, like happened to a friend of my wife...
Technically, that is legaly speaking, fluorescent lamps are not hazardous waste in the USA. They are managed as Universal Waste, which has a lower degree of regulation, than hazardous waste. But that only applies to fairly large generators of fluorescent lamps. Fluorescent lamps generated by homes are excluded from being managed as hazardous waste under 40 CFR Subpart I, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA for short). So you can sweep it up and just dump it in the trash bin if you wish. I wouldn't recommend it though if you can practically avoid it (though that's not always possible for everyone).
You really don't have much to worry about if you break a fluorescent lamp. They contain about 12 to 20 parts per million of metallic mercury. If the lamp is old and burned out, most of that mercury will have been converted to solid mercuric oxide which is less of a health threat than elemental mercury. You're greatest threat of exposure is when a lamp breaks, particularly during use, as most of the mercury is in the hydride form and can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. But even if that happened the airborne concentration would, at worst, be close to OSHA's occupational exposure limit. So leaving the room and ventilating it for 15 minutes will get rid of almost all of the airborne mercury.
Keep in mind that elemental mercury is not directly toxic to humans. It has to be converted to the hydride which is inhaled but even then, the concentration in lamps is so low that a toxic exposure is very unlikely, unless you make a career out of snorting the fumes of broken lamps. The real issue with lamps is that the elemental mercury becomes airborne, gets exposed to the environment were it gets converted to methyl mercury which is a highly toxic bioaccumulative substance. That is the real environmental issue with fluorescent lamps.
My suggestion is this. Avoid using fluorescent lamps at home if possible. If you do use them and one burns out. Place the burned out bulb in the original packaging you purchased it in and tape the ends shut, then contact your municipality to find out when the next Household Hazardous Waste collection day will be and then when that day arrives, take the old lamps to the drop off point.
If there is no local HHW day in your region then you can also contact a commercial Environmental Services vendor who specializes in lamps, such as, Mercury Waste Solutions Inc (MWSI) or American Environmental Recycling Corp (AERC) and ask them about there lamp tracker program.
If you break a lamp. Do as advised above to clean the mess up. Store the waste in an empty bucket with a lid or a cardboard box that is in good shape and tape it shut with duct tape. If there's no HHW event in your location don't sweat throwing it in the dumpster. It's not illegal and a few lamps hardly present a danger to the environment. It's the accumulation of a large number of them that do.
DQ, to answer your question. If the lamp breaks in a carpeted area. Leave the room for 15 minutes and ventilate the room (i.e. open the window). If phosphor is embeded in the carpeting you can do one of three things.
#1. You can cut out the exposed area of carpeting and throw it away.
#2. You can purchase a mercury spill kit. They have a chemical which will stabilize the mercury. You can then sweep it up. If you do the later make sure you wear a dust mask and old clothes. Throw out the vacuums bag immeadiatly upon finishing along with the old cloths you wore and take a shower to decontaminate you're body just in case of exposure (exposure risk is minimal but it's a good practice).
#3. Sweep up as much phosphor as possible and don't worry about it. A few ppm of mercury doesn't really present much of a heath risk.
I strongly urge not using Fluorscent lamps at home if you have small children as the risk to exposure from a broken lamp is greatest to developing children. The risk of exposure from a broken lamp to an adult is very low unless you are chronically exposed to broken lamps over a long period of time.
