“When I was a kid many years ago, I can remember the garbage men throwing four foot tube fluorescents in the trucks. People had them in kitchen ceiling fixtures. They (and we) loved to hear them pop and release a cloud of phosphors. They also had a lot more mercury than present CFLs. The trucks were contaminated back then, and probably worse.”
Okay, I have confession to make. Waaaay back when I was 12, a convenience store on the outskirts of town was stacking their burnt-out 8 foot bulbs behind the store. I discovered over a hundred bulbs there, awaiting good use. I found they made really cool spears that gave a very satisfying pop when thrown against the store’s back wall. It didn’t take long to chuck a hundred spears.
LOL! I would have done the same thing! I love that POP! A hundred times. And 8-footers. Wow!