I had to replace 2 burned out CFL bulbs in the house we rent. There is no easy way to dispose of them. I told my husband I bet nearly every garbage truck in the U.S. is now contaminated with mercury. It was sooo tempting to just throw them in the garbage, rather than save them in a box to eventually recycle when I can find where to recycle them. How many “Joe Averages” realize they have mercury and aren’t just tossing them in the garbage?
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.