The partnership between the Illinois Department of Commerce, Economic Opportunity and Ameren Illinois Utilities has created a safe way to recycle compact fluorescent light bulbs.

The program, called the Act On Energy project, involves recycling bins that have been set up across the area at Springfield Electric Supply Company stores, county health departments and participating Ace Hardware stores.

Leigh Morris, Ameren spokesman, said the project is an easy way to help the environment.

“All a person has to do is bring the used bulb to one of the bins and drop it in there. The rest of the work is done by the company,” Morris said. “The recycling bins are then collected and brought to a recycling center in the United States, where the plastic and glass material in the light bulbs will be taken out to be reused.”

The main goal of this project is to avoid having the compact fluorescent light bulbs end up in landfills, Morris said.

“Besides the fact that the bulbs would take up space in landfills, if the bulbs end up in a landfill there is a chance that the small amount of mercury from the bulbs can seep through the ground,” Morris said. “Our recycling program assures that doesn’t happen.”

Wayne Munster, a manager at Ace Hardware, said the recycling bins have been in use for two to three months already. “Because of the light bulbs’ extended life, there aren’t too many in the bins just yet, but we have about ten or so in there right now,” Munster said.

Uma Patel, senior in Engineering, said she is in favor of setting up a program to avoid the possibility of mercury seepage, even if there is no apparent problem right now.

“When mercury seeps through, it runs through the ground water and through the dirt that could be used for crops,” Patel said. “This process takes a long time and the effects might not be obvious right away, so it’s good to set this up before there is a problem.”

The program may help Champaign residents recycle more despite they city’s lack of an established recycling program.

“I use the recycling bins at the Home Depot for general recycling, so I will use these bins for my fluorescent lights,” said Bridget Cameron, graduate student.

Cameron said she supports the recycling bins at the select locations.

“If it’s good for the environment, I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “They would not set up a program like this unless there could be a problem, so it’s good to see that they are working towards a solution to help the environment.”

The bulb bins are just a small part of the Act on Energy recycling project. They also collect old refrigerators and recycle the metals and plastics from them.

“We hope that we’ll be able to get more bins throughout the area to make it more convenient for people to use these bins. We feel the more bins there are the more likely people will be to use them,” Morris said. “We want to give everybody their chance to help go green and keep our environment a good place to live.”