🚀 go-pugleaf

I don't know of places to purchase used but workable flourescent tubes.  It 
could be because the life span is unknown and they are considered a hazardous
waste in certain concentrations.

A company called Mercury Technologies will accept flourescent tubes for 
recycling.  It costs on an average .06 cents per foot.  There current technology
allows them to recycle the glass and the metal parts.  They are patenting 
additional processes that will allow them to recover phosphorus and the mercury.
Mercury Tech. is located in Hayward (I think) and their sales office is up in
Martinez or Benicia.

California has a non-sensical law that allows businesses (waste generators) to 
discard 24 tubes in one garbage bin but if they have 25 or more they must be
treated as a hazardous waste.  This law may change in the future and ban the
tubes from garbage cans/landfills.  Mercury Technologies is the only local 
solution that I am aware of.

As to household batteries, I believe a reprocessor exists in southern Calif.
but I can't remember the name.  Minnesota has some extremely strict regulations
on hh batteries.  You may want to talk to the solid waste folks at the MinnesotaState Solid Waste organization located in Minneapolis.

You can bet that this will be a very debated issue in future legislative sessions in Sacramento.

Ann Schneider
Env. Specialist Policy Issues
City of San Jose
Office of Environmental Management