Just want to share some information on Energy lamps, which are widely used today. The positive side is that they use less energy per hour used but have some hazards which have to be taken seriously.
They contain a small of amount of Mercury, which is highly poisonous.

They should therefore be recycled as special waste "sonder muell" and not be put in glass recycling or your normal säckli.

You should also be careful what to do when one breaks indoors.
- Ventilate before taking up the pieces.
- Use a wet cloth that you then dispose of in a sealed bag.

Pregnant women should not be doing any of this cleaning and children be kept away.

This is also something to keep in mind when you take lamps down and move to new apartments or houses in Switzerland and abroad. I would advice that you take out the bulbs of the lamps and transport them seperately, somewhere were they can not break.

That is also true for fluorescent tube lights as well as low energy bulbs

Yes, often political decisions to look green have worse side effects.
Many years ago I supported the campaign for unleaded petrol but nobody told me they would replace the lead with benzine which is a carcinogen with no known safe limit.

I have been experimenting with led bulbs which are much brighter than the usual energy bulb, also with halogen bulbs which are also much brighter but so far my experience with halogen is that they have a very short life.

This is because they ARE fluorescent tubes, and work no differently.

Tom

Of which I would add an extra safety tip.

Wear rubber gloves when cleaning up the mess. The gloves should then be turned inside out while being removed from hands and added to that wet cloth to be disposed of.

The amount of mercury in the bulbs is small but when dealing with hazardous materials one can never be too careful.