My county has a special bin for them at the transfer station, but I bet you are right that most people don’t dispose of them properly. After the poor performance of a few CFLs, I’ve been buying incandescent replacements. I totally agree with you about the quality of the light.

Second, they may be less susceptible to damage from vibration (think garage lights, etc) but they are more fragile in general. I’ve dropped a few incandescent bulbs while changing them, and haven’t had to get out the dustpan and broom all that often. Compared to CFL’s, you’ll be cleaning up broken glass every time one gets dropped.

Which brings me to my final point, CFL’s contain mercury, and in fact, the box even says that discarded CFL bulbs should be handled appropriately, and where I live (Montgomery County, MD) they are even considered Hazardous Material, and are not to be disposed of in your regular trash. And don’t even think of getting out the vacuum cleaner for broken CFL’s, nor should you use a broom. Both methods can stir up dust which contains mercury. Some boxes inform you that should one break, you should wipe the area up with a damp cloth.

That being said, how many people do you think are properly disposing of CFL bulbs? I’m willing to bet not a whole lot. Meaning as the use of CFL’s becomes more common, we’ll have a whole lot more mercury collecting in landfills. Also, most people probably don’t clean up broken CFL’s properly, leading to elevated levels of mercury in your own home. You know, the place where you spend most of your time. Studies show that long term exposure to mercury is a very bad thing.

My verdict on CFL’s: Very bad news.