Five councils publish different advice on where old-style bulbs and fluorescent tubes should go, two pages address LEDs in different contexts, and national guidance sets out the classification and shop take-back rules behind it.
In this guide
Council websites do not agree on every kind of bulb, so the right bin for a spent lamp depends on the lamp and on the council. This guide compares the published pages of West Sussex County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Wandsworth Borough Council, Calderdale Council and North Yorkshire Council, and sets them beside GOV.UK guidance from the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the Environment Agency and Defra. The council rules are those of the named councils only. It is general information, not legal advice.
Old-style filament and halogen bulbs
Four of the five pages direct some or all of these bulbs, wrapped, to the ordinary rubbish. West Sussex says incandescent and halogen bulbs can be wrapped to avoid shattering and placed in general waste, although the same page also tells residents to place LED, halogen and incandescent bulbs in the small domestic appliances area at its recycling centres. Nottinghamshire says broken ordinary (incandescent) bulbs can be wrapped and placed in the waste wheeled bin. Wandsworth says old-style bulbs should be wrapped and put in with general rubbish. Calderdale says incandescent filament and halogen bulbs cannot be recycled, even as part of a lamp, and should be wrapped in newspaper and placed in household waste.
North Yorkshire differs: its page says older-style incandescent bulbs are not recyclable and should be placed in the waste to energy recovery container, on its household waste recycling centres page.
Fluorescent tubes and energy-saving bulbs
Every page that covers these lamps points them to a recycling centre or asks residents to keep them out of the household bin. Nottinghamshire asks residents not to put fluorescent tubes or energy-saving bulbs in the waste wheeled bin because they contain components or chemicals needing specialist treatment, and not to put any bulb in glass bottle banks. West Sussex says they are classed as hazardous waste because they contain mercury, and that all its recycling centres accept them. Calderdale says low-energy bulbs can go to any of its recycling centres, into the fluorescent tube container, and notes that they contain mercury, which is hazardous if they break. North Yorkshire says household fluorescent tubes and energy-efficient bulbs can be recycled free of charge at all its household waste recycling centres. Wandsworth asks for tubes and energy-saving bulbs in sealed plastic bags at Smuggler’s Way Household Waste and Recycling Centre.
LED lamps and LEDs inside electrical goods
Two pages address LEDs in different contexts. West Sussex directs LED bulbs to the small domestic appliances area at its recycling centres. Calderdale discusses LEDs sealed inside electrical goods such as bike headlamps and toys; that does not establish its route for a loose LED bulb. The Nottinghamshire, Wandsworth and North Yorkshire pages read for this guide do not mention LED lamps.
What the national guidance adds
The Office for Product Safety and Standards and Defra guidance on the WEEE regulations, last updated on 12 August 2025, says the regulations do not apply to filament bulbs, apart from LED filament bulbs, to which they do apply. It says distributors must offer free takeback of waste electricals and accept them free from customers supplied with like-for-like products, and that retailers with an electrical sales area above 400 square metres must accept small WEEE, under 25 cm on its longest side, from private households without a purchase.
The Environment Agency and Defra classification guidance, published on 1 May 2025, lists lamps among waste electricals. It gives linear fluorescent tubes as hazardous waste that is not POPs waste, and gives halogen and incandescent lamps not containing hazardous substances, together with LED lamps not containing POPs, as non-hazardous. LED lamps containing POPs and hazardous substances are listed as hazardous and POPs waste. The guide says the levels of hazardous substances and POPs in bulbs must be checked before they are classified. West Sussex describes all types of bulb other than incandescent and halogen as hazardous waste, whereas the national table separates LED lamps according to whether they contain POPs and hazardous substances.
Bulbs from a business
The classification guidance is addressed to businesses and says waste a business produces must be classified before it is collected, disposed of or recovered. Wandsworth adds that by law light bulbs from non-domestic sources must not be mixed with non-hazardous waste. For the general sorting rules, see the guide to general waste, recycling or hazardous.
FAQs
Can a broken filament bulb go in the bin?
Nottinghamshire says broken ordinary (incandescent) bulbs can be wrapped and placed in the waste wheeled bin, and Calderdale advises wrapping in newspaper.
Can I put a bulb in the glass bank?
Nottinghamshire says no type of light bulb should go into glass bottle banks, because the glass is different and metal parts can contaminate recycling.
How do I find my own council’s rule?
GOV.UK’s household waste page says to check your council’s website for the kinds of waste it collects.
The bottom line
Four of the five councils direct at least some old-style filament and halogen bulbs, wrapped, to the household rubbish, while North Yorkshire directs them to a waste to energy recovery container. Fluorescent tubes and energy-saving bulbs are pointed to recycling centres or kept out of the waste bin, and the LED advice covers different product contexts and does not establish a like-for-like contradiction. The national guidance read for this guide does not tell households which bin to use, and GOV.UK’s household waste page sends readers to their own council’s website. This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
This guide draws on the following sources, read on 25 October 2026 unless a date is shown:
- Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, West Sussex County Council (westsussex.gov.uk)
- Light bulbs and fluorescent lighting, Nottinghamshire County Council (nottinghamshire.gov.uk)
- Light bulbs, Wandsworth Borough Council, page showing an update date of 10/11/2021 (wandsworth.gov.uk)
- Light bulbs, Calderdale Council, page updated 25 June 2026 (calderdale.gov.uk)
- Light bulbs, North Yorkshire Council (northyorks.gov.uk)
- Regulations: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), Office for Product Safety and Standards and Defra, last updated 12 August 2025 (gov.uk)
- Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE): how to classify, Environment Agency and Defra, published 1 May 2025 (gov.uk)
- Dispose of household waste (gov.uk)
Related guides
WEEE rules and shop take-back
Sorting household waste correctly
Why batteries are treated differently
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