The problem here is that no one knows where to recycle them. There's only a few locations in the US that recycle them and they don't accept consumer drop offs. Local recycling centers and waste centers generally don't accept them separately and just tell you to put them in the main trash. I had 15 years of bulbs stashed in a box in the garage because I didn't want to dump mercury in the landfill even though they told me that was perfectly fine, which I knew was wrong. Eventually an acquaintance told me that they had seen small tube collection boxes near the customer service desk at Home Depot. This is not advertised and is not known to the recycling centers. So the experts just tell people to landfill them when asked. If people knew where to take them it would be more than 0.5% doing it. It wouldn't be 100%, but maybe 50%.
