TBL, or Triple Bottom Line, is a nifty concept that says we want to be evaluating and measuring projects on the basis not only of economic, but environmental and societal values as well. TBL is expected to be used to evaluate Bellingham’s waterfront redevelopment. Now that’s a big project and it is perhaps somewhat difficult to understand how TBL will be implemented. So for my own learning I decided to see where TBL would lead me on a smaller project closer to home.

Last year I decided to re-lamp from incandescent bulbs to CFL bulbs, aka Compact Fluorescent Lights. After all, many claims and research say CFLs use 25% of the power and last as much 8 times longer. Even the packaging on a 4 bulb set tells me I can put $45 dollars back in my pocket. Who can resist that? I felt good when I had completed the project…a few small steps towards reduced energy consumption. TBL score: Positive on economics, positive on environment, correct?

Within three months, two of the CFLs had failed…just stopped working, no breakage fortunately. Like other fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury and the packaging warns to follow federal, state and local laws when disposing them. Unlike the familiar long, linear fluorescent tube, these little babies can easily be tossed in the regular trash, undetected, to keep the mercury circulating in our system….quick solution, bad ecological karma. TBL score: Dropping on economics, negative on environment.

Ok, so maybe there were just a couple of bad bulbs…new technology and all that. But the disposal problem is a real concern. So, let’s find out how well our local government does on this problem. Email to the city’s Dept of Public Works…listed on the web site as dealing with environmental issues. I received an almost immediate response back from the city with useful info. The good news, according to the city, there is one approved collection facility on W. Bakerview. The bad news, open from 9am-4pm M-F, and you have to drive there. Called the facility, they suggested that I store the bulbs until I had enough other hazardous waste collected at home to save fuel. TBL score: economics are looking worse, environment is mixed (better on mercury, worse on energy and uncontrolled storage of hazardous waste-my garage), societal is positive (response by the city, and having a collection site).

Are we done yet? Not quite. In doing this little project, I notice that the bulbs were made in China. It is reported that China is the now the major planetary polluter and also has little to no concern for the health and safety of its workers. TBL score: economics are slightly positive, environmental is negative (probably positive here and negative in China), societal has gone way negative due to concerns for the Chinese worker.

What I think I learned: That TBL is very useful for a better understanding of the consequences of our choices. It is also more difficult to use quantitatively than qualitatively (in this case, it is just hard to find meaningful data). We need a method that will help us map, compare and give weight to these different values. We also need a way for our community values to be reflected in the TBL measures we choose to employ. If personal values are different than the community’s, we can wind up with a lot of CFLs where we don’t want them. Finally, we need to look at the whole system to understand the consequences. Personally, I won’t buy another CFL, and I will continue to use and refine TBL

And maybe, just maybe, we could convince those who run our trash collection system to operate a monthly hazardous waste curbside pickup.