Maybe not. CFL bulbs contain mercury, an element which is used to help convert ultraviolet light into visible light. The problem with mercury is that it is extremely toxic. When a CFL bulb is broken, mercury gets released into the air. The poisonous element can harm you or end up in soil, water, and fish.
So, what do you do if you break a bulb? Don't panic, the EPA has a checklist of steps to take that suggests you leave the room for 15 minutes, then return to sweep it up and double bag it. Keep in mind that vacuuming will only worsen the situation!
The EPA suggests recycling to ensure that the mercury is never released. You can find recycling locations on sites such as earth911.org and epa.gov/bulbrecycling.
My opinion? Once incandescent bulbs are all phased out there will be millions of CFL bulbs in homes around the world. Every day, thousands will either break or burn out, which means either mercury will be released or they will need to be recycled. Since it is such a hassle to clean up a broken bulb properly or to take a burned out bulb to a recycling site (using extra gas, by the way), I think that many people will just toss them in the trash (lets face it - people are lazy) and loads of mercury will be released. I believe the best and most environmentally friendly option are LED bulbs or "light emitting diodes". These bulbs have many of the pros of CFL bulbs without any hazard or inconvenience. The problem with them is that they are ridiculously expensive - between $50-$100 PER BULB! I'm sticking with CFL for now, but (I hope) that the government will start to realize the potential dangers of CFL and put more effort into finding out a way to make LED bulbs less expensive. LED technology is based on semiconductors, which are constantly becoming more powerful (along with computers), so it is possible to make them affordable.
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