Do LEDs contain mercury?

Fluorescent lights are very common in commercial and public lighting, see frequent use in homes, and all of them contain mercury, even the popular CFL bulbs. On the other hand, all LEDs, including RGB power LEDs and dimmable white LEDs do not contain any mercury at all, nor any other toxic gasses. This is important because when incandescent or fluorescent bulbs filled with mercury gas break, they expose those close to them to toxic levels of this neurotoxin. Mercury poses the greatest risk to young children and fetuses, but can also cause problems if the mercury seeps into the soil, spreading the toxin in a number of ways.

This means that even something as innocuous as a party planning company taking down its color-changing lights poses a risk to the workers and anyone else around, if the bulbs contain mercury. It also means that non-LED lights cannot be recycled and their manufacture and disposal always releases neurotoxins. LEDs lack these harmful chemicals, are less likely to be broken by accident, are safer when they do become damaged because they won’t release mercury gas, and can be recycled. This is another reason why LED lights are a more responsible and environmentally friendly lighting choice.