I actually just read an article last week about the dangers of mercury in all those bulbs. I'm sure the article was overzealous like almost all alarmist writing is, but it was saying it takes 30 cubic yards of dirt to disperse the mercury in one bulb to "safe" levels. That means for every one that goes in a dump, you need a full truck load of dirt to dilute and contain it. Less than that, and it seeps into the water supply, and ends up in your tuna/dolphin cans. :-P
I don't think it's actually that big of an issue, considering the tube-style lights we've been using (and throwing away) since the 60s haven't alarmed people until now, even when we got concerned about mercury in our water. But I'm with Aetre, it just serves to highlight how a lot of "good" ideas aren't really thought through, and can be (possibly) more harmful than what they're replacing.
Another thing on that idea... "Biofuels." Early studies are showing that the damage we do from farming that much more corn and rapeseed totally offsets the gains from the cleaner fuels they produce. On top of that, all those fields and crops could be feeding millions of starving people around the world. Both oil and croplands are in limited supply, but you can't do much with oil but burn it and make plastic. I say we feed the crops to people, and let our cars burn the dinos.