Bright green

Years ago, someone got me a car-emergency kit as a gift. It came in a cheap yellow plastic container that never stayed shut. It had some jumper cables, the most poorly constructed flashlight ever made, some flares and a can of some substance -- perhaps air -- that was supposed to come in handy in the case of a flat tire.

I think the air can is highly pressurized and, as such, has a warning on the package instructing me not to throw it away ever -- or something like that. So for close to a decade, during which I've had two cars and moved four times, I keep taking this rusted can of tire air with me. I don't want to toss it in a dumpster and have it blow up in someone's garbage truck. And given the effort it would take to find the nearest hazmat dump site, it has always seemed easier to just keep packing it and moving it.

Any thoughts?

Aside from soliciting your advice, I mention that fascinating information because today comes good news that those orange-apron wearing do-gooders at The Home Depot -- or Home Despot, as I like to call it -- finally announced that they'd allow their stores to collect used compact fluorescent light bulbs for recycling. Unbeknownst to me, this had been an issue until now because the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, which is an environmental hazard, although it's apparently OK to eat in seafood.

We just bought a few packs of cfls there, so I thought it was good to know. Of course, I think these bulbs are supposed to last until about 2035, by which time we'll probably be beaming them into space or something.