Here in Australia local authorities like to avoid that issue. There are some recyclers who can recycle these light bulbs, however they usually will not accept low volumes, as they specialise in commercial flourescent tube disposal.

There are tips on what to do when compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFL's) break accidentally.

 1) Air out the room if possible

2) Get a damp cloth to wipe up the mess

3) Throw it all in a bin.

The best option in my opinion is to have CFL collection bins in central public places, much like glass bottle disposal collection points. 

I totally agree with Ortheil on this.Another point to note is that not much has been done or even said about CFL disposal in some countries, like in Uganda  where I come from

I entirely agree with the views made here. CFLs are hazardous and contain substances, notably mercury, which are normally only allowed in controlled environements. I recently drew attention of a Swiss politician, Jacques Neirynck, who had promoted CFLs to this problem and his response:

Le problème est identique pour les piles et batteries qui sont maintenant récupérées dans une large mesure. D'une façon générale, tout le matériel électrqiue doit être impérativement recyclé et on y arrive.

is totally meaningless and unhelpful. It has taken us decades to get the levels of recycling we have today and even in Switzerland (apparently the world champions in this area), we only get to less than 80% of batteries recycled. If in 20 years we get to that figure, then there are still an awful lot of CFLs which will have been dumped in the open and released significant amounts of a highly toxic substance.

What concerns me most is not so much the use of CFLs and their disposal. It is possible to recycle CFLs and there are commercial companies doing so today. If nothing else, throw a bit of money at the problem and you will come up with the technology to solve the problem. The real issue is a societal issue. The vast majority of the population has no idea that CFLs contain a toxic substance, the need for recycling is either missing (usually) or only printed on the packaging - and who keeps the packaging for light bulbs?

In my opinion the campaign for CFLs must include information on the need to recycle CFLs at the end of life and on precautions to take if they are damaged during use.

Thought I'd pitch in and translate the quote in French above:

"The problem is the same with batteries. most of which are now retrieved. On the whole, anything electrical has to be recycled and we're getting there".

 What a non-committal comment. What does he mean by "we're getting there" which could also be translated by "we manage"? Does he mean we've still got to make an effort or is he giving himself or the Swiss a pat on the back? The UK certainly doesn't manage very well. Most batteries still go in to landfill with the rest of the trash and then they cover it with a layer of top soil and grow salads on it. You might end up eating lettuce grown biologically (ha!) feeding on battery juice.

I'm being cynical.

Matters very little what Jacques means. I think we ought to supply all national standardization organizations with the means to generate simple recycled boxes which could be sent out to schools to underline the importance, not only using efficient lighting, but also ensuring that the bulbs get disposed of correctly.

Give them graphics, correct information and the recycling box and the message could get passed on to parents. Switzerland is champion in recycling but I haven't heard of any campaign on that front yet.

Thought you might be interested in this http://www.asimpleswitch.com/?country=us site from Philips in the US. It asks the consumer to commit to changing their incandescent  bulbs to a Philips enegy saving bulbs and shows the impact on the reduction of coal power stations. Nothing about safe disposal but a good start. Wouldn't some sort of bulb amnesty work better? Couldn't a retailer like Wal-Mart offer a trade in on those bulbs and then help people understand how to dispose of the new bulbs safely?