Can I throw "green-tipped" flourescent bulbs in the trash?

At a recent environmental seminar an attendee asked this question. Another attendee said "Yes" because he heard that GE (a maker of "green-tipped" flourescent light bulbs) said it was "OK" to throw their green-tips in the dumpster. At that point, the EPA representative from the Twinsburg, Ohio office said, with not a hint of flexibility, as far as she and the EPA was concerned, "don't. If you do, I, or one of my fellow EPA representatives, will write you up." Beyond the recycling opportunities and benefits, there are still small traces of Mercury that would end up in the ground of a landfill. See "dumb and dumber"