What is the proper way to dispose of old tubes?

Rar1 - Did your father have a Hickok tube tester ? We had one in lab I used to oversee. By around 1990, the institution no longer had any equipment that used tubes so one day we excessed about 500 tubes and the Hickok. I'd like to have it now, for nostalgia.

Most tubes are primarily constructed of ordinary metal parts in a vacuum inside a glass bulb.

However, most tubes also have a "getter" to absorb any stray air molecules that get in the tube. This is generally made out of barium which is toxic. (It is what creates the white interior coating on a tube that has leaked.)

You'll want to be careful not to inhale any dust from a broken tube. I'm sure the EPA probably has some double-secret procedure (ever seen the instructions for disposal of a compact fluorescent light bulb?) but as long as you exercise common sense it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Let me clarify: I'm not worried about injuring myself, but rather with complying with applicable regulations regarding the disposal of items like this.

Ie, I am concerned with "doing the right thing."

[Stunned silence.]

One of the posts above indicates that tubes contain a toxic material. If so, then it may well be that there are rules regarding the disposal of tubes.

If anyone knows if there are such rules, that is the information I am looking for, together with suggestions as to where/how to dispose of the tubes. (For example, are there companies that specialize in the disposal of toxic materials like this?)

For barium info see:
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/contaminants/dw_contamfs/barium.html

The official disposal of barium containing vacuum tubes would be similar to the handling for cathode ray tubes (CRTs). CRTs can contain quite a bit of lead (from shielding) which audio vacuum tubes do not contain.

Here are current EPA rules:

http://electronics.ihs.com/news/2008/epa-amends-crt-recycling.htm?wbc_purpose=basic&WBCMODE=p%2Cp%2Cp%2Cp%2Cp%2C

You will note that households are exempt from federal rules, even with all their lead content. Note that individual states (or other countries) may have different rules.