Busted Holiday Lights Are the Worst, Especially When They Wind Up in Landfills. Here’s a Way To Recycle

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If this Christmas light situation looks familiar, there’s an alternative to tossing out the tangled mess.

A group of North Side alderpeople and community organizations are teaming up to recycle non-working holiday lights, which, it should be emphasized, cannot and should not be placed in regular recycling bins. (They choke recycling equipment like a chicken bone down the windpipe.)

Though the lights aren’t as recyclable as, say, aluminum cans, they do contain materials such as copper that can be reused. So drop off non-working strands and any extension cords you’re not using either, at participating locations, now through Jan. 31. Consider it a Christmas gift to the planet.

Locations (click links for office/business hours):

40th Ward office, 5620 N. Western Ave.

47th Ward office, 4243 N. Lincoln Ave.

48th Ward office, 5533 N. Broadway

Northcenter Chamber of Commerce, 4054 N. Lincoln Ave.

A Pretty Flower, 2334 W. Lawrence Ave.

Erwin Law, 4043 N. Ravenswood Ave., Suite 208

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 |  [email protected]


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