How to Properly Recycle Christmas Lights This Year

Why Recycle Christmas Lights?

Christmas lights are beautiful during the holiday season, but what should you do when you have broken holiday lights or replace your old ones? Holiday lights should be recycled rather than put in the trash. Recycling lights will reduce waste and conserve natural resources. When you choose to recycle your Christmas lights, you are not only a green citizen, but you’ll help protect the environment from hazardous materials like lead and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), substances often found in Christmas lights. If you are going to move on from your broken or old Christmas lights this season, recycling could be the best way to contribute to a more sustainable holiday season.

Preparing Old Christmas Lights for Recycling

A great time to recycle holiday lights is going into the holiday season. You’ll either be putting up new lights or pulling out your old ones to use this year. Either way, when you remove your string lights or other Christmas light source from their boxes, test the lights. Sort out and gather the old or broken lights. Remove any packaging, cords, or accessories. Check for recyclable materials like copper, plastic, and glass. Those materials can be reused after further processing.

Recycling Options for Christmas Lights

Local Recycling Facilities and Hardware Stores

When looking to recycle old Christmas lights, you’ll need to check for recycling centers or programs. The best place to start is a local hardware store to see if they have a Christmas light recycling program. If your local store doesn’t recycle old lights, visit participating hardware stores like The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, and True Value. Sometimes these types of stores offer discounts if you swap out old lights for new, more energy efficient LEDs. Another option is your local government authority. Contact local waste and recycling facilities or municipal solid waste office for information on recycling Christmas tree lights and drop-off locations.

Online Recycling Solutions

Online recycling solutions could also be a good solution if you can’t find a local recycling center. Online mail-in recycling programs with companies like Holiday LEDs and Christmas Light Source or are platforms and marketplaces that accept Christmas lights for recycling. Green Citizen, a San Francisco company offers drop-offs for locals or mail-ins if you pay some shipping costs. Typically, if they do recycle Christmas lights, they’ll take everything from holiday string lights to Christmas tree lights. If you’re getting new lights for either your home or tree this year, an online recycling service could be the best option. All you need to do is add some packing material and drop them off at the post office.

Creative Reuses for Old Christmas Lights

If you’re switching from incandescent lights to LED lights, you can also get creative with DIY ornaments, festive wreaths, and garlands. Upcycle into unique bedroom and patio decor. Donate functional lights or light strands with other gently used decorations to a local charity or a thrift store like Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. This could be a good alternative to a recycling center if your old lights are in good shape and don’t have many broken bulbs. It’s also convenient to drive through their drop-off locations, especially if you have old holiday decorations you’d like to donate at the same time.

Proper Disposal of Broken Christmas Lights

Please don’t throw away old light strings or put them in the trash. They will end up in the landfill. If you don’t want to take them to an accepting recycling center, participate in special collection programs or mail-in recycling with companies like Holiday LEDs and Christmas Light Source. Consider repurposing old lights in creative ways such as making new crafts or decorations. Or, take them with other decorations to your local thrift store. This might be the least expensive method to dispose of them as thrift stores don’t charge even a small fee.

Finding Local Recycling Resources

If you’d like to recycle locally, search online for “Christmas light recycling near me.” You can also contact local authorities, hardware stores, and charities for information on recycling Christmas lights. Use online directories like the Green Directory to find recycling options for holiday lights since you typically can’t just put them in a recycling bin.

Conclusion

Recycling old Christmas lights and other electronics can have a big environmental impact. Even if you have broken lights, materials like glass and plastic can be reused instead of ending up in the landfill. Reduce waste and conserve natural resources by finding a way to recycle the raw materials or reuse old lights.