Dead holiday lights? Chicago nonprofit will recycle them for you
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Don't know what to do with your holiday lights that have gone out?
A nonprofit group is asking that you don't throw them away.
CBS 2's Shardaa Gray reports on why they want your broken holiday lights.
The goal is to collect as many broken light strands as possible and keep them out of a landfill.
"When it comes to something like lights, it doesn't get recycled and turned into something else all the time."
Sherry Skalko is the founder of Reduce Waste Chicago, a non-profit organization that helps Chicagoans reduce waste by collecting items that can be reused, repurposed, or are difficult to recycle, like holiday lights.
"Our organization started this three years ago with six locations primarily on the North Side and we collected 1,300 pounds of lights," Skalko said.
The 47th Ward office has seen many non-working light strands for the past three years.
"I think this year really has been breaking all the records. We have several large buckets, trays and they fill up within two or three days," said Joshua Mark, Chief of Staff for Ald. Matt Martin.
The 47th ward is just one of many locations of where you can drop off your broken light strands. Last year there were 12 locations. This year, there's 24.
"We're up in Forest Glen. We're down in the West Loop, Back of the Yards. And we're also partnering with Waste Not Compost to offer pickup services to their customers. So we expect to be collecting a lot more lights," Skalko said.
Once the lights have been collected, they'll be dropped off at Elgin Recycling Center.
But before you decide to dump your string of lights, Skalko wants you to try the Three Rs.
"We always talk about repairing, reusing, repurposing. There's a lot of "R's" before you get to recycling," Skalko said.
Skalko said the money from recycling, between 20 and 30 cents a pound, helps the organization cover its operating costs.
You can drop off your broken lights until January 31st at this list of sites collecting lights.