Recycle Your Holiday Lights!
CERTs Works with Recycling Association of Minnesota & Partners to Recycle Inefficient Holiday Lights Across the State.
It’s that time of the year again, bring you’re your holiday lights and untangle the wadded mess, but what do you with the strings that no longer light up? Most people just throw them in the trash, but not anymore.
The Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM) in partnership with WCCO TV, Xcel Energy, Snyders Drug Stores and the Clean Energy Resource Teams, announces the launch of “Recycle Your Holidays™” a first-of-its-kind effort in the country going through January 10th all throughout the state.
“Recycle Your Holidays recycles every part of the light strings. Even the little lights are recycles by another project partner Green Lights Recycling” state Ellen Telander, Executive Director of RAM. “This year our goal is to recycle over 50,000 light strands and to encourage Minnesotans to use LED light strands instead, which will save a lot of energy.”
Minnesotans are urged to drop off their old, broken holiday lights at any participating Snyders Drug Stores or various locations during the holiday season. Unlike any other holiday lights recycling programs in the country, RAM will recycle all lights and cords free of charge by working with local vocational centers that provide meaningful jobs and job training. Another added benefit is the reduction of waster going to landfills, helping keep our air and water cleaner.
The new program provides free recycling of holiday lights, free recycling bins with signs and free pick up service to any participating local business, school or church. The program can also recycle any type of electrical cord as well.
The recycling containers for this program are currently stored in Hutchinson, Minnesota. CERTs and RAM staff will do their best to get containers to you. To become holiday lights collection site in the Recycle Your Holidays ™ program, call 651-641-4560 or email ram@recycleminnesota.org.
You can find more information and existing holiday light recycling locations at:
http://www.recycleminnesota.org.
Information provided by CERTs (Clean Energy Resource Teams)