Have Your Holiday Lights Lost Their Twinkle? Here's an Interactive Map for Recycling
Putting up the holiday lights can be a chore, and it's even more frustrating when light strings are horribly tangled or broken. There are a number of things that can cause lights not to work as they should, including issues with power to the outlet, use of equipment that is only rated for indoor use outside, blown fuses in the light strings, and bulbs that have burned out. We encourage residents to check out this blog post, and/or some of the YouTube tutorials out there to repair minor problems before replacing light strings. It saves money and reduces waste - win-win!
If a light string is well and truly broken, it can be recycled, but please don't put it your curbside recycling bin! Strings of lights, along with plastic bags, hoses, clothing, rope, and similar items are known as “tanglers" at recycling facilities. As the nickname implies, these items easily become tangled in equipment, causing real risk to facility workers who climb onto disabled machinery to free trapped objects.
Many of the County's electronics recyclers accept holiday light strings and associated equipment like splitters and extension cords for recycling all year long, and some municipalities have teamed up with recyclers to establish additional drop-offs during the holiday season.
To help navigate, Kane County Recycles made a custom map with all known drop-off locations in the County. Do you know of a spot taking lights from for recycling that we missed? Feel free to email the details to recycle@countyofkane.org and we'll add it!
Kane County's two permanent centers (517 E. Fabyan Parkway, Batavia, M-F 8am - 4pm and 900 Angle Tarn, West Dundee, 7am - 3pm) accept light strings year-round, as do some private scrap recyclers in Aurora and Elgin. Both the City of St. Charles and Village of Algonquin have seasonal drop offs that will be collecting through mid-January.
The recycling process for collected lights involves shredding everything and then separating the metal, plastic and glass using specialty equipment. The isolated materials can be recycled into new products.
A final note is that recycling programs are typically only able to accept loose light strings and associated wiring. A more complex item like lighted wreaths, garlands, or lawn ornaments would have to be disassembled and the lights removed in order to recycle those lights. Kane County Recycling Centers can take small laser light projectors, fans for lawn inflatables, and the nylon/polyester fabric from lawn inflatables for recycling.
