This past month, the five holiday-loving board members put minds together and decided to recycle broken holiday lights!
After putting out the word, 39 neighbors requested light pickups. Gia, Jackie, Josh, Willa, and Sela spent 2 afternoons retrieving broken lights, building camaraderie, and amassing over 195 pounds of broken strands of festive lights. But, where to drop-off the lights for proper processing? Refilleri to the rescue!
Refilleri is a Zero Waste store in Humboldt Park, Chicago. The store owner, Kelli, was open to such a large intake and the store staff, Hailey and Allison, couldn’t have been nicer! They also showed us around their store and taught us about zero waste products - it’s crazy how sustainability projects promote community. We loved their products and will certainly return as we continue down our path of sustainability!
But, back to the question “Why should we care about diverting broken strings of lights from the landfill?”. Because, depending on how they're made, they contain plastic, glass, copper, and potentially lead and mercury.
A recycler will take them apart, salvage the copper, recycle the plastic & glass, and ensure that compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL) aren’t left to leech mercury into landfills. Only a small portion of the original strand will end up in a landfill.
If you missed our pickup dates, it’s not too late! The following organizations accept holiday lights for recycling!
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