Article & photo by Madeline Salmon, TC Daily Planet
It’s a familiar scene, one that plays out year after year when the leaves have fallen: you drag out the bundle of Christmas lights from their dust-enshrouded summer tomb, only to discover when you plug them into the wall that the glow is gone. You say you’re going to fiddle with each bulb until you find the culprit, but you never get around to it, and the next time you go shopping you end up buying a new strand of lights anyway, only to throw the dead one into the trash bin.
The Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM), in partnership with the Clean Energy Resource Teams, has a better way to dispose of those lights that don’t work. RAM’s statewide project, “Recycle Your Holidays,” allows Minnesota residents to drop off their unwanted holiday lights at more than 400 locations. Businesses can also sign up to become a collection site and receive a free bin and free pickup whenever the bin is full. A map on the CERTs website, searchable by city, lists all current collection locations in Minnesota.
Ellen Telander, a spokesperson for RAM, said the program is in its third year and grows each holiday season. The goal this year is for at least 400 or more businesses to sign up, keeping the program at or above its previous level. Telander said RAM would also like the program to recycle at least 200,000 pounds of lights this year.
More: Click here to read the full article, click here to see the map of drop-off locations, and click here to sign up as a collection site.
