Recycle old holiday lights and replace them with LEDs.

Incandescent holiday lights might be pretty...when they're lit. Half the time, they don't light up because somewhere along the strand one of those fragile little bulbs has broken or burned out. If you're 'green,' your first inclination might be to try to find the broken bulb and repair it. Two hours later, you might still be looking for the broken bulb! Meanwhile, the light strands that do work are gulping energy at an exorbitant rate, especially compared to their LED counterparts.

The solution? Replace your old incandescents with new LEDs. You can do so without worrying about waste by recycling the incandescents here for free. When you do, you'll earn a discount coupon worth 15% off the price of the new LED lights you buy. Act now, since the recycling program and discount coupon are only available through February 2010.

How should you package the lights?

Please DO NOT:

1. Include any packing material or anything other than the lights themselves

2. Send the lights in outer packaging such as retail boxes

3. Include any apparatus used to wind up or store the lights

4. Use any size box that is larger than what is needed to accommodate the lights.

5. Put your light sets in plastic bags or any other interior packaging.

Please DO:

1. Use cardboard boxes or other packaging that can easily be recycled.

2. Coordinate with your friends, neighbors, co-works, social groups, church groups, or other organizations when possible to collect lights and send in one bulk shipment (this reduces shipping costs for everyone and reduces environmental impact of shipping.)

3. Compact your light sets into the smallest space possible.

BTW, it's easy to recycle CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), too. Here's how.

Comments

[Marry Ann]

This is a very good idea as I have a time of Christmas lights and had no idea that we could send them off to be recycled. We have been buying the new LED lights from Costco which of course are more energy-efficient and as far as I'm concerned they look much better in the dark. Thanks for the tip

[Diane MacEachern]

I love these lights, too. Buying them at Costco is a great idea, since you'll get them at a good price. Thanks for writing.

[led holiday lights]

Buying energy efficient lights is the best way to save energy ans money. Great tips!