Where to recycle holiday lights in Cook County

Many communities that are members of the of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County are hosting a drop-off for residents to bring old or burned out lights. This program is for a limited time and is at no cost to residents that participate.

Elgin Recycling, the company that offers this program, accepts all holiday string lighting and extension cords, which can be dropped off at various locations throughout northern Cook County. However, garland, live greens, wreaths or other nonrecyclables are not accepted in this program.

The following communities have drop-off locations: Arlington Heights, Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Kenilworth, Lincolnwood, Mount Prospect, Niles, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows, Skokie, Wheeling, Wilmette and Winnetka. The exact locations and drop-off hours can be found at swancc.org.

"Every year, residents find themselves purchasing new strands of lights due to burned out bulbs, incomplete strands, wanting a different color, etc. Through this recycling program, materials will be reclaimed, reprocessed, made into new products and kept out of the landfills - making the season much brighter," states Mary Allen, SWANCC's Recycling and Education director.

SWANCC's participating communities partner with Elgin Recycling Inc. to recycle the lights and cords. The strands are separated and baled and sent to be chopped or shredded and sold as a commodity to foundries and mills in the United States.