Recycling Holiday
Light Exchange

The Seasonal Beauty of a Holiday Light Exchange

If you’re like many others you may feel a bit “Grinch-like” as you drive around neighborhoods during the months of November and December, and see all of them shining with thousands of holiday lights. Why are you scowling at the merriment? Most will say that they are very unhappy at the wasted electricity that such displays will cause.

It is true that holiday lights set meters spinning wildly, but there is now a way to reduce the bills and the toll that energy consumption takes on the planet. It is called a Holiday Light Exchange and it is basically just a “swap” of old and inefficient incandescent strands of lights for the uber-efficient LED lights instead.

A Holiday Light Exchange Explained

How are the exchanges done? They operate in a few different ways. In some instances the consumer gets a coupon worth X amount of dollars for each strand that they turn in, and the coupon is only good for a purchase of new LED lights. So, you might turn in five sets of old lights and get $3 coupons for each one. You can then use those coupons to purchase LED lights at a discount.

The other way is a direct “swap” for lights but without any expense at all. Often these are done by community organizations and are limited to small quantities. For example, the most common exchanges have a two strand limit each season. Even this, however, adds up to an enormous reduction in community energy consumption, and eliminates a huge amount of the strain that the holiday decorating season can put on the environment.

The groups then take the outdated lights to proper recycling facilities where they are disposed of properly and efficiently.