How NOT to recycle your Christmas lights

A note from Alan Schumacher, facility manager at City Carton Recycling in Cedar Rapids, on how not to recycle your holiday lights:

 We here at City Carton are experiencing a heavy degree of difficulty with Christmas lights ending up into our curby bins and people trying to recycle them in their residential containers.

 Recycling your Christmas lights does NOT mean put them in your recycling bin.

 They are entering into our processing equipment and clogging up our automated sort-line.

 I know that on 12/08/09 an article with information to the public was posted in the Gazette.  The problem is that the general public sometimes just reads the headlines and nothing else…..IE:  Christmas Lights = Recycle= Put in with the rest of my recycle and my problem has gone away.

 In the 12/23/09 article by James Lynch, again, the headline has: Recycle=Christmas Lights in it's header……..

 Please let it be known that the issue for City Carton Recycling is that when these lights come in, they jam up our equipment, they shut down our production time and we have to perform an OSHA required/mandatory lock out tag out to send employees out onto our automated sort system with knifes and cutters to unwrap these lights.

 Perhaps a different article that states something like DO NOT PLACE OLD LIGHTS INTO RECYCLE BINS or such could be added.

 I think that sometimes in our effort to recycle, we also forget about the hardships it causes downstream for the people that actually do the work, when PROPER recycling processes do not happen.

Thanks!

 Alan W. Schumacher

Facility Manager, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

City Carton Recycling, Inc.

And here is the list, from Mr. Lynch's story, on where to recycle your lights:

Linn County

The Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency recycles them for free at either one of its locations: 1954 County Home Rd., Marion, or 2250 A St. SW, Cedar Rapids. The same is true for all electronics, except for TVs, cathode ray tubes and printers/copiers/fax machines, which have a recycling fee.

Midwest Electronic Recovery, 100 Third St., Walford.

Marion Iron, 755 26th Street, Marion.

Alter Metal Recycling, 6305 11th St. SW, Cedar Rapids, will accept them as long as the bulbs/glass are removed from the strands.

Johnson County

The following locations will be accepting Christmas lights until Jan. 4:

Hy-Vee South, Waterfront Drive, Iowa City

Hy-Vee East, First Avenue, Iowa City

Hy-Vee, North Dodge, Iowa City

Hy-Vee, Lantern Park Plaza, Coralville

ReStore, 2401 Scott Blvd. SE, Iowa City

Iowa City Landfill and Recycling Center, 3900 Hebl Ave. SW

Wrapping paper

Unlike the Christmas lights, wrapping paper, for the most part, is not recyclable. That's because the paper often contains dyed and laminated material, non-paper additives, such as gold, silver and other metallic elements, and plastics, including tape. Tissue paper isn't recyclable because it is at the end of its usable life.