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There is a real mail-in route: HolidayLEDs recycles string lights year-round and sends back a 10 percent discount code, though you pay the postage. Never put light strings in a curbside bin, where they wrap around sorting equipment. The program narrowed recently and now takes string lights only, not rope lights, greenery, or loose bulbs. Before you go, confirm that a local recycling center accepts the material in its current condition.
- Recycling route
- Check locally
Incandescent and LED holiday light strings. Copper-bearing, genuinely recyclable by mail, and a well-known hazard to sorting machinery if binned.
Where to Recycle
- HolidayLEDs mail-in recycling, year-round
- Seasonal January light-recycling drives run by municipalities and retailers
- Household hazardous waste or e-waste events that list light strings
How to Prepare
- 1Test strings before discarding them, since a single dead bulb or fuse is often the only fault
- 2Bundle strands so they cannot unspool in transit
- 3Mail string lights to a recycler such as HolidayLEDs, which operates year-round
- 4Send string lights only, since rope lights, greenery, and loose or broken bulbs are no longer accepted
- 5Use the cheapest slow shipping and pool a box with neighbors, which the program itself suggests
- 6Watch for a January municipal or retailer light drive, which many areas run seasonally
- 7Never put light strings in a curbside recycling bin
Special Instructions
Light strings are one of the classic tanglers: they wrap around the shafts in a sorting facility and have to be cut out by hand, which is why every program excludes them from curbside. The mail-in route is real and open to anyone. HolidayLEDs accepts shipments year-round at its Sussex, Wisconsin facility, offers local drop-off on weekdays, and sends a discount code worth 10 percent, not the 15 percent that some state agency pages still quote. The scope narrowed recently and the company now states it can only recycle string lights, with greenery, rope lights, and loose or broken bulbs thrown away rather than processed. You pay postage, which is the honest catch. One claim to treat carefully: scrap yards are widely said to buy light strings for the copper, but no yard policy confirms it, so call before assuming. Christmas Light Source, still recommended by many roundups, closed its recycling program in November 2023.
Environmental Impact
The copper in a light string is the recoverable part, along with the PVC insulation and any metal bases, which is what makes mailing a box of them worthwhile despite the postage. The larger gain is switching to LED strings, which draw a fraction of the power and last long enough that far fewer sets are thrown away in the first place. Keeping a working set in service for another season beats every disposal route here.
Sustainable Alternatives
- Repair a dead string, since the fault is usually one bulb or a blown fuse
- Store working sets properly rather than replacing them annually
- Switch to LED strings, which last far longer
- Reuse working strings for year-round or craft lighting
Official guidance and resources
Accepted items and drop-off rules can vary by location. Check the destination before you go.
What’s Accepted
Not Accepted
- Light strings in curbside recycling, where they tangle sorting equipment
- Rope lights, greenery, and loose or broken bulbs at HolidayLEDs
- Christmas Light Source, which closed its recycling program in November 2023
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