19th Ward Office to Accept Old Holiday Lights

Alderman Matt O’Shea is pleased to announce that the 19th Ward office located at 10400 S. Western Avenue will partner with Reduce Waste Chicago to collect nonworking string lights during the holiday season. Reduce Waste Chicago’s Holiday Lights Collection campaign is a citywide initiative that helps residents responsibly recycle nonworking string lights during the holiday season. Broken string lights cannot be placed in Chicago’s municipal recycling program due to mechanical and safety hazards. String lights also contain metals, such as copper, which can be reclaimed and reused if recycled properly. WasteNot Compost is the program’s zero-emissions logistics and transportation provider. Using their all-electric fleet, they pick up, store and transport collected lights to their partners at Elgin Recycling.

Since its inception in 2021, the program has diverted more than 10,574 pounds of lights from the landfill. Residents can begin dropping light strands off at the ward office on December 1st. The last day to drop off lights will be Monday, January 26, 2026. For more information about other drop-off locations, please visit www.reducewastechicago.org/holiday-lights.