RAPID CITY, S.D. – With Halloween season concluded, many residents are focusing attention on decorating their homes for the Christmas holiday season.
The City of Rapid City got an early start on the season with the annual Christmas Lights Recycling Program. A total of 12 recycling collection bins are set up throughout the community for disposal of non-working strings of lights and extension cords.
Last year, nearly 3.4 tons of non-working strings of Christmas lights and extension cords were collected at 14 sites during the holiday season. Since 2020, more than 14 tons of non-working lights and extension cords have been recycled through the community collection bins in the Black Hills area of South Dakota.
“We put the collection bins out early as many people begin decorating for the holidays right after Halloween and they encounter those strings of lights and extension cords that no longer work,” said City Solid Waste Education and Outreach Coordinator Ria Hannon. “The holiday lights are huge tanglers for us. This means that when they get thrown into the recycling bins, they can get caught up and tangled or twisted in our equipment, which causes backups and delays because we need to cease operations and cut them out.”
Hannon says many homeowners take advantage of warm temperatures to begin decorating their homes. She said the public can also turn in strings of non-working lights that may have been set aside from other holiday observances.
The Christmas light recycling containers are available at the following locations in Rapid City:
- Ace Hardware (3): 1602 E. St. Patrick Street, 1724 W. Main Street and 320 West Boulevard
- Boyd’s Drug Stores (2): Baken Park (entrance on pharmacy side) and at 909 E. St. Patrick Street
- City Hall: 300 Sixth Street
- Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy Street
- Runnings, 1020 N. Lacrosse Street
- Fleet Farm, 1001 E. Mall Drive
- Solid Waste Administration Office at Landfill: 5555 S. Highway 79
- RC Hardware: 770 Mountain View Road
- Menards: 710 N. Creek Drive
The bins will be located at these locations until January 31.
