December 6 – January 31
Reduce Waste Chicago’s annual Holiday Lights collection campaign has finished for the season.
Last year, we collected 4,618 pounds of lights from 40 drop-off locations across 17 wards. That brought our four-year total to 10,574 pounds of lights diverted from the landfill.
This year, supported by a $5,000 grant from Union Pacific’s Community Ties Giving Program, we expanded to more wards across the city, making it easier for more Chicagoans to recycle broken string lights responsibly.
Are you a WasteNot Compost customer?
WasteNot Compost is partnering with us to offer broken holiday lights pickup in their WasteNot member shop! Add “String Light Collection” to your cart, follow the directions and WasteNot will collect the lights along with your compost.
Thank you to our 2025-26 sponsors
Interested in helping us expand our Holiday Lights Collection program to all 50 wards?
Fill out this quick form to receive information about becoming a sponsor.
Scenes from past Holiday Lights Collections
