Christmas tree, holiday light recycling options

The Three Kings are on their way home now. It is now possible to go whole minutes without seeing an Amazon truck.

If you put one up, you are probably thinking it's time to take down that Christmas tree.

If you had a real tree you may be looking for a way in which to responsibly dispose of it.

There are options.

Starting tomorrow, January 9, and running through Saturday, January 23, you can take your tree to one of 25 Chicago parks for recycling. All ornaments and lights must be removed first, of course.

Here is the list of participating Chicago parks, per this December 29 report from ABC-7:

• Bessemer Park
  8930 S. Muskegon Ave.
  
  
• Clark Park
  3400 N. Rockwell St.
  
  
• Forestry Site
  900 E. 103rd Street
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Garfield Park
  100 N. Central Park Ave.
  
  
• Grant Park
  900 S. Columbus Dr.
  
  
• Humboldt Park Boathouse
  1369 N. Sacramento Ave.
  
  
• Jackson Park
  6300 S. Cornell Ave.
  
  
• Kennedy Park
  2427 W. 113th St.
  
  
• Kelvyn Park
  4438 W. Wrightwood Ave.
  
  
• Lake Meadows Park
  3117 S. Rhodes Ave.
  
  
• Lincoln Park
  Cannon Dr. at Fullerton Ave., east of Cannon Dr.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Margate Park
  4921 N. Marine Dr.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Marquette Park
  6700 S. Kedzie Ave.
  
  
• McKinley Park
  2210 W. Pershing Rd.
  
  
• Mt. Greenwood Park
  3721 W. 111th St.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• North Park Village
  5801 N. Pulaski Rd.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Norwood Park
  5801 N. Natoma Ave.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Portage Park
  4100 N. Long Ave.
  
  
• Riis Park
  6201 W. Wrightwood Ave.
  
  
• Rowan Park
  11546 S. Avenue L
  
  
• Sheridan Park
  910 S. Aberdeen St.
  
  
• Walsh Park
  1722 N. Ashland
  
  
• Warren Park
  6601 N. Western Ave.
  This site offers free mulch
  
  
• Wentworth Park
  5701 S. Narragansett Ave.
  
  
• West Chatham Park
  8223 S. Princeton
  

According to this post on recyclebycity.com, some 17,000 trees were composted in the City program in 2019, diverting an estimated 620,000 pounds from landfills.

For tree recycling in areas outside the City, including Downstate, see this post from EHSO.com.

Trees, you say, are the easy part. What about the strings of lights that stopped working over the holidays?

The options here are more limited, but there are some.

A private company called Elgin Recycling partners with a number of local municipalities to collect and recycle holiday lights. If you explore the company's website, you will find all sorts of information about the program... in 2012. But, the lack of updates on its website notwithstanding, the Elgin Recycling program continues.

According to the January 4 issue of the Daily Herald (accessed via Lexis), the Village of Arlington Heights is working with Elgin Recycling in collecting strings of holiday lights or extension cords at the Health & Human Services Dept. in the Village Hall, 33 S. Arlington Heights Rd., or at the Arlington Heights Public Works Center, 222 N. Ridge Ave. through February 26. "Last year," according to the Daily Herald article, "with 51 municipalities participating in the Elgin Recycling program, more than 100,000 pounds of holiday lights were recycled instead of thrown away. Lights accepted include mini-lights (or Italian lights), C7 lights, C9 lights, rope lights and LED lights, as well as extension cords."

The Village of Glenview is also working with Elgin Recycling to collect used holiday lights, through February 28, at the Public Works Department, 2498 East Lake Ave. (corner of East Lake Avenue and Shermer Road) (there is tree recycling information available at that link, as well).

Mt. Prospect residents can drop off unwanted holiday lights and extension cords at the Public Works Department, 1700 West Central Road, between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., from Monday to Friday. The website says "residents"; I don't know if they card.

This is a very short list because I only reported sites that I am reasonably confident about. There is---and I know this will come as a shock to some---a lot of outdated and downright inaccurate information floating around the Internet, even about holiday light recycling.

However, I would be pleased to add to this list. Email me or leave a comment about tree or light recycling in your area and I will update where possible.