MERIDIAN, Idaho — Do you have holiday lights that don't work? The components that make up that strand have a valuable commodity ... COPPER. And recycling them can help stave of mining!
- Demand for copper expected to double in the next 12 years thanks to the expansion of the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
- You can recycle old broken Holiday lights any time at the front parking lot of Republic Services on Franklin Road in Meridian until January 14.
- This is the third year for the light recycling program which is aimed at not only recycling copper, but also saving space in the landfill.
RELATED | Holiday light recycling begins on Tuesday
(below is a transcript of the broadcast story)
Ah, the lights of the holiday season sure are bright, but when they don't work, it can be a frustrating annual experience.
"I think in the past people check their lights and if they don't work they just throw them in the trash," explains Rachele Klein, with Republic Services.
But more than ever, the copper inside these tiny wires is worth caring about.
"Globally there's a huge demand for copper," she says. And electric vehicles are behind it. The need for copper in batteries and new cars is expected to double in the next 12 years.
"So this is an opportunity to stave off mining as long as we can as EV technology coming on roads and more and more copper needed," says Klein.
But that's not all. Recycling, as always, saves space in landfills. The concept is simple.
"Remove it and reuse it to do something else." says Sayar Schultz, solid waste coordinator for Meridian.
The City of Meridian joined with Republic Services a couple years ago to start this campaign and it's slowly catching on. They've made it easy to drop off both Christmas lights and other wires in this bright green dumpster in the Republic parking lot just off Franklin road. It'll be open 24-7 until January 14th.
The Christmas light campaign is really just a reminder to recycle bigger things, like extension cords, when they go bad. They actually have a lot more copper in them, so it's important to recycle.
