Hopefully, you’ve taken down holiday decorations — or happen to be in the process of doing so.
Regardless, if you’re looking to discard old Christmas lights, maybe since they no longer work or because you’ve upgraded, the Hattiesburg Zoo is urging you to bring the lights to them instead of clogging up landfills.
For a consecutive year, the zoo plans to be good stewards and recycle the colorful castaways.
“What we’re doing is we’re taking any of your old lights, especially those that don’t work. But even if you do have some that work, we can take those. We can use those at the zoo,” Hattiesburg Zoo Director of Education Jeremy Cumpton said. “Whenever there are lights that don’t work, we actually have a business that we work with. They’re able to take these [lights] and recycle them properly.”
The zoo is especially eager to receive lights that no longer work. Cumpton noted that the company receiving the illumination devices is able to repurpose an entire light that is dysfunctional, compared to previous years where they could only recycle portions of the bulbs.
“Last year, they could recycle parts of [a light], not the entire thing. This year, they said they can do the entire thing, which is exactly what we were hoping for,” Cumpton added.
Donations can be made to the Hattiesburg Zoo’s front office each Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. until January 31.
