Home Depot is collecting until Wednesday
Home Depot (Bridge Street, DeWitt) Assistant Manager Jason Clark loads turned in broken light strings for recycling.
/ Photojournalist Brian Erb
It's not rushing the season, but many Central New Yorkers have spent these 'warm' days putting up their outdoor Christmas Lights. And, when they discovered that some didn't work, they returned them to Home Depot for a price break on new, energy efficient LEDs. Beth Episcopo was bringing in several bags full, to the DeWitt/Bridge Street store on Monday afternoon, and hoping to get new ones in time for her husband to get them up, before the weather changes.
It's the third year that Home Depot has offered the trade-in, and store Assistant Manager Jason Clark showed us carts full of old, traded in lights that will now be recycled by a haz-mat team (they're considered hazardous because of the way they're manufactured). And he points out the energy saving advantages of the newer lights: "It's huge," Clark says. "If you thing about just generally the amount of strands you could run back in the day, be able to run three strands together and then you'd be maxing out a circuit. Now you can run up to 10 to fifteen strands on some of these." He also points out the bulbs burn out less.
For die-hards who like the 'look' of the old lights, they are still available, and replacement bulbs are also now more available, as well.
If you want to get a coupon for trading in old lights, though, better hurry: the deal ends Wednesday close of business, and you have to buy the new lights by then, as well.
