Truckload of Lights Taken to Omaha for Recycling
On January 16th, 2015, Anita Olson, Director of Keep Loup Basin Beautiful, and volunteer Carol Olson took a pickup truck full of Christmas lights to Omaha to be recycled. The pickup was loaded down with 874 pounds of holiday lights collected during this year’s Keep Loup Basin Beautiful Christmas light recycling collection. The lights had to be taken out of the bags and boxes they were dropped off in just to get them all to fit!
Ord collected the most lights, 348 pounds, with more coming in that will have to be saved for next year’s collection. Special thanks to the Ord FCCLA chapter, especially their advisors, for helping with the collection. The North Central Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) also partnered with Keep Loup Basin Beautiful for this project. Lou Ann Tooker and others helped collect 263 pounds of lights from Holt, Rock, and Cherry counties. Other organizations involved in the collection included Custer County Recycling of Broken Bow (74 pounds), Callaway Public Library (53 pounds), Burwell United Methodist Church and The Hub (83 pounds), Ericson Baptist Fellowship (38 pounds), and Spalding Academy (15 pounds).
The strands of lights were taken to the Cross Training Center in the north-west part of Omaha. The Cross Training Center was started by a local church in Omaha to provide a fresh start, job training, and Christian outreach to people who have been homeless, incarcerated, involved in gangs or substance abuse, who have been a victim of human trafficking or who live in poverty for whatever reason. At the center, the students receive on the job training in refurbishing and recycling electronics.
“They said they would take anything with a cord or a battery,” says Anita. “I called ahead to confirm that they would take all the lights, but I think they were still surprised when we pulled up with a full pickup load.” The strands of lights will be stripped and the wire salvaged and recycled.
Last year’s total collection was 122 pounds. Keep Loup Basin Beautiful staff is very pleased with the success of this year’s collection. They would like to thank all the community members who went to extra work to bring in their burnt-out and broken lights to keep them out of the landfill. They plan continue this project as an annual collection. Keep Loup Basin Beautiful (KLBB) is grant-funded through the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and Keep America Beautiful; and is a project of the Loup Basin RC&D Council that promotes litter prevention, waste reduction, recycling, and beautification. KLBB serves thirteen counties in central and north-central Nebraska. For more information about KLBB’s education programs, email KLBB at [email protected], visit www.keeploupbasinbeautiful.org, or
2014 Christmas Light Recycling Event
Tis the season to recycle! On December 1, Keep Loup Basin Beautiful will be holding their 2nd annual Christmas light recycling collection. This collection is for non-working strands of holiday lights and will last from December 1 through January 10 at various locations throughout the Loup Basin.
In January, the lights will be gathered up and taken to the Cross Training Center in Omaha, NE to be recycled. The Cross Training Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to empower and equip disadvantaged and undereducated men and women through character development, vocational training and job experience.” They provide the support, life skills, training, and experience needed for their students to become self-sufficient and successful in the home, the workplace and the community. Students at the Center refurbish or recycle many types of electronics and appliances; providing work opportunities and keeping useful materials out of landfills.
Last year, Keep Loup Basin Beautiful collected over 130 pounds of lights and we hope to have another successful year of keeping Christmas cheer out of the landfill! Help Keep Loup Basin Beautiful by bringing your old Christmas lights to one of the following drop-off locations this holiday season:
Arnold – Village Office (209 W 1st)
Atkinson – City Office (104 S Main St)
Bassett – North Central RC&D Office (308 E Hwy 20)
Broken Bow – Custer County Recycling (79849 Hwy 2)
Burwell – United Methodist Church (917 I Street)
Callaway – Nigel Sprouse Memorial Library (102 E Kimball)
Ericson – Sandhills Baptist Fellowship (307 Central Ave)
Loup City – United Methodist Church (626 L St)
O’Neill – Holt Co. Economic Development Office (330 E Hancock)
Ord – Grocery Kart (136 N 15th)
Spalding – Spalding Academy (130 W Marguerite)
Keep Loup Basin Beautiful(KLBB) is grant-funded through the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality(NDEQ) and is a project of the Loup Basin RC&D Council, that promotes litter prevention, waste reduction, recycling, and beautification. KLBB serves thirteen counties in central and north-central Nebraska and for more information about KLBB’s Education Programs, email KLBB at [email protected] , visit https://keeploupbasinbeautiful.org/ or like them on Facebook www.facebook.com/KeepLoupBasinBeautiful. Contact the Loup Basin RC&D Office (308) 346-3393 or stop by the office at 807 H ST, Burwell, Nebraska.
Recycle Your Broken Christmas Lights – 2013
The holiday season is upon us and you know what that means…hot chocolate, mistletoe, and freezing your fingers off trying to get those old strands of lights working! Don’t stress out. If you have strands of lights that you need to get rid of, don’t throw them away! Instead, bring them in to be recycled.
Now through the end of January, you can bring your old strands of Christmas lights in to one of our two drop off locations during regular business hours:
Burwell:
Loup Basin RC&D Office
Located in the Pathway Bank Professional Center building
Cardboard box just inside the front door
807 H Street, Burwell
Ericson:
Post Office lobby
Main Street, Ericson
Merry Christmas from Linda and Anita at Keep Loup Basin Beautiful!!
