6 Ways to Reuse, Reduce, Recycle in the Western Suburbs This Holiday Season

Let's face it: the holidays are a time of a whole lot of excess. Garbage bags are stuffed to the brim with ribbons and wrapping paper, we make more food than we can handle to eat and it's easy to get wrapped up in the craziness of Christmastime.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint a little bit this season, check out the six ideas below for reusing, reducing and recycling in the western suburbs through the chilly months.

Recycle your holiday lights

Don’t feel like dealing with a tangled mess anymore? Not up to fixing that shorted-out strand for the sixteenth time? You're in luck — many towns participate in holiday light recycling programs, and you can safely deposit your unwanted lights for eco-friendly destruction.

Check your town’s website to see if they have a similar program. Burr Ridge, for example, will be collecting lights from Nov. 29 through February in boxes outside of Village Hall and the Public Works Electronic Recycling site. Light strands don’t need to be in working order.

In Darien last year, residents recycled 1,900 pounds of holiday lights alone.

Put your used oil to good use

If you’re one of the many using a deep-fryer this holiday season, you might find yourself with vats of unwanted oil that you end up throwing out. In Downers Grove and Naperville — check near your own towns for other spots — there’s another option for dealing with all that excess liquid.

Properly dispose of your extra cooking oil between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Downers Grove Sanitary Treatment Center at 2710 Curtiss St., or on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 156 Fort Hill Dr. in Naperville.

Don't throw away your wrapping paper

For the most part, it's paper. Recycle it like you would other paper products, or unwrap carefully and reuse ribbons, bows, tags, boxes and wrapping paper next year.

Cool Yule

If you’re in DuPage County, Community Consolidated School District 93 partnered with the county’s Environmental Division to challenge elementary and middle school students to create holiday ornaments and decorations made exclusively from recycled materials. Students crafted more than 1,500 decorations out of old magazines, recycled paper and plastic bottles, and they’re on display on the holiday tree at the JTK Administration Building (421 N. County Farm Rd. in Wheaton).

Cool Yule isn’t just for kids, though. It’s a part of a larger “Cool DuPage” program which has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable actions. The program, which was adopted in 2012, is aiming to reduce greenhouse gases from 2007 levels by 10 percent by 2020, and 20 percent by 2030. Read more here.

Support local recycled art

If you’re on the lookout for Christmas gifts that are eco-friendly, try shopping locally. A lot of artists use sustainable methods and materials for creating their pieces, so you’ll be giving back to the environment as well as whoever’s receiving your present.

For example, Art Gecko in Oak Park sells recycled and upcycled vintage assemblage art and jewelry by Lisa Nordstrom. Most of Art Gecko’s products, in fact, are made of recycled and reclaimed materials. Check it out.

Recycle the natural things, too

Most towns will have leaf pick-up programs through the end of the fall months, and many will offer Christmas-tree pickup post-holidays. Use these green services instead of throwing out your compostable items — the environment will thank you.

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Photo courtesy of DuPage County