PLUMSTED — Residents will be able to discard their Christmas lights in a collection bin on Main Street in Plumsted through Jan. 18.
According to Nurture Environmental Stewardship Today (NEST), the sponsor of this year’s drive, it will be easy to spot the collection bin between the New Egypt Marketplace and a Subway sandwich shop because a 6- foot-tall Frosty the Snowman made out of plastic 50-gallon drums will be standing right next to it.
NEST, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, seeks to raise awareness of the state’s environmental diversity and to help people lower their carbon footprint.
According to findings from Stanford University, Americans throw out 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day than at any other time during the year, resulting in 25 million tons of additional garbage.
NEST founder and President William Joe Lewis said the drive, as well as the plastic Frosty, is a demonstration of “upcycling,” a practice that encourages people to convert unwanted materials into new items.
In the case of Christmas lights, which primarily consist of plastic and copper wire, Lewis said materials can be extracted and recycled.
At the end of the drive, NEST will bring the discarded lights to a local scrap yard for recycling, Lewis said.
Any funds raised by the sale of the scrap metal and plastic will go back into the Plumsted Business and Merchants Association.
The idea, according to Lewis, is to use the old Christmas lights to pay for the association’s holiday light display in downtown New Egypt.