如何回收圣誕彩燈
如何回收圣誕彩燈
It doesn't feel right to put Christmas lights in a trash can. Maybe they've stopped working, or maybe you're replacing incandescent lights with safer, more energy-efficient LEDs. In any case, after brightening so many holiday seasons over the years, it can seem a little cold and unceremonious to just throw them away.
把圣誕彩燈放在垃圾桶里是不合適的。也許他們已經(jīng)停止工作了，也許你正在用更安全、更節(jié)能的led燈取代白熾燈。不管怎么說，在這么多年的假日季節(jié)里，人們都過得很愉快，但把它們?nèi)拥羲坪跤悬c冷漠和不禮貌。
There are several ways to recycle old Christmas lights that don't sparkle the way they once did. (Photo: Segapema/Shutterstock)
In fact, aside from the indignity, there are also more concrete reasons not to discard strands of Christmas lights with your garbage. Along with glass, plastic and copper that could be recycled, for example, they often contain small amounts of lead, a toxic metal used in some polyvinyl chloride (PVC) wire coatings to boost flexibility.
事實上，除了這些侮辱之外，還有一些更具體的理由不把圣誕彩燈和垃圾一起扔掉。例如，除了可回收的玻璃、塑料和銅之外，它們通常還含有少量的鉛。鉛是一種有毒金屬，用于某些聚氯乙烯(PVC)電線涂料中，以增強其彈性。
Local authorities
當(dāng)?shù)卣?/strong>
As a first step, you could check with your municipal solid-waste office or other local government authority, which might have the most up-to-date information about local options for recycling electronics. A solid-waste or recycling center might also be able to help; even if electronics aren't accepted by your local curbside recycling program, some facilities accept old Christmas lights if you're willing to bring them in.
作為第一步，你可以向市政固體廢物辦公室或其他地方政府機構(gòu)查詢，他們可能有關(guān)于當(dāng)?shù)仉娮赢a(chǎn)品回收選擇的最新信息。固體廢物或回收中心也可以提供幫助;即使你當(dāng)?shù)氐穆愤吇厥枕椖坎唤邮茈娮赢a(chǎn)品，如果你愿意把舊的圣誕燈帶進來，一些設(shè)施也會接受。
Local businesses
當(dāng)?shù)仄髽I(yè)
While the big box stores no longer recycle or exchange lights on a national level, individual stores often will, so ask. (Photo: Creative Family/Shutterstock)
It may also be worth calling nearby hardware and home-improvement stores to see if they accept Christmas lights for recycling. Ask about coupons or other incentives, too, since a few stores — including Home Depot, Lowe's and True Value — sometimes hold promotions to encourage swapping incandescents for LEDs.
也許還應(yīng)該給附近的五金和家裝商店打個電話，看看他們是否接受回收利用圣誕彩燈。問問優(yōu)惠券或其他激勵措施，因為一些商店——包括家得寶、勞氏和True Value——有時會舉行促銷活動，鼓勵人們用白熾燈換led燈。
Online businesses
網(wǎng)上貿(mào)易
If it turns out personally delivering your lights for recycling would be too inconvenient or impractical, you may want to consider shipping them off to be recycled instead. Below are three U.S. companies that provide this service online, all of which offer discounts on new Christmas lights in exchange for your old ones.
如果親自把你的燈送去回收太不方便或不切實際，你可能會考慮把它們送去回收。以下是三家提供這種在線服務(wù)的美國公司，所有這些公司都為你的舊圣誕燈提供折扣。
• Holiday LEDs: This Wisconsin company launched its Christmas lights recycling program in 2012. It accepts both incandescent and LED lights for recycling, a company representative tells MNN, and the program is open all year. It repays participants with a coupon for 15% off, while the lights go to a third-party recycling facility, which puts them into a commercial shredder. The pieces are processed and sorted into components like PVC, glass and copper, which are then separated and sent to a regional center for further processing.
節(jié)日led:這家威斯康星州的公司在2012年啟動了圣誕燈回收項目。該公司的一名代表告訴MNN，它可以回收白熾燈和LED燈，而且該項目全年開放。它會以15%的折扣返還參與者，而這些燈則會被送到第三方回收機構(gòu)，然后被放入商業(yè)碎紙機。這些碎片經(jīng)過加工，分門別類為PVC、玻璃和銅等部件，然后將這些部件分離，送到一個區(qū)域中心進行進一步加工。
• Environmental LED: Based in Michigan, this company also specializes in LEDs and runs a recycling program for Christmas lights. Just pack up your old lights in an otherwise empty cardboard box — no bags, ties or other packing materials — and send them in to receive a coupon for 10% off new LEDs. The company takes your lights to its recycling center, where they're chopped into pieces and the cardboard shipping boxes are recycled. The pieces are then sorted into categories and recycled.
環(huán)保LED:該公司總部位于密歇根州，主要生產(chǎn)LED燈，并對圣誕燈進行回收利用。只要把你的舊燈裝進一個空的紙板箱里——沒有袋子、領(lǐng)帶或其他包裝材料——然后寄過去，就能得到新led燈打九折的優(yōu)惠券。該公司把你的燈送到回收中心，在那里它們被切成小塊，紙箱被回收。然后這些碎片被分類并回收利用。
• Christmas Light Source: "The thought of used Christmas lights being carted off to a landfill after bringing joy to so many passersby just didn't seem right to us," this Texas company says on its website, "but very few recycling centers had the capabilities of recycling the glass, copper and plastic from Christmas light sets." CLS finally found such a center near Dallas, though, and has run a recycling program since 2008. The recycling center pays a small fee per pound of lights, and the company then uses all proceeds to buy books and toys, which it donates to Toys for Tots every December. Participants get a coupon for 10% off new lights.
圣誕節(jié)光源：這個德克薩斯公司的"在給這么多的行人帶來歡樂之后，人們想到了使用過的圣誕燈到了一個垃圾填埋場，這對我們來說似乎是不對的，"說：但很少有回收中心能夠回收圣誕燈箱中的玻璃、銅和塑料。不過，CLS終于在達拉斯附近找到了這樣一個中心，并重新運行了一次。自2008年以來的自行車計劃，回收中心每磅電燈只需支付一小筆費用，然后公司就會用所有的收入購買書籍和玩具，每年12月都會把這些錢捐給玩具玩具公司(Toys For Tot)。工匠可以得到10%的新燈的優(yōu)惠券。
Once you've parted ways with your old Christmas lights, you can help delay the demise of their replacements by opting for LEDs, which are more durable and longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs. Incandescents also release most of their energy as heat, which both wastes electricity and could create a fire hazard, especially if they're strung around a dried-out Christmas tree. LEDs, on the other hand, don't get hot or burn out, making them safer, more energy-efficient and lighter on the power bill.
一旦你放棄了舊的圣誕燈，你可以通過選擇led燈來幫助延緩它們替代品的消亡，led燈比白熾燈泡更耐用，壽命更長。白熾燈也會以熱的形式釋放大部分能量，這不僅浪費電力，還可能引發(fā)火災(zāi)，尤其是當(dāng)白熾燈被掛在一棵干枯的圣誕樹上時。另一方面，led不會發(fā)熱或燒壞，因此更安全、更節(jié)能、更省電。
