via GIPHY

If this Christmas light situation looks familiar, there’s an alternative to tossing out the tangled mess.

A group of North Side alderpeople and community organizations are teaming up to recycle non-working holiday lights, which, it should be emphasized, cannot and should not be placed in regular recycling bins. (They choke recycling equipment like a chicken bone down the windpipe.)

Though the lights aren’t as recyclable as, say, aluminum cans, they do contain materials such as copper that can be reused. So drop off non-working strands and any extension cords you’re not using either, at participating locations, now through Jan. 31. Consider it a Christmas gift to the planet.

Locations (click links for office/business hours):

— 40th Ward office, 5620 N. Western Ave.

— 47th Ward office, 4243 N. Lincoln Ave.

— 48th Ward office, 5533 N. Broadway

— Northcenter Chamber of Commerce, 4054 N. Lincoln Ave.

— A Pretty Flower, 2334 W. Lawrence Ave.

— Erwin Law, 4043 N. Ravenswood Ave., Suite 208

Contact Patty Wetli:@pattywetli| (773) 509-5623 |[email protected]