GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com) – The joy of holiday decorating is inevitably accompanied by the headaches of holiday lights. No decorating experience is complete without the frustration of failed bulbs or tangled strands that require patience to unravel.

And, when those lights have produced their last flicker, most of us just toss them in the trash.

Instead discarding lights that are no longer usable, the city of Gainesville is encouraging you to recycle them.

You can recycle any of your old holiday lights throughout the end of January by dropping them off at the city of Gainesville’s Public Works offices located at 405 NW 39th Ave. City officials say it will accept the following light strings:

  • incandescent
  • LED
  • icicle lights

The city says no set of lights is too tangled to be recycled. They will accept them with wires and bulbs attached.

You can also drop off old holiday lights year-round at multiple locations.

Click here, enter the item you’d like to recycle, and the city will recommend the best drop-off location for your item.

But they say do NOT put your holiday lights inside of your recycle bins.

“Swapping out old incandescent lights can result in significant savings on your electricity bill. Opting for new LED lights is even better, as they consume 80‐90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs,” said the city in a news release.

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They say LED lights also have a longer lifespan of up to 100,000 hours whereas incandescent lights only have a lifespan of 3,000 hours.