String light collection drive will benefit Cleveland Zoo

Heights residents donated more than 1,200 lbs. of lights in 2022. [courtesy CHGT]

Last year, the Heights community recycled 1,200 lbs. of string lights and cords, benefiting the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Lights for Lions program. 

This year, the Cleveland Heights Green Team is again partnering with other community organizations—the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, the Millikin Neighborhood Group, and Heights Libraries—to collect broken, non-working, and used strings of lights and extension cords for recycling.

The recycling drive begins Dec. 13 and runs through Jan. 31.

Drop off bins are located at the Nature Center; the Lee Road Library; and in the Millikin neighborhood, at 1541 Maple Road. (Please don't include any bags or other packaging when dropping the lights and cords in the bins.)

Proceeds from recycling support the Zoo’s lion and cheetah conservation program partners, the Ruaha Carnivore Project and Lion Landscapes (www.clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo/lionandcheetah).  

With its partners, Cleveland Zoo is working to mitigate human-carnivore conflicts, and develop effective, long-term conservation strategies for large carnivores in Tanzania. The program helps reduce the negative impacts of carnivore presence by providing important conservation-related benefits to local communities.