Trees

A pile of Christmas trees collect snow in January near Fitzgerald Stadium in Rapid City.

Grace Pritchett Journal staff

Rapid City received 3,200 pounds of non-working holiday lights in December and January during its annual collection.

In the 2019-2020 collection, the city received 2,100 pounds of lights. This is the sixth season the city has collected non-working holiday lights. 

Jancie Knight, outreach coordinator for the city’s Solid Waste Division, said she hand-picked the collection bins the Friday after Thanksgiving to the end of January.

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She said she would pick them up three or four times a week, depending on how full they were. The lights would be stored and then taken to a trash baler.

“(String lights) are long, awkward products that get tangled in machinery,” Knight said, so collecting them separately helps avoid the tangle.

After the lights are baled, they’re taken to be repurposed.

The city also received 36 tons of Christmas trees, wreaths and other holiday greenery after the holidays, a slight increase over the 2019-2020 holiday season.

— Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com —

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