LED lights are the most earth-friendly lighting option, so when you are ready to replace your old energy-draining Holiday lights, consider the impact of your decision. The change to LEDs could have an enormous, immediate benefit to our planet, the amount of energy we burn and certainly our pocketbooks. When you are ready to make the switch, disposing of older lights, working or not, can be a challenge.
LED Warehouse will accept old, burned out Christmas lights and other holiday lights. They recycle all of the individual parts, since they usually contain copper, glass and PVC plastic. Just box up your old lights, ship them in a cardboard box (without any packing material, ties, reels, etc) and send your name and email address. They will send you a 10% off coupon toward the purchase of LED lights, which come with a life expectancy of 50,000 hours! It would take the purchase of approximately 50 incandescent bulbs to last that long.
http://www.environmentalled.com/Christmas-Light-Recycling-24.html