Girl Scouts are teaming up with Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium to keep old and broken holiday lights out of the landfill. They hope to collect 10,000 strings of unwanted lights during the zoo's annual holiday Zoo Lights festival between now and Jan. 15.
The idea for the program came from 10-year-old Girl Scout Jessica Lam of Federal Way. Last year she approached zoo staff with the idea to keep thousands of strands of holiday lights out of the trash and raise money for the zoo. Her idea was so successful that the zoo collected more than 5,000 strings of lights – nearly two tons – and earned $1,100 for conservation.
"Drop off old holiday lights at designated bins inside the zoo's main entrance and other Metro Parks Tacoma locations, including Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, the Metro Parks Tacoma headquarters building, Tacoma Nature Center, and all Metro Parks community and neighborhood resource centers.
Zoo staff will deliver donated lights to a local recycling center. Money raised from the sale of the lights will go into the zoo's conservation fund, which supports conservation efforts for species in the zoo's collection as well as onsite green initiatives.
To learn more about Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's holiday lights recycling program or Zoo Lights, visit www.pdza.org/zoolights.
