Home Depot puts an eco-friendly twist on trade-ins for holiday shopping

Retailers keep getting creative with old concepts to wrest money from reluctant consumers' pockets this holiday season. Now, Home Depot Inc. (HD) is putting an environmental twist on trade-in deals by offering to take back old power drills and Christmas lights in exchange for discounts on new, eco-friendly versions.

The hardware chain announced on Friday that from Nov. 5 to 15, customers can bring in old strings of lights and get a $3 off coupon for new LED lights -- which use 80 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. And through Nov. 8, they can trade in old or broken drills for a 15 percent discount on new drills with lithium-ion batteries, which are supposed to be more energy-efficient and less polluting. Home Depot says it will recycle the old drills.