Recycle broken Christmas lights for free

WRIGHT, CARVER, McLEOD COUNTIES, MN – It’s that time of year again, bring out your holiday lights and detangle the wadded mess, but what do you do with the strings that no longer light up? Most people just throw them in the trash. Not anymore with the help of a new recycling program just in time for the holidays called “Recycle Your Holidays.”

“Recycle Your Holidays recycles every part of the light strings. Even the little lights are recycled by our project partner, Green Lights Recycling,” stated Ellen Telander, executive director of the Recycling Association of Minnesota. “Last year, we were amazed at how many strings of lights we kept out of the landfill. We expect even more lights collected in 2009.”

The collection of the lights is a free service to area businesses provided by PPL Industries, a 27-year nonprofit job training program serving the metro area, or by ATHC, a vocational center for adults with disabilities in the western metro region.

The new program provides FREE recycling of holiday lights, FREE recycling bins with signs and FREE pick up service to any participating local business, school or church. The program can also recycle any type of electrical cord as well.

“We are excited to be a part of this new recycling program. Not only is it great for the environment, it helps create badly needed jobs for those that need it most,” explained Linda Hull at Kirschbaum and Krupp, a partner of the free program.

To become a holiday lights collection site in the Recycle Your Holidays program call (651) 641-4560 or e-mail ram@recycleminnesota.org. For more information about the state-wide effort to recycle holiday lights, visit www.recycleminnesota.org.