Minnesota Recycler Taking Old Holiday Lights

ST. PAUL (AP) - If you're one of many Minnesotans replacing traditional holiday lights with energy-efficient LEDs and wondering what to do with all those old jumbled cords, the answer might be at your local hardware store.

The Recycling Association of Minnesota is partnering with hardware stores and other businesses all over the state to host drop off sites for old holiday lights. Brita Sailer of the association says the copper, glass and plastic usually found in older lights don't belong in landfills.

Sailer says it's cost effective to recycle lights if done on a large scale. That's why the group has about 500 drop offs scattered around Minnesota, and a few in western Wisconsin and northern Iowa.