Photo by Deb Gau Nathan Giefer and Amelie Lauzon worked to take the light bulbs out of strings of old holiday lights at the Canby Developmental Achievement Center. Once they were separated out, the cords would be sent to a recycling center in Cosmos. Until the end of January, the Canby DAC will have recycling bins for old or unused holiday lights at several locations in Lyon, Yellow Medicine and Lac qui Parle counties.

CANBY — As December gets closer, many southwest Minnesota residents might be thinking of hanging up holiday lights. A group of area partners are also urging people to think about what they’ll do with strings of lights that don’t work.

Bins for recycling holiday light strings have been placed at locations around Lyon, Yellow Medicine and Lac qui Parle counties. Lights collected at the bins will be taken apart for recycling by clients at the Canby Developmental Achievement Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities.

“It keeps (holiday lights) out of the landfill,” said Pam Weckwerth, executive director of the Canby DAC. The recycling program collected more than 33,000 pounds of light cords in a year, she said.

That’s something positive for both the environment and for landfill operators, said Stephanie Bethke-DeJaeghere of the Lyon County environmental office.

“Those cords tangle up in their their equipment,” Bethke-DeJaeghere said.

The holiday light recycling program has been going for more than a decade in Canby.

“It was in 2010 when we really kicked it off,” Weckwerth said. “It really got a lot more (lights) when people started switching to LED lights.”

The DAC partners with businesses and environmental departments in area counties to collect broken or unused holiday lights. The DAC also partners with P.E.C.E. Recycling in Cosmos to recycle the wires from light strings and other kinds of electrical cords, she said.

The Canby DAC was founded in 1966. Today, the DAC offers programs for supported employment, work skills and life skills. Weckwerth said the DAC currently serves 27 clients from communities within a 30-mile radius of Canby.

Preparing holiday lights for recycling is just one of the things Canby DAC clients can do, Weckwerth said. On Monday, a few clients were working on strings of lights. Using either gloves or tools, they took the light bulbs off the cords and separated them out. The cords would be sent on to be recycled.

Clients are paid minimum wage to prepare the light strings for recycling, Weckwerth said.

Since 2010, the DAC has worked with a variety of partners to collect holiday lights.

“The Canby community is so supportive. They always have been,” Weckwerth said. The DAC also works with the Lyon County environmental office and area businesses. In Lyon County, recycling bins for lights will be at the environmental office, Ace Home and Hardware and Patzer’s Hardware Hank in Marshall, and at Gislason’s Ace Hardware in Minneota.

Weckwerth said there are also holiday light recycling bins at locations in Dawson, Madison, Canby, Granite Falls, and at the Murray County environmental center.

“This is the first year that the city of Brookings is collecting lights for us,” Weckwerth said.

Bethke-DeJaeghere said the partnership with the DAC has worked well.

“It’s really been a good program,” she said. The Lyon County household hazardous waste facility collects light cords, phone charging cords, computer and other types of electrical cords for recycling year-round. “It was close to 4,000 pounds last year.”

The holiday season is the DAC’s “big push” for light cord recycling, but they do accept lights and cords year-round, Weckwerth said.

The holiday light recycling bins will be available at area locations until Jan. 31.