Cleaning Up Your Christmas in Apple Valley, Dakota County

Christmas 2011 has come and gone. Whether you start disassembling your decorative displays right away or wait a couple weeks (or months?), at some point all the holiday decorations go, too.

Lights

If you have old holiday lights or electrical equipment that you're ready to toss, recycle them instead.

Several organizations, including the nonprofit Recycling Association of Minnesota, again are offering a program to drop off unwanted or broken lights at locations around the metro.

In Apple Valley, a few locations will accept unwanted Christmas lights through the end of January: , the , and school. Search for more drop-off locations in the area on the Recycle Your Holidays 2011-2012 website.

Christmas Trees

After the lights are unwound, there's the bare tree to dispose of. Note: It's illegal in Minnesota to put your real Christmas tree or wreath (or any yard waste) in the garbage.

Dakota County's website says most garbage haulers will provide Christmas tree pick-up service for a few weeks after Christmas, or will let residents schedule a pick-up time; some will haul them to a composter.

The county suggests checking with your hauler. Here is a list of licensed garbage haulers for Apple Valley, Burnsville and Eagan, the three cities that partner to use Dakota Valley Recycling.

Residents also can take their own trees to a compost facility, which the county lists here (call first to see whether they're open this season). Nearby options are Gertens in Inver Grove Heights and Resource Recovery Technologies in Empire Township.

Another option is to chop up the tree and compost it in the backyard. Here are some composting tips from Dakota County.

Several options exist for donating fake trees and wreaths that are unwanted; unusable trees and wreaths can go in the garbage.

Wrapping Paper

Wrapping paper, tissue paper and gift bags aren't recyclable, according to Dakota County's website, and should go in the garbage. (Another interesting fact listed is that more than 5 million more tons of garbage than usual is produced between Thanksgiving and New Year's day.)

Editor's note: A previous version of this article said compost facilities were open for Christmas tree disposal in Eagan and Burnsville. Those facilities are not currently open.