Nov. 7, 2024

The election is over. No more combative commercials. No more raucous rallies. But what to do with the campaign signs that adorned your yard the last few weeks? Most municipal recycling services in the DFW area — with the exception of Dallas — don't accept campaign signs for recycling so it's a good idea to check your city's recycling guidelines. However, landfills are not a good place for them either.

As one source told the Today show during the last presidential campaign, a plastic campaign sign that ends up in the landfill will be very slow to biodegrade. Or if placed in a waste incinerator, it will release toxic emissions and greenhouse gases while burning the plastic. 

Landfills, say the Environmental Protective Agency, produce greenhouse gases, mostly methane and carbon dioxide, which contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Election waste is a problem for the environment, according to the Environmental Paper Network North America, a network of organizations focused on  pulp and paper sustainability across the global supply chain.

Kim Porter, resource and development coordinator for EPN North America, notes that the best option for reducing waste is for campaigns to not produce the materials in the first place. 

Words of wisdom, no doubt. But that said, many blocks were “decorated” in their campaign finest during the past weeks. What should a responsible voter do in disposing of signs in a way that doesn’t hurt the environment?

DALLAS

The city of Dallas is providing residents an environmentally friendly way to dispose of political yard signs following the election season.

From now through Nov. 30, residents can recycle corrugated plastic yard signs and metal stakes at any of the City's three transfer stations during normal residential drop-off hours. The guidelines are as follows:

Corrugated Plastic Signs and Metal Stakes

• Must be brought to transfer stations for recycling

• Cannot be placed in blue recycling rollcarts due to their rigid construction, which can damage or jam the automated sorting equipment at the City's recycling facility

• Department of Sanitation staff will properly bundle signs and metal stakes for separate processing

Plastic Film Signs and Metal Stakes

• Metal stakes can be recycled at transfer stations.

• Plastic film should be either discarded or recycled at retail locations that accept plastic bags (like grocery stores)

Cardboard Signs

* 100 percent cardboard signs can be placed in blue recycling rollcarts.

* Cardboard signs coated in plastic cannot be recycled and should either be repurposed or disposed of in household garbage

If you can't take recyclable signs to a transfer station, residents may bag them and place them in their gray rollcart for normal household garbage collection. In other words, these will go to the landfill.

Also In Dallas, Recycle Revolution, a family-owned recycling business, accepts campaign signs at their facility near Love Field.

“[Residents] are welcome to bring corrugated plastic elections signs to our community drop off during open hours [Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.]," says Jessica Boerner, the community manager at Recycle Revolution. "All metal stakes, grommets and other add-ons must be removed prior to drop off. [However] residents are welcome to bring the separated metal stakes to be recycled as well.” 

Unfortunately, she says, “we cannot recycle vinyl banners.” 

Boerner adds, “While we are happy to take a few signs per household for free, we have to pay to get plastic recycled. If an individual, political organization, or candidate has more than 25 large signs or more than 50 small yard signs, we must charge a fee — typically $25-$50 — to offset our costs. We accept cash, card, check and tap to pay.”

TARRANT COUNTY

Phoenix-based Republic Services operates in about 125 North Texas municipalities, including Fort Worth and Arlington. Republic Services is not accepting campaign signs.

"Political mailers and flyers can be placed in your recycling bins, but lawn signs cannot be recycled and should be disposed of in the regular waste bin," said Melissa Quillard, Republic Services' senior manager for external communications.

However, a Fort Worth company is offering a drop-off location. AP&J Recycling is a 41-year-old family business that processes post-industrial plastics for use as raw plastic in molding or compounding applications. Based in Tarrant County, the company says they “are committed to building a sustainable future through environmentally-friendly solutions…[such as] waste reduction, resource efficiency, and providing green alternatives to businesses.

Managing partner Jeanette Socket-Barrett says, “I would recommend [residents] take the metal stake out and put in a separate container from the sign. We will take both! We grind the signs into a flake and then sell to remake other plastic products. We process the plastic (PP Coroplast) with our other PP scrap and sell to end markets for reuse.” 

Unfortunately, she says, “we cannot recycle vinyl banners.” 

Most signs, she notes, are made of corrugated cardboard coated in plastic, or polypropylene.

AUSTIN

For comparision's sake, here's what our state's progressive capital city offers.

The Austin Resource Recovery, department of the city of Austin, will accept signs and stakes all year long at its drop-off recycling center in southeast Austin. Assistant director, Ron Romero says they started collecting signs after the 2020 election. During that time, they collected just under one ton of yard signs, but this year, he says, “we expect a lot more.”

“We don’t want campaign signs going to the landfill. The recycling drop-off center has a designated box that is open at any time,” he says. 

After the items are deposited, Romero says, “we bail them and then a third party picks them up, and melts them down for re-use.

He adds that the Austin community tends to be a very creative population regarding re-using signs. Many neighborhoods repaint the signs for birthday parties. 

“As long as the signs don’t end up in the landfill, that’s good,” says Romero.

REDUCE, REUSE BUT DON'T WISH-CYCLE

As all believers in a sustainable environment know, reduce, reuse and recycle are key. 

• Reducing the number of signs would be a great start, as noted by the Environmental Paper Network. 

• Re-using signs is another option. Signs can be recovered with paper or a plastic add-on for the next election cycle or repurpose the sign by painting over it with a new message. 

• Recycling via one of the above outlets is yet another solution. 

When in doubt, however, leave it out. Wish-cycling — the act of including something in the recycling bin with the hopes it can be recycled — doesn’t work. Putting something un-recyclable items in the recycling bin will just add cost and contamination to the items that are actually recyclable.

Elect good options when it comes to campaign signs!

RESOURCES

City of Dallas. See website for guidelines and Drop Off Locations.

Recycle Revolution, 6835 Forest Park Road, Dallas, TX 75235; 214-566-3025. Accepts corrugated plastic elections signs and the metal stakes at the community drop off location Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please remove metal stakes. There is a fee for more than 25 large signs or 50 small signs. No vinyl banners accepted.

APJ Recycling Warehouse, 990 Haltom Rd., Suite 140, Fort Worth, TX 76117.  682-841-1305. Accepts corregated signs and metal stakes during business hours. Call for more info.

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