How To Dispose Of Yard Signs After Election Day In Minnesota

Tuesday, November 5 is election day at last. All of the political campaigns will officially be over and we can move forward the our newly elected officials across the country.

While the campaigns will no longer be heard on the radio or seen on television or social media after the election, there will still be a lot of campaign reminders sitting in yards throughout the nation.

Yard signs are a common way for candidates to get their name out in the weeks leading up to the election, but once election day is over, what do you do with the signs you have in your yard in Minnesota?

While some may be collected by campaign offices and reused in future campaigns, most will be left in yards for homeowners to dispose of, so it's important to know the proper way to do it.

Disposing Of Yard Signs After Election Day

Election yard signage typically has two parts: the metal stake that goes into the ground to support the sign and the sign itself with the campaign messaging.

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While neither of these two parts is recyclable in regular municipal curbside or drop-off recycling collection, most communities offer specialized recycling collection sites. This is a far better option than just throwing them away, and allowing them to end up in crowded landfills.

When brought to the specialized sites, the plastic material these signs are made from could be recycled into new products. If you have campaign signs in your yard, be sure to check for special collection sites after election day. Northern Minnesota is a perfect example of what is offered.

Western Lake Superior Sanitary District Region Offers A Perfect Example

The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District Region (WLSSD), serves Duluth, Cloquet, Hermantown, Proctor, Carlton, Scanlon, Thomson, Wrenshall, the Village of Oliver in Wisconsin, and more.

WLSSD announced it's working with Replay Workshop (an arm of Proctor-based Atlas Games), which can divert lawn signs from the landfill and turn them into niche durable goods like tabletop game pieces and jewelry.

People in the WLSSD region can participate in a free and easy lawn sign drop-off program by simply bringing any corrugated plastic lawn signs to WLSSD’s Materials Recovery Center, located at 4587 Ridgeview Road in Duluth, during business hours.

Be sure to separate plastic signs from their metal stakes (which can also be recycled for free at the same location).

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Campaign offices are also invited to bring lawn signs to the Materials Recovery Center in bulk for free drop-off.

So, Minnesota residents are encouraged to find programs such as this in their community and recycle yard signs.

It's important to reiterate that, no matter where you live, lawn signs do not belong in household recycling bins because they cannot be effectively sorted from other materials.