Election Day is history and whether you backed Obama, McCain or somebody else, chances are, you now have at least one campaign sign in your yard that’s becoming an eyesore. Amy Horst, spokeswoman for the Metro Waste Authority in Des Moines, says virtually all of those political placards are recyclable.
First, Horst says, take the sign apart. Take the stand or the stake off the sign. If the sign is paper or corrugated plastic, it can go into the mixed paper bin, while the metal stake can go in with the tin and aluminum cans. The wooden stake can go into the yard waste bag to be mulched.
Horst says some Iowa recycling programs don’t ordinarily take this type of item. "Residents want to know why we can put them in now and they can’t put them in on any other regular day," she says. "We can make exceptions to the rules. Clearly, there a lot of campaign signs out there that need to be disposed of and the best way to do it would be to put it into your recycling bin. We can make those accommodations."
Horst says there are easily many tons of political signs in our yards that can be recycled so they don’t take up space in our landfills.