Campaign signs for the 2024 general election adorned front yards across Tampa Bay. “Vote No on Amendment 4″ next to a “Trump 2024″ sign. “Don’t make it weird” next to a “Harris Walz” one.
But now that the election is over, what can — and should — residents do with their metal posts and plastic?
Are yard signs recyclable?
If you live in Hillsborough County, the short answer for your everyday recycling habits: No.
If you throw a yard sign into your county-issued recycling can, the solid waste department is probably going to have to siphon it out, said Joe Gross, the director of the county’s code enforcement department.
“Certain things can really jam up the system, and that can be one of them,” he said.
He encouraged folks to take their metal posts to one of five Community Collection Centers to dispose of noncollectible items across the county. Or, if you want to put them in a can, you can put them in your regular curbside garbage cart, according to the solid waste department.
The code enforcement department is responsible for removing illegal snipe signs — from “We’ll Buy Your Home” to pressure washing ads — on public property, like medians, parkways and local rights of way.
The department is hosting its third annual cleanup day, Sign Off Day Tampa Bay, this Friday, where volunteers can remove signs from public lands. This is not an opportunity to drop off your personal yard sings, Gross said, but a chance to help clean up the community.
The department partners with NuCycle Energy, a Plant City company that processes nonrecyclable materials and turns them into a “highly engineered alternative fuel that replaces coal,” according to Kyle Pukylo, the company’s director of sales and procurement.
Campaign signs are made up of polypropylene, which is typically recyclable, Pukylo said. But the signs have other elements in them that make them not recyclable, like glue and ink.
The metal portions of the signs will be recycled through the county’s existing scrap metal recycling program.
When it comes to recycling signs in Pinellas County, you can simply put them in your trash cans, according to Kelsey Grentzer, the county’s public information coordinator. The county operates a facility where it burns garbage and produces electricity. Metals are recovered from the remaining ash and recycled.
How does the community get creative?
Don Kuder of Tampa collects used signs from polling places and uses the metal frames to prop up plants in his vegetable garden.
Some people turn the signs into splints for medical training. Or prop up their window air conditioning units.
Elizabeth Corwin, another Tampa resident, says she collects around 100 signs after every election and delivers them to Community Stepping Stones, a Sulphur Springs after-school arts program. The kids turn the signs into items like vases and birdhouses.
“I wish there was a way to do this on a larger scale,” Corwin said.
The roughly 100 campaign signs can last for over a year, depending on what the students make, said Sarai Rodriguez, the program’s executive director.
“We love getting recycled materials and turning it into art,” she said. Other projects include CD mosaics and bottle cap murals. “On one hand, it helps cut back on material costs. And then on another hand, it shows our students that you don’t need all these fancy materials to create art.”
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