What happens to campaign signs after Election Day?

As North Carolina’s election season wraps up, campaign signs continue to dot roadsides and neighborhoods across the state. Though candidates and their teams are responsible for collecting these signs, the materials used to make them create challenges for environmentally friendly disposal.

According to North Carolina law, campaigns have up to 10 days after Election Day to retrieve their signs from public spaces, after which they are considered abandoned. “The general rule is, on public right-of-ways, they need to be collected within 10 days of the close of polls,” said Danner McCullough, public records coordinator for the Wake County Board of Elections. “If they’re placed at any of our polling places, those need to be collected within 36 hours of the polls closing.” After this window, it’s lawful for the public to remove the signs, though local governments, municipalities, or the Department of Transportation may step in if signs are left too long, often at taxpayer expense.

Environmental impact of campaign signs

Many campaign signs are made from corrugated plastic, which can be difficult to recycle and environmentally damaging if improperly disposed of. “When plastic signs end up in a landfill, they are very slow to biodegrade,” said Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, an organization working to end single-use plastic pollution. If sent to incinerators, plastic signs release “toxic emissions and greenhouse gases,” Enck added, which contribute to climate change. Landfills also produce methane and carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere.

“Plastic signs are essentially a form of single-use plastic,” said Eric Goldstein, a recycling expert and senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He emphasized that while some campaigns reuse their signs by covering them with new messaging, many signs still end up as waste. For future campaigns, Goldstein advocates for cardboard signs, noting that cardboard is “one of the most successfully recycled materials across the nation.” Cardboard signs can break down more easily and have a much lower environmental impact than their plastic counterparts.

What you can do with old campaign signs

For those who don’t want to see these signs end up in a landfill, there are creative ways to recycle and repurpose them:

• Gardening supports: The metal stakes from campaign signs are great for supporting tomato plants or creating DIY trellises in the garden.
• DIY projects: The corrugated plastic panels are sturdy and can be used in various projects, such as crafting birdhouses, bat boxes, or even sleds.
• Beekeeping supplies: Some beekeepers use plastic campaign signs to trap pests like small hive beetles or Varroa mites.
• Garage and workshop uses: Old campaign signs can be cut and repurposed as splash guards, floor protectors for paint projects, or even weatherproof labels for outdoor storage.
• Reuse them for the next election: Campaigns can sometimes reuse signs by adding a new sticker or covering old messaging. “In a lot of situations, they can maybe reuse the signs or find some sort of alternative for them,” McCullough said.

Recycling options for campaign signs

Recycling plastic campaign signs is often challenging because they’re made of mixed materials. Many curbside recycling programs won’t accept them, so it’s important to check with local recycling centers. Some facilities will accept the metal stakes separately as scrap metal, but the corrugated plastic itself may need to be handled by specialized recycling services.

Campaign signs made entirely of cardboard, on the other hand, are more likely to be accepted through standard recycling programs. “Corrugated cardboard signs … are much gentler on the environment,” Goldstein said.

If you’re unsure whether your campaign sign is recyclable, it’s best not to place it in your curbside bin, Hoffman cautioned. “Hoping something good will happen is really problematic for recyclers. It just adds cost and contamination to the things that actually are recyclable.”

Looking ahead: Cardboard campaign signs

Both Enck and Goldstein advocate for campaigns to switch back to cardboard signs, which were standard before plastic gained popularity. Cardboard signs are easier to recycle and better for the environment, making them a more sustainable choice for future elections.

As campaigns wrap up this season, the Wake County Board of Elections encourages campaigns to collect their signs promptly. “We would just ask that everybody who placed those signs just go out and try to collect them as soon as you can,” McCullough emphasized.