Alpine Waste & Recycling resumes yard sign campaign

Alpine Waste & Recycling, Commerce City, Colorado, has again arranged to recycle thousands of political yard signs this election season.

Through its Altogether Recycling division, Alpine Waste became the first Denver-area recycler to accept yard signs during campaign season, launching its initiative in 2007. To its management’s knowledge, Alpine remains the only yard-sign recycler in the Denver area.

“At Alpine, we constantly look for innovative ways to increase the materials that we recycle and divert volume away from landfills,” says Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling at Alpine Waste. “Despite the challenge of finding a market every year for these yard signs, the project is always particularly rewarding. We want to clean up the yard signs as much as everybody else does.”

Hildebrand emphasizes that the only signs that the market will reasonably handle right now are the signs made of rigid, corrugated plastic. The flimsy low-density polyethylene signs, similar to shower-curtain material, are not recyclable at this time under current market conditions, he says.

After the 2012 presidential election, Alpine Waste calculated that it recycled 2.5 tons of yard signs, plus metal wickets that anchor the signs to the ground. This year’s nonpresidential load is likely to be about half that amount, Hildebrand says.

Campaign workers can drop off their unwanted corrugated plastic signs at the Altogether Recycling plant, 645 W. 53rd Place, Denver. Alpine asks that campaign workers separate the plastic from the metal, dropping the metal wickets in a nearby container that is clearly marked for that purpose.

Alpine welcomes drop-offs between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Nov. 18. To reduce traffic, Alpine asks that campaign workers try to consolidate loads as much as possible.

 “Eventually, the signs will be converted into plastic pellets,” Hildebrand says, “and the pellets will be used for the manufacture of common consumer goods, such as lawn chairs, trash cans, toys and other heavy-plastic items.”

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Alpine Waste & Recycling bills itself as the largest privately held commercial waste, recycling and compost collection company in Colorado. With more than 80 trucks and more than 200 employees, Alpine handles more than 300,000 tons of waste and recycle products per year.