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In Debi Nebuhr’s August 17 Letter to the Editor (which was a response to Dianne Berndt’s August 10 Letter to the Editor), she comments that Chris Meyer used an out-of-state vendor for her campaign yard signs "... that are fully recyclable ..." and not an available option in Winona — an explanation for why they didn't purchase locally. However, the signs are not recyclable. I used the patent numbers, on the sign, to research. 

US Patent numbers: 5,682,696; 5,878,517; 6,397,451. All of these patents are owned by Gill Studios, Inc., a company that makes promotional products based in Shawnee Mission, Kan. I called this company (888-455-4422) and asked if their patented poly-coated paperboard signs were “fully recyclable." The customer service representative said that they are not recyclable. I asked if any part of the sign could be recycled, then found out the glue that is used to keep the sign together, as well as the outer plastic layers, are not recyclable. The signs would need to be taken to a specific kind of recycling facility. Even then, the plastics in the signs would either be burned or trashed because the only portion of the sign that can be recycled is the cardboard. 

I thought maybe there could have been an error, perhaps false pretenses from the sign seller, Run & Win, identified in the campaign financial statement on Winona County website. I found the vendor, based in South Carolina, online. The company’s website (https://runandwin.com/ ) didn't mention any claims that the signs are recyclable. So, I called Run & Win’s customer service line (800-279-7809) to ask. I was given the email of a customer service representative, Julie Matson, and I asked her if these signs are fully recyclable. She replied, “ They are not. They have a coating.”

And finally, I called Winona County’s Household Hazardous Waste department to see if our recycling program accepts these kinds of signs. Unfortunately, they do not take these plastic-coated signs. The only signs they can take are the cardboard signs that rip up and fit into the blue recycling can.

I think it's important that people do some fact-checking and research when it comes to supporting candidates through our votes. People can easily make statements to support their own agenda with no intent to follow through–and no consequences to hold them accountable. So, I'm curious to find out how these signs are going to be recycled when they are not recyclable.

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