One thing that we don’t need to wait on is the removal of campaign signage!
During campaign season our lawns and properties become valuable real estate for candidates vying for our votes. If someone is worthy of a vote and of representing community interests in public office, then surely they care enough about keeping our community clean and attractive after the polls close. Did you know that Lafayette has a local ordinance requiring candidates to remove all signs within 10 days following an election? This doesn’t include private residential signs — that’s the homeowner’s duty! Essentially, if candidates don’t remove their signs then they’re breaking the law. It can be difficult to enforce this law and hold candidates accountable, which is why Parish Proud teamed up with a local 7th grader to support his efforts to not only get these signs removed, but to take it a step further and recycle them!
A local 7th grader (of voting age in 2028), Tre Bishop, became frustrated with all the political signs. So in 2019, he started a campaign signage recycling program. In 2020, Parish Proud joined forces with Tre and his passion for beautification and sustainability. Tre wants Lafayette to use the recycled signs to create park benches and sculptures out of the recycled material…so we’re helping him reach that goal!
Campaign signs are made of a very special material, corrugated plastic. This means they can’t be recycled with your typical plastics — so please don’t place campaign signs in your residential recycling bins! These signs can be brought to any of the following locations for proper recycling.
- Broussard Town Hall
- Youngsville Town Hall
- LCG’s Recycling Office at 400 Dugas Rd.
Parish Proud distributed a pledge to all parish candidates requesting that they make sure their signs are picked up by November 13 and to recycle them at the above locations. We’re also asking residents and organizations to help by recycling residential lawn signs. It’s important to remove the wire stakes before recycling the plastic sign!
If there are remaining signs along the University Ave. corridor, then Parish Proud’s clean-up volunteers will recycle those during our November 14 Corridor Clean-Up. If you want to participate in that event, click this LINK to register!
Tre has plans to grow this program for future election seasons and Parish Proud will continue supporting this effort to remove visual pollution and enhance our public spaces with benches and art!