Used Election Posters Become New Lamps

A partnership with four key stakeholders

When there is a local or national election taking place, it is traditionally accompanied by a plethora of election posters on all lampposts, city trees, fences, etc. across the entire city. The local elections in Copenhagen held on the 16th of November 2021 were no different.

To ensure that the numerous election posters ended as resources to fuel the circular economy rather than waste, Copenhagen established a partnership with four key stakeholders, representing collection, sorting, recycling and production.

A pilot scheme

A week prior to the election, the partners developed a temporary collection pilot scheme. It included 27 containers for elections posters at nine different recycling stations across Copenhagen. At the same time, all political candidates were informed about the possibility of sorting their election posters for recycling at the central recycling stations.

The pilot scheme resulted in the collection of nearly 12 tonnes of election posters, corresponding to approx. 31.000 posters! The waste company, RagnSells, oversaw logistics of poster collection and sorting. Afterwards, the posters were sent to Relife Studio for recycling and production of designer lamps.