How do you recycle pvc banners?

Asked by Velvetinenut (1372

) August 2nd, 2009

The Residents Committee where I live puts out banners informing residents of any upcoming events or any other announcements. Once the event is over, these are thrown away. The banners are made with weather resistant materials (they have to be as they are hung out for more than a month or even year round).

I was thinking whether these could be made into tents. The banners, of course, will have printed photos and words on them. Is there a way to remove the ink? And I’m not sure if it is pvc.

Has anyone ever done this before or have heard of others doing this? I don’t know how to post a pic of the banners used. IF someone could tell me how, I just might be able to.

recycling

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5 Answers

Don’t throw them away! Give them away!. They have so many uses: tarps for working on cars, or covering outdoor equipment, hauling leaves, ground covers for tents, drop cloth for outdoor painting. I’ll bet there are plenty of resident that have a use for them. Even if they were cut into 4×8 sheets they are useful to carry in the car in case of emergency.
If you put up a sign offering them for free (or for a dollar donation to the coffee fund) they would be gone in a second and they would be used.
Reuse is the highest form of recycling.

Lupin (4385

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http://www.graffitiremover.com/Qstore/p000079.htm

Something like that might take the printing off them. Or you could just spray paint over the banners. And like Lupin said it shouldn’t be hard to get rid of them.

jrpowell (40562

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Some artists are making bags and artwork from old billboard vinyls. I wonder if the same could be done with the banners?

augustlan (47745

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I was going to say the same as @augustlan . PVC is not recyclable and is unfortunately a pretty toxic material. But—since you have it, might as well find a way to reuse it. More info about pvc: http://www.besafenet.com/pvc/about.htm

emilyrose (2272

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Thanks, everyone. I think I’ll put it up on Freecycle.

Velvetinenut (1372

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