Election banners are displayed in Eunpyeong District, northern Seoul, on June 2, one day before Korea's 2026 local elections and parliamentary by-elections. [YONHAP]
More than 100,000 campaign banners are expected to be discarded following Korea's June 3 local elections, but regional governments are struggling to recycle the waste because of the labor-intensive preprocessing required and the difficulty of predicting disposal volumes, which has resulted to a decline in campaign banner recycling rates during election periods.
A total of 128,000 campaign banners were used during the local elections four years ago, according to the National Election Commission. In the 2018 local elections, 138,100 banners were used. Given the numbers, more than 100,000 campaign banners are estimated to have been used in this year's local elections as well.
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With the increased number of used campaign banners, the government has encouraged municipalities to recycle the banners because making and disposing of banners both generate carbon emissions, according to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment.
