Fort Smith’s chickens to receive Arctic Winter Games signs

Leftover signs from the 2018 Arctic Winter Games will be used to line chicken coops in Fort Smith.

Organizers working to recycle dozens of signs produced for the Games quickly found homes for their wooden bases and frames. But keeping the plastic material used for the signs themselves out of the dump proved trickier – until the chickens came along.

“The wood will be used in gardens, or as bracing for decks,” said Mack Abbott, venue coordinator for the Games. “All the core plastic stuff, we have people in town that want to use them as recycled insulation in their chicken coops and garages.

“The chickens are going to love it. It’s not going to be anything they’ve ever seen before.

“From what we’re told, it provides great insulation, so there’s no sense in putting all this stuff to waste. We may as well use it for a practical purpose.”

One official, quoting the official slogan of the Arctic Winter Games, added she hoped the chickens would “find their power.”

Aurora College will take the Games’ no-smoking signs for use in future campaigns, according to Abbott.

Volunteers spent Saturday – the day after events finished in Fort Smith – driving around the community, stripping down the signs and converting them into their components parts for reuse and recycling.

“It’s just one of the small legacy pieces that I don’t think people account for when they see a large sporting event come to town,” said Abbott.