Creating new road signs in Illinois means making sure to reuse old ones as part of an ongoing sustainability program.

The Illinois Department of Transportation’s Highway Sign Shop in Springfield recycles 45,000 to 50,000 highway signs each year, conserving about 427,500 pounds of aluminum annually. The process has saved the state about $600,000 a year since 2001.

Damaged or faded signs are collected, then first straightened through a set of rollers and stripped of paint before being sanded down and re-lettered.

For more information, read an article about the process at the Washington Times-Reporter and see more details at the IDOT website.