American Flags in the Trash

[Bergschlawiner]

Recently, our Legion Post Vice Commander found a 12x8' cloth US Flag in a dumpster, The flag was undamaged and in perfect shape and we ended up proudly displaying it on the wall of our post meeting room.

[HallMarc]

This kind of thing bothers me. I am a Cub Scout Cub Master and we are starting an annual flag burning ceremony.

This past fall, one of our parents had a family member give us a flag to retire. We gladly accepted the honor and made plans. In the 3 or 4 weeks leading up to the ceremony we had another 20 or so flags show up. We did not do any advertising.

This Spring, I went before the City council and proposed to start an Annual Flag retirement ceremony. They overwhelmingly supported the idea and have provided me with an enormous amount of resources.

My suggestion to you is this, contact you local Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop. Ask them to take the flags. I will guarantee that they will give you every assistance. If they do not, Let me know, I will contact the council office in your area and they will get involved. This is a service that the Scouts will gladly provide. Or, do what I did and start an annual ceremony in your city. You will be surprised at the number of people who will step up and lend a hand.

Kudo's to you for doing what you are doing. As a Veteran, I thank you.

[Peter Ansoff]

As I've mentioned in other posts here, I've always been a bit puzzled by the popularity of public flag-disposal ceremonies. Neither the Flag Code nor military regulations require them -- in fact, military regs say that flags should be disposed of "privately," and the Flag Code originally said the same thing. The sense of both is just that the disposal should be done in a respectful way.

In my humble opinion, the emphasis should not be on disposing of old flags, but raising new ones. One of the things that gives the flag its symbolic power is that it is immortal. When one is worn out, a new one can take its place. Neither the new nor the old one is uniquely the "real" flag -- they both are.

Peter Ansoff

[GregCampbellUSA]

I think this link to the FAQs needs to be updated:
http://www.usa-flag-site.org/faq/disposal.shtml

It didn't mention the Boy Scouts at all - which is part of the
persistent education process that might prevent these flags
from winding up in the trash in the first place.

Our community probably received 500 or so of the little plastic
flags stapled to a stick. They were placed in the ground at every
house just prior to the Fourth of July, and some are already looking
faded, or tipped over and touching the ground. (Wind, dogs, etc..)

Trash day is Monday, so my son is going to request approval for one of
his Scout service projects to be the collection, evaluation, and disposal
or re-distribution of these plastic flags. I see that as a very appropriate
community service project: it will insure that:
1) the flags are treated with respect AND disposed of properly by one of the few organizations (BSA / Boy Scouts of America) authorized by Congress to do so.
2) save the people of the community from fretting over properly disposing of the flags. (These flags are placed every year without seeking specific permission from the individual homeowner's.)
3) save the trash & recycle drivers the anxiety over picking through people's trash
4) earning community service hours for the Scouts that go through the neighborhoods and collect the flags. Earning the Star Scout rank requires 6 hours of approved service projects.


As to the practical issues of how to do it, these are the concerns & considerations that my son came up with:

a) Who put the flags up? Do they want them back?
(Probably not since they haven't taken them down in the past,
and the flags have looked bad in the past after a week or two.)

b) How do we dispose of plastic flags? We've never burned anything
except fabric flags and our Boy Scout flag retirement ceremony.
Is there a special caution or procedure for burning plastic flags?

c) Can we separate the flags into "serviceable" and "not"
and then burn all the plastic flags at one time,
or must they be burned individually ?

d) Should we announce the collection date, or simply collect
them as they wear out and fade? (Which would require
repeated passes through the neighborhood.)

e) Could we coordinate with the person or group that
distributes the flags to include disposal instructions
on a label attached to the flag.

f) If we collect the flags BEFORE they start looking ratty
and faded, or before they fall over, then... more of the flags
could be re-used the following year. Leaving the flags
stay on display for more than a week and they start to
look faded and unserviceable.


Anyway - we're going to try and make that our Scout service project
for this month. Collect the flags, pick out the unserviceable ones,
properly dispose of them at a Boy Scout flag retirement ceremony,
and re-distribute the flags (with disposal instructions attached)
on the next appropriate occasion - such as the Potomac Day parade.

Our suggestion for this site is to update the FAQ on disposing the flags
and suggest that people turn them in to their nearest Boy Scout or
Cub Scout. Not every locality might provide for flag disposal,
but every Boy Scout troop certainly can dispose of worn out flags.

[Stars for our Troops]

Stars for our Troops takes the old discarded flags, removes the embroidered Stars and transplants them to a new life. The Stars are given to Veterans and sent to Soldiers with a note that those of us at home are thinking of them.

Plastic, synthetic material is hazardous to your health and the environment if burned.

Educating people about flag disposal is so important. Set up Flag Collection Boxes near your local library, city hall, school, senior center, grocery store, etc. and accept any flag that is turned in.

Flags that can be washed and resewn can be reused and donated to organizations that will fly the flag.