How to Recycle a Flag

There are very few things that catch your attention as much as a beautiful flag. The motion captures the eye, while the content of the flag can stir up strong emotions, such as what our veterans feel when they see the American flag flying high. But if Old Glory isn't so glorious anymore, you may need to take a look at how to recycle a flag. There are several options available for flag disposal, mainly depending on what type of material it's made from.

Flag retirement for the American flag is covered under Title 4 of US Code, which specifies that when a flag becomes ragged, faded or otherwise in bad condition, it should be destroyed in a respectful manner, preferably by burning. Flag retirement ceremonies and burnings are regularly carried out by groups such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Burning works well for older flags made of cotton or wool, but newer flags made of nylon don't burn well and can release hazardous fumes when burned. Recycling is becoming a more common way of respectfully destroying an American flag.

How to Recycle a Flag

If your flag needs to be recycled, there are a few organizations handling this type of respectful retirement.

• American Flag Recycling provides recycling of your flag for a small donation based on the size of the flag. The donation is requested as the cost of recycling outweighs the money brought in from the recycled fiber.
• AmericatheBeautiful.com also recycles flags, but requires a new flag to be purchased when sending in the old one to offset the cost of recycling.

Both companies send out the flags they receive to a central recycling company who processes the fiber. Recycling a flag means it can fly again after being turned into a new flag. Now that you've figured out what needs to be done with your old flag, have you considered what to replace it with? At Accent Banner, we've been serving the greater Boston area for decades, providing high-quality applique banners, flags and gonfalons to meet the needs of businesses and organizations. Please feel free to contact us today for more details about how we can make your next flag extraordinary.