(above) Chatham Eagle Scout Collin Goldbach and MUA’s Mike Nunn stand next to one of the MUA collection boxes.
MUA County Flag Boxes or Veterans’ Posts
Chatham Eagle Scout’s Project Offers Four Morris County MUA Collection Sites
According to veterans’ organizations, when an American flag becomes worn, faded, torn or soiled, it should be retired and replaced with a new flag. It is illegal to throw away the American Flag and the Flag Codes state that it should be destroyed with “with dignity, preferably by burning.”
There are several ways to respectfully dispose of an American flag. The most common method is burning the torn or tattered flag in a special ceremony.
This is best done by taking your old flag to one of Morris County’s many American Legion or VFW posts, where veterans and members may then hold a ceremony as they properly retire/dispose of it.
Morris County residents have the option of bringing worn out flags to four collection boxes created by Chatham Township Eagle Scout Collin Goldbach and maintained by the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority.
The goal is to make it more convenient to dispose of old and worn flags. The red boxes are located at:
- Morristown: Morris County Administration and Records Building, 10 Court Street, Morristown 07960 (inside the main lobby)
- Mount Olive: MCMUA Mount Olive Transfer Station, 168 Gold Mine Road, Flanders 07836
- Parsippany: MCMUA Parsippany-Troy Hills Transfer Station, 1100 Edwards Road, Parsippany 07054
- Dover: MCMUA Curbside Recycling Building (Dover Armory Garage), 479 West Clinton Street (Route 15), Dover 07801
In 2018, Goldbach, in coordination with the Morris County MUA, designed and built the bright red American Flag disposal boxes to call attention to proper methods of discarding worn Stars n’ Stripes. The program is managed by MCMUA Assistant Operations Manager Michael Nunn, a U.S. Marine and former Morris County Sheriff’s Officer.
For more information on flag disposal, check out the following sites:
VFW: https://www.vfw.org/community/flag-etiquette
American Legion: https://www.legion.org/flag/questions-answers/91117/how-are-unserviceable-flags-destroyed
