The Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center (R&E Center) in Newport receives a lot of items. Sometimes these include American flags, placed in the trash unceremoniously after they are deemed to have served their useful life. The R&E Center, which handles all waste from Ramsey and Washington counties, has its employees pull the flags out for proper disposal.
“Our staff also find U.S. flags in the trash sometimes,” R&E Center Program Supervisor Andrea McKennan says. “When they spot flags, they pull them from the trash so that they can be properly retired.”
Assisting them with flag disposal Tuesday, March 24 was American Legion Post 98 of St. Paul Park, which came to perform a flag retirement ceremony. Conducted in accordance with the U.S. Flag Code, the ceremony is a respectful method of disposing of unserviceable U.S. flags.
Legion members certified that the flags had reached the end of their useful life and were in need of disposal, the ceremony taking place outside the R&E Center with a flag disposal bin placed on the asphalt. Legion members saluted the flags, giving them a proper send off as they were placed in the disposal bin. The flags were then burnt.
For those who might be tempted to put flags in the trash, there is a better way.
Rather than putting them in the trash, those wishing to properly dispose of flags that are worn or damaged may do so by dropping them off for free at the American Legion in St. Paul Park or VFW in Cottage Grove. Both collect flags year round and hold retirement ceremonies each June in observance of Flag Day.
Back at the R&E Center, meanwhile, flags aren’t the only thing workers don’t want to see thrown carelessly away. Some can cause safety hazards, including propane tanks, batteries, and sharps, otherwise known as needles. Each has their proper safe disposal method.
“These items pose hazards to staff and equipment,” McKennan says. “When staff see propane tanks, they pull these from the waste so that they can be collected by a vendor that specializes in safe recycling of gas cylinders. Batteries pose fire risks, and sharps pose prick risks. These items should be taken to special collection sites, like one of Washington County’s environmental centers.”
As for the R&E Center more generally, it handles 450,000 tons of waste each year, the process both recovering materials and making fuel for generating electricity. Through this system, the R&E Center is maximizing the recovery of resources and diverting as much as possible from landfills.
Statistics for 2025 include almost 90,000 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide produced than if the trash had been landfilled – like taking over 20,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road for a year — and fuel delivered to Xcel power plants with enough power to power 12,000 homes for a year.