SCMUA holds flag retirement ceremony

LAFAYETTE — The Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority held its 3rd American Flag Retirement Ceremony at the Abbey Glen Pet Memorial Park, on Monday, July 11, in honor of Independence Day.
This unique memorial service was for the proper and respectful destruction of 850 pounds of unserviceable American flags collected at the SCMUA Recycling Center.
Derek and Kevin Cooke, proprietors of Abbey Glen, generously offered utilizing their crematory at no charge for an environmentally-focused method of combusting large quantities of flags without releasing harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.
Representatives from the Sussex County American Legion and Veteran’s organizations conducted the ceremony.
In addition, a memorial marker was presented to John Harrigan of the Vietnam Veterans of America. The marker is to dedicate the placement of flag ashes from this program at the Northern New Jersey Veterans Memorial Cemetery’s first ceremonial burial, on Nov. 15, 2015.
The goal of this program is to renew awareness of the need to provide environmentally sound alternatives, for the final disposition of our national symbol. Abbey Glen is noted to have the first NJDEP issued facility air permit, for the annual combustion of American flags.
As a result of this program, over 2,450 pounds of flags collected at the SCMUA Recycling Center have been properly incinerated under State and American Legion guidelines, with the ashes retired in a place of honor at the Northern New Jersey Veterans Memorial Cemetery.