Students from DACC, Buckeye Valley Local Schools, and Delaware City Schools are helping lead a growing, countywide effort to recycle and upcycle Wreaths Across America greenery and materials, ensuring thousands of memorial wreaths placed to honor veterans do not end up in landfills.
Now in its third year, the initiative began when the Delaware City Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) sought a more sustainable solution after wreaths were placed at Liberty Cemetery. Rather than disposing of the wreaths after the ceremony, the group organized a collection and partnered with DACC students to disassemble and repurpose the materials.
What started with approximately 100 wreaths has expanded dramatically. This year, more than 2,500 wreaths are being collected from cemeteries in Delaware County. The wreaths are being transported to DACC’s Wildlife and Resource Management Program and Landscape Architecture & Construction Program, where students are carefully separating greenery and metal components for responsible reuse and recycling.
“I’m grateful for all of the organizations coming together so these thousands of wreaths will not end up in landfills,” shared Jennifer Way-Young, Program Manager for the Delaware County Recycling and Litter Prevention program for the Delaware Public Health District. “Our veterans’ memories can be honored in the right way, by repurposing the wreaths rather than throwing them away.”
DACC’s Wildlife students are allowing wreath greenery to “return to nature” through environmentally responsible reuse, while DACC Landscape Architecture & Construction students are sending separated greenery to Price Farms for repurposing. Metal wreath frames from all collected wreaths will be sold to a local metal recycler, with proceeds directed back to support veterans in Delaware County.
Additional materials are also being kept out of landfills through Ohio Wesleyan University’s Upcycle Program, coordinated by David Soliday. Items such as bows and ribbons will be upcycled after being disassembled by middle school students in partner Career-Based Intervention (CBI) programs at Dempsey Middle School and Buckeye Valley Middle School.
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