A number of tattered American flags have been taken down and replaced or removed altogether following a news story on the many U.S. code violations across the city.

A flag at 55 Canal St., so tattered it had become only a faded triangle of cloth, was taken down, as was the pole on which it flew. An employee at the plumbing supply shop that owned the flag said it was taken down after the article in The New York Sun. “We didn’t know,” he said. “We took it down.”

At the site of the old Fulton Street Fish Market, a flag that was frayed into ribbons was replaced with a brand new set of Stars and Stripes. At a building near the World Trade Center site, a flag frayed at the edges and worn gray was replaced last week.

The coordinator of an annual flag disposal ceremony in Staten Island, Gil Schweiger, said several dozen worn flags had been sent to Pouch Camp, where he is a park ranger, since the article was published.

“We don’t usually get any this time of year,” he said. “It’s an unusual amount.”

In Chapter 1 of Title VI of the United States Code, the government stipulates that flags should be allowed to fly only if they are in good condition. If they become worn or frayed, they are to be destroyed by burning. The code also says the flag should never be hoisted upside down except as a sign of distress, or be allowed to touch the ground.

Worn flags can be sent to William H. Pouch Camp, 1465 Manor Rd., Staten Island, N.Y., 10314, where they will be disposed of in compliance with the flag code on the weekend before Flag Day.