The Royal Canadian Legion's national poppy campaign officially begins on Friday.
New biodegradable poppies and wreaths will begin being disbursed this year. The new poppies are made out of paper, cotton velvet, plaster, moss, and bamboo. The only non-biodegradable elements are the pins and bows.
However, it's expected to take a few years before the current stock of pins and wreaths are depleted.
"We are going to get rid of all of our stock of the old poppies and the old wreaths before we go into the biodegradable products," said Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62 President Les Jones.
Locally, Jones said poppy-pinning will begin November 4.
Poppy boxes will be set up at various businesses and volunteers will be stationed at over 20 locations. A full list can be found below.
Funds raised through the campaign assists veterans and their families through various programs provided at the legion.
Despite challenges brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones said the local campaign was not deeply impacted.
"We actually were very surprised during the pandemic because we couldn't have actual people out pinning and a lot of businesses were closed down," he said. "But as always, Sarnia is a very generous community and we did very well during the pandemic, we were very grateful to see that."
As part of the national poppy campaign, digital poppies will be available at mypoppy.ca.