JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
World Environment Day, a United Nations program celebrated annually on June 5, gives people around the globe an opportunity to spring into positive environmental action and sustain that effort on a daily basis.
At Joint Base San Antonio, community members can embrace the message of World Environment Day and make a meaningful impact on the environment in many ways, including participation in a program that diverts materials such as cardboard, plastic containers, metals and paper documents from landfills and incinerators, reducing the amount of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere.
The JBSA Qualified Recycling Program, or QRP, which has been operated in-house by Department of Defense civilians for nearly four years, serves all of JBSA, including mission partners, with a recycling facility at each of the main joint base locations as well as outdoor cardboard receptacles and recycling bins inside and outside buildings throughout the installation.
“Recycling is important for our environment and our communities, including our JBSA community, because it protects and preserves our natural resources, creates jobs and saves money,” said Lisa Copeland, QRP analyst and outreach coordinator.
In addition to keeping recyclable materials out of landfills, recycling reduces the need to make new raw materials, conserving natural resources such as water, air and timber, and reduces energy consumption, Copeland said.
“For every ton of recycled material, 17 trees are spared, 60 pounds of air pollution is prevented, 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity, 7,000 gallons of water and 3 cubic yards of landfill space are saved,” she said.
Recycling’s challenges
Despite its environmental benefits, recycling now faces challenges that are adversely affecting the profitability and viability of the JBSA QRP and recycling programs all over the United States, Copeland said.
“There has been a significant downturn in some recyclable commodity prices,” she said. “As a result, JBSA has to improve upon and change recycling practices.”
One of those challenges stems from China’s decision in recent years to stop accepting contaminated – or “dirty” – recyclables from the U.S. and other nations, Copeland said.
For more than 10 years, China was the main importer for more than half of America’s plastic, cardboard and mixed-paper recyclables, she said, but the country’s decision to stop accepting contaminated recyclables has left millions of tons of recyclables with nowhere to go.
“Every bale of recyclables that is received in China must consist of no more than 0.5 percent contamination, but locally, contamination levels exceed those that are accepted in China,” Copeland said. “This presents a serious problem for the entire U.S. recycling industry because, if there is no market willing to buy these recyclable materials, local recyclers, including the JBSA QRP, cannot sell them.”
Members of the JBSA community can help the QRP meet its challenges, Copeland said.
“Everyone must change and improve the way they recycle and must stop discarding recyclables in the trash,” she said.
Cardboard: an important recycling commodity
Cardboard, one of the program’s most valuable and profit-generating commodities, is one of the recyclables being discarded as trash, Copeland said.
“We estimate that only half of the cardboard generated on base is being recycled,” she said. “The other half is going to the local landfills, so the recycling program is losing the opportunity for this revenue.”
On the other hand, some people are throwing trash – including food, fast food wrappers, frozen food cartons, half-emptied beverage containers, greasy pizza and doughnut boxes, napkins and plastic cutlery – into recycling bins and trailers.
“When the recycling bins and trailers are contaminated with items such as food, beverages, grease and oil, it contaminates the entire load of recyclables, which turns those recyclables into trash that must be hauled to the landfills,” Copeland said.
Some members of the base community are also mixing trash, binder clips, document protectors, paper clips and other items with the paper in the locked gray bins reserved exclusively for documents containing personally identifiable information, or PII, and other paper materials covered by the Privacy Act, which significantly slows down the recycling process.
“We need to emphasize that not only are we asking the base populace to stop putting trash in the Privacy Act bins, but also we are asking that they stop putting non-Privacy Act papers and paper products such as books and magazines in them,” Copeland said.
She also noted that electronic waste, hazardous waste and hazardous waste containers, government furnishings and electronics are not items or materials that are recycled by the QRP, and that hazardous waste such as chemicals, solvents, corrosives and non-alkaline batteries must be handled and disposed of properly and can be turned in at the JBSA hazardous waste facilities.
All government-purchased and government-furnished items must be turned in to Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.
Some plastics no longer accepted
The downturn in recyclable commodity prices has forced the recycling program to cut back on the plastic materials it accepts, Copeland said.
“Instead, we are having to limit plastics to those that are labeled No. 1 or No. 2, which include such items as soda and water bottles, mouthwash bottles, milk jugs, juice bottles, household cleaner bottles, shampoo bottles and others,” she said. “Prior to the downturn, the JBSA QRP accepted plastics No. 1 through No. 7, but buyers and brokers of recyclable commodities are no longer paying for plastics No. 3 through No. 7. In fact, they are having to charge for accepting these plastics, so it will cost the QRP money to recycle plastics other than No. 1 and No. 2.”
In addition to cardboard – which should be flattened and either placed next to the 95-gallon recycling bins at designated areas, in work centers, in designated trailers throughout JBSA for pickup or taken to the recycling centers – and plastics that are labeled Nos. 1 and 2, recyclable items at JBSA include ink and toner cartridges.
“But they have to be boxed and labeled, indicating the type of cartridges to be recycled, and placed next to the 95-gallon recycling bins for pickup or taken to the recycling centers,” Copeland said.
Other recyclable items include paper materials such as office paper, envelopes, brochures, manila file folders and shredded paper as long as it is bagged and tied tightly.
“Clean, white office paper is the most valuable of the paper recyclable commodities, so it should be segregated and placed in a separate recycling bin for pickup,” Copeland said.
Spent brass ammo casings .50-caliber and below also are recyclable, but only DLA and the QRP are permitted to sell them.
“This message is important because some members of the base community have been taking the brass, selling it directly to recyclers and pocketing the money,” Copeland said. “Not only does this impact the recycling program’s revenue, but more importantly it is illegal – a federal offense that can lead to imprisonment.”
The recycling centers accept all types of scrap metals – not only aluminum cans, but also tin and steel cans as well as large metal items and appliances, Copeland said.
“However, we are having a problem with people bringing appliances to the recycling center without them being purged of fluids such as refrigerants and oils, so we’d like to remind people that the fluids must be removed from the appliances before being brought to the recycling center,” she said. “But we caution that refrigerants must be purged by certified personnel.”
QRP is self-supporting
The JBSA community’s cooperation benefits the environment and the QRP, which is a self-supporting program that does not rely on tax money, Copeland said.
All of the revenue generated from the sale of recyclable commodities goes back into the program and is used to pay for the maintenance of the three JBSA recycling facilities; the purchase of operating supplies; the purchase, repair and maintenance of recycling equipment; the purchase of personal protective equipment for the recycling center operations personnel; the training of QRP personnel; and operations and maintenance reimbursement, she said.
In addition, excess revenue generated by the QRP can be used to fund environmental programs such as energy conservation, pollution abatement and occupational health and safety as well as morale, welfare and recreation projects for the installation, Copeland said.
“We need to change the mindset of the entire JBSA population about recycling,” she said. “In order for the JBSA QRP to remain robust, viable and profitable, it is essential that we have the cooperation and support of the entire joint base populace.”