Army and civilian leaders welcome Sean C. Bernabe, Commander, 3rd Armored Division and Fort Hood, for an Environmental Quality Control Board meeting and tour held at the Fort Hood Recycling Center on October 26. Joined by Lieutenant General and Director of Public Works Brian Dosa.
Dosa explained that the purpose of the quarterly forums is to share successes, challenges and lessons with commanders and units while balancing mission and environment.
“Units, garrisons, and representatives of III Corps and Fort Hood will come together to discuss how to balance Fort Hood’s mission with the reality of being a federal facility subject to Texas and EPA regulations.” he said. You may ask yourself, “How are recycling and preparation related?” You can connect those dots by understanding, watching and listening to our team. ”
Fort Hood Recycle’s recycling operations manager, Michael Bush, said the program generated $1.55 million in sales last year and provides services such as roll-off container and lead-acid battery recycling to help the unit. explained to the leader.
“One of the hidden values of doing business with us is that you can save a lot of time because you don’t have to do paperwork when recycling,” he said. “If you have a pallet of batteries and it is shrink wrapped, we will pick it up. Check the stuff. Roll off 20, 30, or 40 yards down into the motor pool.”
During the tour, Bush shared how there have been challenges with items such as food waste, diapers, needles and even dead pets being put into recycling containers.
“The single stream made things more convenient, but it increased pollution. When people listened to the single stream, they just heard whatever,” he said. “We hadn’t recycled in Family Housing for a while. Pollution got a little out of control for us.”
Because of these challenges, Col. Chad R. Foster, commander of U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Hood, is leading an initiative to revitalize the home recycling program with the Fort Hood Family Residential Residents Advisory Board. increase.
“Every time you recycle, you save space in a landfill…you are generating revenue for Fort Hood used in a very specific way. Supporting community events like Freedom Fest that support ,” he said.
“The Residents Recycle Responsibly Program, R3P, was recently launched and has distributed about 600 containers,” said Ricardo Garcia, utility manager and Sustainability Fort Hood Family Housing. “This is a voluntary program and we ask you to sign a pledge and follow the rules. ”
Bush explained the importance of sorting and segregating recyclable materials such as aluminum cans, milk bottles, blank paper and cardboard to maximize the long-term benefits of a successful recycling program.
“If you try to mix and sell everything, there is no market. “For aluminum cans, $0.60 per pound is the market. These range targets are HDPE, so we put them in with other HDPE bottles and plastics and are now $0.10 per pound. Milk jugs are 1 lb. $0.58 I appreciate everyone who drinks milk the way I appreciate those who drink beer and soda, and I make money on all of it.”
“What really grabs my attention is the price per pound and what it does to put resources back into our community and this facility, and then invest in other forms of preparation. “It’s really powerful and part of why we do this is that it’s important to share that part of the message. has a very real payoff.”
The tour concluded with civilian and military recognition of DPW’s quarterly Environmental Stewardship Awards.
“Everybody here at Fort Hood knows what our mission is. Training. To do that very effectively for our soldiers, we need a safe and sustainable place for them to accomplish their missions and training,” said DPW’s environmental program chief. Timi Dachuk said, “We recognize military and civilian units and individuals who have achieved a fine balance between military missions and environmental stewardship.”
Dosa and Bernabe subsequently presented awards to civilian organizations and individuals to the Hood Air Force Base Support Battalion. They presented awards to William Harold, AFSBn-Hood, military unit and individual awards to the 48th Chemical Brigade and Staff Sergeant. Anthony Heckart of Thunder Company, 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
“This was enlightening and educational for me,” Bernabe said. “There are many reasons why we do this…we care about our environment and want to make sure we are good stewards of it.”
For resource recycling, call Fort Hood Recycle at 254-248-5441 or visit Facebook.com/FortHoodRecycle.
