The Department of Defense and its various components are committed to protecting the environment as exemplified by NAS Whidbey Island’s ISWM program.

By Paul F. Brewer

Program Summary
Accomplishments
Milestones

Located on an island in the North Puget Sound and surrounded by pristine areas with miles of beachfront, Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island (NASWI), is home to the West Coast training center for the Navy’s electronic attack squadrons flying the EA-6B "Prowler," a carrier-based tactical jamming aircraft. NASWI also serves as the West Coast center for patrol squadrons flying the Lockheed P-3C.

Established in 1990, Navy Whidbey Recycle’s (NWR) Solid Waste Management Program serves a military population of more than 7,500 and a civilian work force of nearly 2,000. NASWI comprises two distinct geographical bases: Ault Field and Seaplane Base. Nestled between these two is the city of Oak Harbor. The arrangement provides a unique opportunity for NWR to provide recycling services for the neighboring townspeople, building trust and goodwill that result in a win-win situation for both the air station and the local residents. The air station is held in high esteem by local residents and is an integral part of their strong sense of community.

Constantly changing personnel and base realignments have provided the recycling team with environmental challenges. Educating a continually changing labor force on proper disposal procedures and the importance of recycling efforts is an ongoing task. NWR is managed under the Environmental Affairs Department of the air station, which ensures compliance with all Executive Orders, Department of Defense (DOD) mandates, and state and local requirements. As with each project undertaken at the station, NWR is truly a team effort.

An integrated approach is used in the management of solid waste on the station. Construction projects are scrutinized to ensure that opportunities to recycle or reuse are seized, wastestreams not currently being recycled are analyzed to determine if potential markets exist, and comparisons are made between alternative solid waste management options to determine if recycling is really the most effective.

Program Summary

Large compactors reduce the frequency of solid waste transport and eliminate the need for Dumpsters.

The Solid Waste Management Program’s overall objective is to reduce the amount of waste generated for disposal, primarily through source reduction. Recognizing that source reduction alone cannot provide the greatest waste disposal reduction possible, NWR is tasked with maximizing reduction through the source separation of recyclable commodities as well as the reuse of discarded materials for alternative purposes.

In fiscal year (FY) 1993, facing the imminent closure of the air station’s solid waste landfill, NWR set a goal for the air station to recycle 50% of the solid wastestream by FY 1995. The FY 1995 Solid Waste Management Program exceeded the Washington State and Navy waste reduction goals of 40% by actually recycling 51% of the wastestream. In FY 1999 that percentage had leveled off to 60%. With source reduction working, FY 2000 found us recycling 62% of the wastestream and reducing the wastestream by 22 tons less than the previous year. In June 2000 we began operating the Navy’s first in-vessel composting facility. The yearlong testing of this system will include composting the base’s organic wastestream materials, such as pallets and crates, chipped tree trimmings, preconsumer and postconsumer food scraps, yard debris, waxed cardboard boxes, mixed paper, and biosolids. It is expected this composting facility will further increase the waste diversion rate, pushing it over 75%.

Refuse disposal at NASWI is accomplished via long haul to a regional landfill approximately 500 mi. away, costing the Navy $177/ton, down from $215. This reduction was achieved through recycling, composting, eliminating Dumpsters, and lowering the pickup frequency. By recycling as much of the wastestream as possible, NWR helps the air station avoid this cost and generate income to support program operations, environmental projects, and quality-of-life improvements. Recycling funds are first used to pay operational costs and purchase and maintain recycling equipment, reducing the cost to the air station.

Our affirmative procurement policies coupled with our proactive recycling strategies have created markets for recovered materials and environmentally preferred products and services. As parks are added or rebuilt, we ensure that recycled materials are used to confirm our commitment to the environment. These actions spur competition, create business and employment opportunities, and enhance local and regional economies.

Accomplishments

NWR holds open houses, provides tours, and explains the importance of recycling.

Count Down to Earth Day involves beach, parks, and road cleanup activities.

At the Dumpster Diving Championship, volunteers fish through Dumpsters separate recyclable material from solid waste.

The NWR program has grown from recycling 4% of the wastestream in 1990 to recycling 62% of the wastestream in 2000. During the 11-year period of operations, more than 87 million lb. of recyclable materials were diverted from the wastestream. The refuse cost-avoidance savings totaled greater than $7.4 million while generating more than $1.6 million in recycle sales, a value to the command in excess of $9.1 million. The Navy’s strong commitment to protecting the environment has propelled us to the forefront of recycling in the Pacific Northwest and the nation. Recognition as a leader throughout the nation, the DOD, and the Department of the Navy has made us the model program and facility for others to emulate.

Our full-service recycle center with public drop-off facilities serves a local population of some 35,000 inhabitants in the north Whidbey Island area. More than 50 commodities are recycled, including such items as paper products, scrap metal, plastics, glass, tin and aluminum cans, clothing, petroleum products, and scrap wood. A weekly curbside collection program for 1,550 Navy family-housing units, plus daily pickup service from 14 air station departments, 60 tenant commands, and 18 aircraft squadrons all within 140 individual buildings, provides excellent customer service and collection efficiency, which helps the overall program success.

The program diverted more than 12,000 tons of material from the wastestream in FYs 1999 and 2000 at a cost avoidance savings of more than $2.1 million while generating $436,000-plus in revenue. This represented 60% and 62%, respectively, of the total solid wastestream, and since its modest beginnings, the program has grown more than 1,550% in solid waste materials recycled. Concrete is crushed and used as an aggregate for construction projects. Cooking grease from the MWR clubs around the station, as well as the galley, is sent off station for recycling. Christmas trees are collected by NWR each season, chipped into mulch, and used as a bulking material for our compost program. Additional woodchips are used for erosion control at smaller construction sites. During the first three months of our In-Vessel Compost Program, we collected foodwaste from the galley, restaurants, and commissary store, along with yardwaste, waste paper, and shredded paper, removing almost an additional 50 tons a month from the wastestream. We expect to remove 100 more tons a month of biodegradable solid waste from the wastestream, allowing us to keep an annual total of 1,800 extra tons from going to the landfill.

NASWI doesn’t limit its recycling efforts to nonhazardous solid waste. Used oil, used oil filters, aerosol cans, and automotive batteries are examples of other materials once considered hazardous waste but that are now being recycled. More than 15 tons of fluorescent light tubes were recycled over the last two years alone, removing hazardous mercury from the wastestream.

Closed-loop recycling is done at NASWI as well. For example, number-two plastics collected through the program were sold to a company that remanufactures them into plastic lumber and car stops, which the station purchased back to replace aging concrete stops. When parks are refurbished, the new equipment is made from recycled plastic and steel, and a special rubber-cushion turf made of used tires provides a safe playing surface. Once hard to dispose of, polystyrene packing peanuts are now collected and reused for shipping of materials off-station, saving thousands of dollars each year. The excess polystyrene packing peanuts are back-hauled to other military installations in the region. Containers used for self-service recycling throughout the station are made with recycled materials. In addition, NASWI practices affirmative procurement to ensure that recycled steel and other recycled products are used in construction projects. Paper products, reused computer disks, toner cartridges, and ground glass used in construction projects are excellent examples of how the air station has been able to reuse products and purchase recycled content items. The station’s Local Area Network contains the "Y" drive, where all local instructions, documents, directives, and reports are available on-line that once were distributed via hard copy. The station’s Plan of the Day is now published as The Plan of the Week and sent electronically. This saves tons of paper, man-hours, and distribution efforts.

Rags used in the work centers on the station are laundered and reused. The laundry service contract has saved more than $120,000 in hazardous solid waste costs in FYs 1999 and 2000. An improved parts-washer recycling service contract was accomplished by working closely with contractors in their efforts to improve the recycling capabilities of their equipment and maximize the life of solvents. This effort not only decreased hazardous solid waste generation by 38,000 lb. in each of the last two years, but it also reduced contract cost. A foodwaste pulping system at the station galley reduces the volume of solid waste generated, and the remaining material is sent to our compost facility, eliminating 100% of the biodegradable products from the wastestream. Large compactors have been installed on the air station, saving collection and transportation costs. The compactors reduce the frequency of solid waste transport and have eliminated the need for more than 100 Dumpsters around the air station. Twelve pickups per month per Dumpster have been replaced with an average of only one per month for the compactor container (a reduction of 900 pickups per month), which provides additional collection cost savings. While providing no direct recycling revenue, these source-reduction efforts decrease the Base Operations and Support Contract with a 41% reduction of pickups annually, allowing the air station to reduce its cost.

NWR is a leader in community involvement and education. Recycle Center tours welcome the public and private schools in the area, scout troops, and civic and environmental organizations and have brought more than 5,000 individuals face-to-face with the reality of recycling during the last two years. We hold open houses at the center, providing tours of the processing facilities and explaining the importance of recycling to avoid waste disposal costs. Knowing that education is the key, our local school district and school districts from around the state visit our facility, enabling the students to become aware of ways recycling helps protect the environment. During spring and fall we conduct recycling and environmental-awareness seminars that reach out to the public, emphasizing the important role that recycling with solid waste management plays in improving environmental quality.

In October, to show our continued commitment and support to the environment, we sponsor an Energy and Recycle Awareness Week and stress the value that recycling plays in energy conservation as we count down to America Recycles Day in November.

Our Mobile Training Unit is available for schools, county fairs, air shows, and similar events. NWR is a founding member of the Commander, Navy Region Northwest Investment Recovery Board, dedicated to recycling, reducing the wastestream, and fostering partnerships with private industry and community. NWR works together with the Washington State University Beach Watchers, the Waste Warriors, and the Washington State Department of Ecology Youth Corps to promote waste-reduction generation and recycling.

Active membership in such organizations as the Washington State Recycling Association and the National Recycling Coalition ensures that the station will keep up with the latest in solid waste management technology and policy.

Promotional events are a key ingredient in the success of the Whidbey program. For example, the Dumpster Diving Championship is a popular air station event where volunteers fish through Dumpsters to separate recyclable material from solid waste. The Dumpsters are seeded with valuable prizes, such as cash, free dinners at MWR clubs, and movie passes. This event raises awareness about the amount of recyclable material still being thrown away and provides an inexpensive annual waste characterization study for the air station.

Another event is our Count Down to Earth Day, which involves beach, parks, and road cleanup activities with a free BBQ, a fishing derby, and a live band. Local scouts, schools, clubs, and civic-minded organizations participate, reaffirming their commitment to protecting and cleaning our environment.

One of the most rewarding initiatives that NWR has pursued is a partnership with the Oak Harbor High School and Washington State Parks and Recreation. Developmentally and physically disabled youth at the high school are provided with summer jobs collecting recyclables from the state parks located in the area. The youth take the recyclables to NWR, which processes and markets them. All profits are returned to the high school, which in turn pays the students. This effort enables us to show the value of hiring developmentally challenged individuals, and we continue to work with an employment service to hire such individuals to pick up, sort, and process recyclables. The program has been so successful that several of the employees have transitioned from temporary to permanent status, removing them from the roles of government support.

Wastestream reduction, and the associated refuse-disposal cost avoidance, is the prime focus at NASWI. Recycled-material sales revenue is just the icing on the cake. During FYs 1999 and 2000, the achieved cost avoidance reached greater than $2.1 million. When combined with recycled material sales revenue, the program provided more than $2.4 million in value to the command.

Since program inception in FY 1990, 43,600-plus tons of material have been diverted from the wastestream. This amounted to a cost avoidance in excess of $7.4 million while bringing in more than $1.6 million in sales revenue to help fund program operations, environmental projects, and quality-of-life improvements. The combined totals of the program have provided an overall value to the station of greater than $9.1 million. In FYs 1999 and 2000, the efforts saved more than 36,305 yd.³ of landfill space. Paper recycling alone saved 62,458 trees, 15.4 million kW of electricity, 220,000 lb. of air pollutants, and a whopping 25,718,000 gal. of water. This is the most important savings of all that the station can claim, providing improved environmental quality for generations to come.

Guest author Paul F. Brewer is solid waste manager for Navy Whidbey Recycle at NAS Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor, WA.

As of June 1, the compost and woodwaste operations have helped us reduce our solid waste from 2,602 tons to 2,253.5 tons. This equals a 348.5-ton reduction for the first eight months of the FY. Last year we composted 60.9 tons of foodwaste from the clubs, galley, and commissary. We have nearly doubled the amount to 119.9 tons so far this year. Last year our grass and yardwaste program composted a little more than 24 tons. This year we have composted 66.9 tons of material, with almost three times as much of these materials being composted so far with four more months to finish the FY. The woodwaste program has shown an increase of wood products being chipped or sold from 1,083 tons to 1,236 tons so far this year. This adds up to 153 more tons. When you add up all the different products being processed, it totals 339.8 tons. That is a direct correlation to the reduction of tons we have achieved so far this FY.