Don't throw it away: Reduce, reuse, recycle

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christopher Reel
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  An empty water bottle takes up residence between the classified ads from yesterday's paper and this week's collection of wadded up work forms and crushed soda cans.

A quick look in a typical trash can and that is probably what someone would see.

The Tyndall Recycling Center has been working with on- and off-base facilities to organize their daily waste into blue containers instead of throwing it away. And each November the recycling center is performing a solid waste audit to help raise awareness.

"We are going to take everything out of the dumpsters on base and sort out the recyclables," said Edwin Wallace, 325th Civil Engineer Squadron waste, green procurement program manager. "Almost half the material we pulled from the dumpsters during last year's audit could have been recycled. During one week we salvaged almost a half a ton of recyclable material. That's without even opening trash bags. It's hard to imagine if that is how much we pulled in one week, how much we are throwing away and not recycling during a year?"

People need to think, can that item be recycled, when they go to throw something away, explained Bob Myers, Tyndall Recycling Center program manager.

"We have recycling stations in the facilities on base," Myers said. "There is also a drop off location in front of Hangar 3 and one behind the Class Six Shoppette. We encourage people to recycle their household goods and bring them onto base to recycle. Although the carts are marked as cardboard only, Tyndall members can organize and bag their plastics and cans and drop them in the wagons parked around base."

Bringing in materials from home to be recycled is beneficial because the Bay County incinerator is currently inoperable, explained Myers.

"Bay County uses an incinerator as a form of energy renewal," said Valerie Sale, Bay County public information officer. "The incinerator removes the metal from the county's garbage and turns the burned garbage into electricity to power up to 4,000 of Bay County's homes. The incinerator burns trash at extremely high temperatures creating power, while reducing the amount of trash that goes into the county's landfill."

Bay County is also beginning to set up recycling stations, where residents can drop off their cans and plastics, she said.

Both Bay County and Tyndall officials are doing their part to incorporate recycling in their community.

Team Tyndall members with questions about recycling or need to schedule an on base pick up can call 283-CANS (2267).