MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- The push is on aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., to educate the public on the proper use of recycling bins.
“Last year the Qualified Recycling Program for the base made $120,000 before operating cost and fines were deducted,” said Arley Lessard, the Environmental Protection Specialist who oversees the QRP aboard base.
She explained that the money left after operating costs, is distributed to various organizations on base such as the Marine Corps Ball, to Marine Corps Community Services for their events, and to support the Single Marine Program.
Believe it or not, among the biggest moneymakers for the recycling program is cardboard harvested from the metal dumpsters with “Cardboard Only” labels on the front.
“Cardboard is worth around 5 or 6 cents a pound depending on the market,” Lessard said. “That’s from $100 to $120 a ton we earn for cardboard.”
The program also makes “a ton” of money from recycling vehicle batteries and scrap metal.
However, Lessard said whenever trash is put in recycling bins, the base has to pay a fine for processing and removing the trash from the usable papers, bottles and cans.
“What the workers at the Mixed Recyclables Facility in Victorville do is pull one of our loads aside and run it through the machines on its own so that they can get the exact percentage of the materials in that load,” she said. “If there’s a lot of trash, or residue, say ten percent, then they use that as a base line to fine us for each load until whenever they do the test again in several months.”
Disposing of the residue pulled from the recycling stream costs the base nearly $48 a ton, and that has to be subtracted from any money the base gets.
“So when somebody puts trash in the recycle bins, that costs the base money to process and the organizations that get a share of the recycling profits will get that much less,” Lessard said.
She said the blue bins, or in some cases, dark gray, with the iconic recycling triangle logo found all over the base are to be used only for comingled recyclable material including but not limited to paper, bottles, and aluminum cans.
“We don’t make any money off the comingled recyclables because of the cost of processing each load,” Lessard pointed out. “But if we had a cleaner recycling stream then we wouldn’t have to pay as much in processing and in fact would start making money from those recyclables.”
She said cardboard put in a comingled recycle bin is still recycled, but the weight is not added to the cardboard total, so, once again, the base makes no money off of that.
“The committee meetings I attend regarding the distribution of funds from the QRP are among my favorite because they have a positive impact on our environment and morale aboard base,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Silkowski, base executive officer. “When people aren’t attentive to what they’re putting in the comingled recycling bins that is actually taking money away from worthy programs on base. Programs that can, for example, lower the cost of tickets to the Marine Corps Ball.”
“The more money we make on the recycling program means more money for morale and welfare uses on base,” Lessard concluded.
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