Too much trash

Photo By Staff Sgt. David McLean | Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nyobi Brogdon, a hospital corpsman with Joint Task Force...... read more read more

Photo By Staff Sgt. David McLean | Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nyobi Brogdon, a hospital corpsman with Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Joint Stress Mitigation and Readiness Team, throws away office trash at Camp America, July 19, 2009. JTF Guantanamo service members participate in recycling and trash reduction as part of Department of Defense policies and local "green" initiatives. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released by a court. The JTF conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the War on Terrorism. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. The JTF conducts planning for and, on order, responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.  see less | View Image Page

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

08.21.2009

Story by Sgt. David McLean 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — There is an average of six pounds of trash generated every day by every Joint Task Force Guantanamo service member and resident of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Over the course of a year, the trash could fill 15 football fields of compacted waste a foot high. To combat this trash problem, environmental services personnel at the naval station look closely at what is being thrown away.

Mike McCord, installation environmental program manager, monitors resources such as water, power, land use and waste management. He says the trash here has many different avenues for where it will end up, depending on the specific type of refuse.

"Everything that comes on the island either stays here or goes off," McCord said. "There isn't any place we can put it off to the side or hide it. Recyclables are removed [by residents], sent to the recycling center and, on a periodic basis, moved off the island. All the hazardous waste that comes on the island leaves the same way after all avenues have been exhausted to use the product. Municipal solid waste — garbage and refuse — go to the landfill after being collected from around the base."

This municipal waste goes to "burn boxes," which are industrial incinerators where the refuse is scorched down to a small pile of ash. The ash is then placed into a landfill to reduce the volume of the trash.

"Because of the reduction in volume of trash, we have enough space to support the mission," McCord said. "We are getting somewhere between 80 to 90 percent volume reduction."

Despite the ability to reduce the volume and space required for the landfill, keeping the trash from being burned also has a better environmental impact. There are many things that can be done by service members to further reduce the amount of garbage thrown into the trash every day.

"To reduce our waste, I try not to use the copy machine too much," said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tamela King, a supply clerk with the Navy Expeditionary Guard Battalion at JTF Guantanamo. "If you have a piece of paper that you only use once, you can flip it over and use the opposite side. I reuse the plastic bags from the exchange in smaller trash cans. These small things can be helpful to the environment."

Larger items can be reused, even if they are not in top condition, instead of filling the landfill. Clothing, electronics, sporting goods and even furniture can be repaired to serve a purpose.

"Give it away, sell it, donate it, whatever," McCord said. "Stuff that is still good, someone will use."

Greg Kader, Guantanamo Bay's environmental compliance director, said he looks at all issues with trash as a pollution prevention project. He said if residents are diverting waste away from the landfill, there are trade-offs with increased power consumption, water used for cleaning recyclables and expensive shipping of hazardous materials. More can be done by simply sorting the garbage and getting the proper recyclables out of the trash can.

"You can look at the burn piles and see what is left behind," Kader said. "There are pieces of metal, aluminum cans and carbon left over from the incineration process, but you can't see the plastic that was burned. If someone just took the time to take out these items, it would reduce the amount we have here [at the landfill]."

"We are in a throw-away society," McCord said. "If someone sat down and really thought about what they throw away, there are probably a lot of items that would not go into the trash can."

This effort to reduce and reuse helps to improve current and future quality of life by minimizing the environmental impact, conserving resources and not polluting the environment.