GTMO recycles

Photo By Sgt. Kenneth Tucceri | Leon McPherson, the base’s refuse supervisor, stands next to a compacted block of plastic ready to be shipped back to be recycled in the states. The plastic block weighs around 734 pounds and was created from 20 tri-wall boxes full of plastic.  

GUANTANAMO BAY , CUBA

08.21.2014

Story by Sgt. Kenneth Tucceri 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - The rumor mill at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay facilitates folly facts at a prodigious pace. Of the many apocryphal stories I’ve heard while deployed here, one that particularly sticks out to me is that GTMO doesn’t recycle. That the recycle bins are a sort of placebo receptacle, acting as a cruel joke on Mother Nature, intended to provide us with a peace of mind that we are doing the right thing for our country, planet and future generations necessitated by the fact that to actually recycle would cause a logistical and monetary migraine to the base, rendering recycling fictitious.

Well, consider this rumor dispelled. This tall tale can no longer be - well, recycled. GTMO very much does recycle, and does so with an effective procedure that not only assists in helping out our planet globally, but reduces our footprint here in Cuba.

Here’s how it is done:

“Aluminum, copper, brass, stuff like that, that stuff gets containerized and shipped back to the states along with plastics,” said Mike Martinez, Bremcor’s manager for many things, including refuse and a GTMO resident for over eight years. “They go to Jacksonville, to a recycle center there. Everything is recycled. We don’t do paper because of cost and the fact that we actually need the paper in the trash to burn out in the burn boxes.”

Even cars, batteries, wires and other large items are shipped back to the states to be used again in its particular available capacity.

Leon McPherson is the base’s refuse supervisor. He took me on a personal tour of the recycling center located on Rogers Road right past the government fuel station. At the recycling facility, I was able to view, with marvel, a 734 lb. rectangle of compacted plastic that was formerly 20 tri-wall boxes full of plastic bottles. This is the necessary step for the bottles before they are shipped to the states.

Everything from the prevalent Crystal Geyser bottles, bleach bottles and other typical recyclables are included in the block of plastic, said McPherson.

One disconcerting fact, and one that could perhaps be a derivative of the wretched rumor that GTMO’s recycling is a myth, is that recycling numbers are a bit low on base.

“We usually run in the high 30s, the percentage of people who recycle in residential areas,” said Martinez. “The base average is 36 to 38 percent. That’s a little over a third of the residents on this base that recycle.”

Their reports indicate Windward Loop is comparatively better than most of the base with Tierra Kay being very poor in recycling numbers, according to McPherson.

With only one-third of the base recycling, let us as a Joint Task Force and residents on a military installation located on foreign soil raise this percentage and set a standard in recycling not only for the military but the world.

“This base really needs to recycle,” said Martinez. “We have a footprint here that is limited by the landfill. When we fill the landfill up, we don’t have any other place to go other than ship it off island. Recycling helps, and it’s real easy. All you have to do is use your recycle bin.”

If you need a blue recycling bin, you can go down and grab one at the recycling center and report your location so it can be picked up. Recycling is a seven-day-a-week activity here, said McPherson.

There are recycling containers at the Cuzco Barracks, the beaches, downtown areas and elsewhere. There are no excuses for you not to do your part.

• Date Taken: 08.21.2014
• Date Posted: 08.21.2014 15:39
• Story ID: 140063
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY , CU