Photo By Sgt. Emily Walter | A civilian contractor with the Department of Public Works helps sort and load recycled...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq— As the responsible drawdown of U.S. forces and equipment from Iraq continues, so does the U.S. military’s efforts to shrink its footprint in Iraq prior to turning over all remaining occupied bases to the Iraqi government. One step in this process includes relocating and maintaining the functional recycle yard at Joint Base Balad. The recycle yard recently came under new ownership, which required all the material to be moved from its location on the east side of JBB to its current location on the west side; several civilian contractors, directed by the civil affairs section with the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), in conjunction with the Iraqi Based Industrial Zone, went to work Nov. 27 to make sure the transition was completed smoothly.
When the current company took over the recycle yard in its new location, all of the material was left in the previous yard, and Sgt. Jeremy Manges, IBIZ noncommissioned officer-in-charge with the 103rd ESC, and a Des Moines, Iowa, native, was tasked with coordinating the transfer. Manges said that the recycled material included scrap wood, metal, thousands of water bottles, and other various forms of waste that military units and civilian contractors no longer needed. Collectively, thousands of pounds of material needed to be transported several miles from one side of JBB to the other.
Coordinating the manpower proved to be the simpler part of the project; Manges just needed to make a few calls.
“The people we had out there [working in the recycle yard] were from the Department of Public Works here on base,” he said. “We just spoke with them [the DPW] and got permission to use their people to do the labor part of it, so we just had to coordinate getting the workers out there, guarding them while they were out there, and then taking them back to the DPW once the work was done for the day.”
Beginning on Nov. 27 and all throughout the week, the civilian workers spent the day, from about 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., loading all of the recycled materials into several large recycling dumpsters. When the dumpsters were full, a tow truck would stop by to drop off another empty dumpster, pick up the full ones and transport them to the new recycle yard.
Manges said that the old recycle yard will be left vacant for the duration of the U.S. occupation of JBB, and that the project was a part of the preparation to turn the base over to the government of Iraq in the best shape possible. “We just had to clean it up to prepare to give it back to the Iraqi Army once we leave…so we can give the base back [looking] better than how we got it.”
Prior to the large recycle yard at JBB, the trash generated by service members and civilians on the base was simply collected in a giant “burn pit,” where it was finally burnt to a crisp rather than sorted and recycled. In order to reduce its carbon footprint and to create a healthier environment for JBB’s inhabitants, Manges said the military switched from the burn pit to more efficient means of waste disposal, which included constructing the recycle yard.
“[The recycle yard] helps clean up the ground and clean up the air as well,” added Manges.
Transferring all the excess scrap material was imperative to ensure that the recycle yard continues to be maintained, even though its location and ownership changed; it is one step that further allows for a smooth, clean base transfer when the time comes.
“We don’t want to leave a mess behind for the Iraqi Army to pick up,” said Manges. “We want them to be able to sustain everything once we leave.”
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2010 16:00 |
| Story ID: | 61380 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Recycle yard transition keeps base, air clean, by SGT Emily Walter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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