Wasp sailors Serve as Good Environmental Stewards

Courtesy Photo | Seaman John Harkins and Seaman William Kohring separate trash in USS Wasp's environmental shop, April 27. Sailors who work in the shop are charged with processing solid wastes according to Navy guidelines to protect the environment. (U.S. Navy photo by Edward Kobobel)  

USS WASP, USAFRICOM, AT SEA

05.02.2011

Courtesy Story

USS WASP (LHD 1)   

By Seaman Edward L. Kobobel III

USS WASP, At Sea – While sailing out on the ocean, Navy ships such as USS WASP have the ability to harm the environment if their crews do not follow proper standards. To that end, the ship’s environmental shop works hard to make sure that Wasp sailors are good custodians of the planet by mandating strict waste disposal guidelines.

“The sailors who work in Environmental must process our solid wastes within guidelines that will not harm the environment,” said Auxiliary Division Leading Chief Petty Officer Patrick McGee. “This is one way the Navy can be proactive and maintain a good, clean sea environment. It is probably one of the most demanding jobs on Wasp.”

When sailors bring their waste materials to the environmental shop they must ensure it is properly separated into three categories of plastic, metal and other kinds of garbage such as food wastes and paper products.

This helps to ensure that plastics are never dumped over the side and are disposed of or recycled once the ship reaches port.

Food, paper and other refuse are ground up in a large pulper and jettisoned over the side as small waste particles when the ship is at least 25 nautical miles from land. Metals are dumped over the side as long as they are sinkable.

“We spend the day making sure people’s trash is separated when they bring it to us,” said Seaman William Kohring, a Wasp sailor currently assigned to the environmental shop.

“The smell is bad and we get real dirty, but at the end of the day I feel good about working here, knowing that I’m making a difference.”

Wasp sailors bring as much as 150 bags of trash to Environmental every day. The piles of trash can become very large, and the smell can linger outside of the shop reminding any sailor passing by just how demanding working in Environmental can be.

“When you walk by it smells really bad and you wonder how the people working there can deal with it,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Azoy.

“But what they do helps minimize the pollution in the seas; it’s amazing that we have the capability to control that on our own.”

The environmental shop is owned by WASP’s Auxiliary Division and run by sailors under Temporary Assigned Duty orders only during underway periods. Being selected to work there can be a daunting task, but it is a necessity in order to ensure that WASP’s crew is doing its part to conserve the oceans for generations to come.

• Date Taken: 05.02.2011
• Date Posted: 05.02.2011 15:16
• Story ID: 69726
• Location: USS WASP, USAFRICOM, AT SEA