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FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Environmental Protection Specialist Mark DeLeon is doing his part to protect the environment on and around Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., by overseeing hazardous waste disposal contracting for about 67 customers.
DeLeon and his fellow contracting officer representatives manage hazardous waste disposal contract removals for Army, Army Reserve, National Guard, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard forces in Washington and Oregon.
“A lot of the hazardous waste from the military is not necessarily toxic waste, it is just maintenance waste and it’s better to dispose of it in a responsible manner.” DeLeon said.
Hazardous waste is waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Waste can be spilled debris, spent solvents, hazardous material from submarines, corrosive acids, asbestos, paint, oils, petroleum products or metal treatment products.
In order to dispose of hazardous waste properly, a unit identifies it and turns in descriptive information and billing documents to its local DLA Disposition Services field office. The office then initiates a task order request, which becomes a task order after approval by a contracting officer. The contractor then arranges for the waste to be transported and disposed of at qualified disposal facilities.
“They send it to permitted landfills or permitted treatment facilities, and it’s taken care of there,” DeLeon said.
DLA Disposition Services has a network of more than 80 contracts covering hazardous waste disposal around the globe, said Rick Klingel, DLA Disposition Services Environmental Division chief.
“If military personnel at Fort Belvoir, Va., generate hazardous waste and their storage area is full, they’ll submit paperwork to our field office at Fort Meade, Md., and those CORs will initiate a task order request to task the contractor to come and retrieve the waste and transport it off site so it can be appropriately disposed of or recycled,” he said.
Environmental specialists at all DLA Disposition Services field sites act as CORs.
“They’ll work with the contractor and the installation representatives to get the waste picked up, removed and disposed of,” Klingel said. “That’s how it works generally at the field level. Here at the headquarters at Battle Creek, Mich., and regional offices in Hawaii and Germany, we have an environmental staff and an acquisition staff that develop, solicit, award and administer all those … contracts.”
The environmental staff develops the solicitations before handing them off to the acquisition staff to issue them, he said.
“The acquisition team will issue a solicitation, receive the bids, evaluate and negotiate with the contractors, award the contract, and after [that], they’ll do the administration of the contract,” Klingel said.
The contract officer representatives at the field sites are an extension of the contract officers and help administer contracts, ensuring contracts are in place to respond to the customers’ needs in terms of hazardous waste management and disposal, he said.
“Properly disposing of hazardous waste helps protect everyone’s health and the environment, and that’s really the mantra behind the regulations issued by the EPA,” he said.
If waste isn’t transported, treated and disposed of properly, it can pollute ground water, be a health hazard or pollute the atmosphere, potentially causing harm to humans and the environment, Klingel said.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 01.26.2012 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 82869 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, DLA Disposition Services ensures proper disposal of hazardous waste, by Jonathan Stack, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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