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OAK HARBOR, Wash. (NNS) – Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) hosted America Recycles Day on Wednesday, November 15 at the NASWI Recycling Center.
The event is hosted annually across the United States and thousands of events are held to raise awareness about the importance of recycling.
“One of the biggest things on America Recycles Day is to get people to take the pledge to recycle,” explained Michael Grant, the program manager for the Integrated Solid Waste Program at NASWI.
Several individuals who attended the event signed a pledge promising to find out what materials are collected for recycling in the local community, reduce the amount of waste produced, recycle more, and to encourage at least one family member or friend to take the pledge.
“America Recycles Day really came about in 1970 and it was a program that was developed to basically get people to recognize recycling and to recycle, to take care of the earth, to reduce our carbon footprint and promote recycling.” Grant stated. “If you take recycled material, it takes less petroleum or energy to recycle it than it does to generate a new product.”
During the event, numerous information tables were set up from various groups to promote recycling and also educate the normal consumer on ways he or she can contribute to the recycling cause.
“This year we put out flyers and notifications," said Grant. "We reached out to the building managers. We reached out to the activity environmental managers and coordinators, and then reached out to our public works officer, who then reached out to the base commanding officer to make people more aware of the event.”
The center's push on awareness also included an effort to enlighten all those who came about the numerous services the recycling center offers for the base and individual walk-in customers. The center offers walk-in hours from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. accepting everything from scrap metal, to plastic and glass.
“We provide containers.” Grant added, describing services available to the commands on base. “We actually come around and pick up. We’ve got six bays that have different compartments so that the commands can bring out their recyclable material.”
Retired military members are also encouraged, and the center even accepts bulky and heavy items such as washers, dryers, and broken-down lawn mowers.
The Integrated Solid Waste Program at the NASWI Recycling Center has also received the Gold Award from the Solid Waste Associations of North America in the compost category, and is the only Navy facility that utilizes in-vessel composting.
Presidential Executive Orders and DoD instructions require installations generating more than one ton of solid waste to develop an integrated solid waste manage program and a qualified recycling program. The NASWI Recycling Center fulfilled those obligations and exceeded them, ensuring the community was aware and empowered to contribute to the recycling cause and take the pledge for America.
| Date Taken: | 11.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.15.2017 16:52 |
| Story ID: | 255475 |
| Location: | OAK HARBOR, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NASWI Hosts America Recycles Day, by PO2 Scott Wood, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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