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The Department of Defense (DOD) can save money and protect the environment by improving its solid waste management. DOD and other Federal agencies are responsible for the annual disposal of 32 million tons of solid waste. Low priority has been given solid waste management, and the absence of DOD deadlines for complying with the Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines contribute to the problem. There has been only minimal recovery of recyclable materials to date. As of June 1975, military installations recycled 4.2% of their waste material in FY 75, compared with the national average of 6%. There are both economic and environmental benefits related to energy recovery from solid waste. However, military management has been slow in recovery programs because most bases have sufficient landfill areas.
Improving Military Solid Waste Management: Economic and Environmental Benefits
This study identifies national non-hazardous solid waste trends and key Army issues and concerns. It emphasizes ways to promote integrated management, including appropriate data as well as planning and management tools. Integrated management is defined as a coordinated effort to implement the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's pollution prevention hierarchy, which focuses on approaches to: reduce waste at the source, recycle, and develop innovative waste disposal programs. The study focuses on four areas of Army concern: improving methods for waste characterization and data collection, organization and management to facilitate integrated solid waste management (SWM), incentives for improving SWM, and better training and communication. It discusses ways to combine an Army-wide framework for planning with program guidance and tools for installation planning. The analysis indicates that the Army should initiate universal SWM planning based on common definitions and data elements, with particular focus on integrated management and innovative approaches. It defines a spectrum of options, from highly decentralized programs to more uniform policy and programs with central control and guidance. Options are evaluated in terms of four criteria: improving the Army's knowledge and understanding of solid waste, consistency with the pollution prevention hierarchy, cost-effectiveness, and demonstrating leadership. Finally, for each alternative presented, the study outlines associated implementation issues and needs that would have to be addressed as follow-on activities. Waste disposal, pollution prevention hierarchy, solid waste management (SWM).
Sustainable municipal solid waste management at military solutions necessitates a combined approach that includes waste reduction, alternative disposal techniques, and increased recycling. Military installations are unique because they often represent large employers in the region in which they are located, thereby making any practices they employ impact overall waste management strategies of the region. Solutions for waste sustainability will be dependent on operational directives and base location, availability of resources such as water and energy, and size of population. Presented in this paper are descriptions of available waste strategies that can be used to support sustainable waste management. Results presented indicate source reduction and recycling to be the most sustainable solutions. However, new waste-to-energy plants and composting have potential to improve on these well proven techniques and allow military installations to achieve sustainable waste management.
This report evaluates two aspects of solid waste management: (1) the impact of changing from backyard collection of Government Issue refuse containers (GI cans) to curbside collection using a solid waste container called a Mobil Toter (Trademark); and (2) the feasibility of using a portable, recycling multiple-container-washing unit designed and fabricated at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. The Mobil Toter system was evaluated through an implementation study at Fort Eustis, VA. The 28 percent decrease in collection time noted in the study cannot be ascribed to use of the Mobil Toter container alone; it also reflects the effects of curbside vs. backyard collection, fewer containers (Mobile Toter is larger than a GI can), and power-assisted dumping. The container wash unit was evaluated by facilities engineering personnel at Fort Leavenworth, KS. The test indicated that the concept was sound, but that greater wash pressure and pickup suction would improve performance. (Author).
From the start of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military and its contractors have burned solid waste in open burn pits on or near military bases. According to the DoD, burn pit emissions can potentially harm human health. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) guidance directs the military's use of burn pits, and the VA provides healthcare and other benefits to veterans and their families. This report examined the: (1) extent of open pit burning in Afghanistan and Iraq, and whether the military has followed its guidance; (2) alternatives to burn pits, and whether the military has examined them; and (3) extent of efforts to monitor air quality and potential health impacts. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand publication.
The U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, NY, currently disposes of its solid wastes through several contractors at the Orange County (NY) landfill. This landfill is expected to run out of space within 5 years, and expansion of the landfill cannot be assumed because it is located over a primary aquifer. Therefore, USMA must have a solid waste disposal plan in place and ready to operate within 5 years, but formulating such a plan is complicated by technical, political, and regulatory considerations. This report discusses the major issues USMA has had to consider in its attempt to create a solid waste plan, including disposal alternatives, costs, siting and environmental issues for landfills and waste incinerators, and the role of recycling. The authors recommend economically viable solid waste management alternatives for USMA.
Chemical warfare materiel (CWM) is a collection of diverse items that were used during 60 years of efforts by the United States to develop a capability for conducting chemical warfare. Nonstockpile CWM, which is not included in the current U.S. inventory of chemical munitions, includes buried materiel, recovered materiel, binary chemical weapons, former production facilities, and miscellaneous materiel. CWM that was buried in pits on former military sites is now being dug up as the land is being developed for other purposes. Other CWM is on or near the surface at former test and firing ranges. According to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which was ratified by the United States in April 1997, nonstockpile CWM items in storage at the time of ratification must be destroyed by 2007. The U.S. Army is the designated executive agent for destroying CWM. Nonstockpile CWM is being handled by the Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program (NSCMP); stockpile CWM is the responsibility of the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. Because nonstockpile CWM is stored or buried in many locations, the Army is developing transportable disposal systems that can be moved from site to site as needed. The Army has plans to test prototypes of three transportable systems-the rapid response system (RRS), the munitions management device (MMD), and the explosive destruction system (EDS)-for accessing and destroying a range of nonstockpile chemical agents and militarized industrial chemicals. The RRS is designed to treat recovered chemical agent identification sets (CAIS), which contain small amounts of chemical agents and a variety of highly toxic industrial chemicals. The MMD is designed to treat nonexplosively configured chemical munitions. The EDS is designed to treat munitions containing chemical agents with energetics equivalent to three pounds of TNT or less. These munitions are considered too unstable to be transported or stored. A prototype EDS system has recently been tested in England by non-stockpile program personnel. Although originally proposed for evaluation in this report, no test data were available to the committee on the composition of wastes from the EDS. Therefore, alternative technologies for the destruction of EDS wastes will be discussed in a supplemental report in fall 2001. Treatment of solid wastes, such as metal munition bodies, packing materials, and carbon air filters, were excluded from this report. Review and Evaluation of the Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Disposal Program: Disposal of Neutralent Wastes evaluates the near-term (1999-2005) application of advanced (nonincineration) technologies, such as from the Army's Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program and the Alternative Technologies and Approaches Project, in a semi-fixed, skid-mounted mode to process Rapid Response System, Munitions Management Device, and Explosive Destruction System liquid neutralization wastes.