The 436th Civil Engineer Squadron’s Base Recycling Center held an open house on April 18, 2024. The open house allowed base units to turn in unwanted or excess items such as sleeping bags, used tires, heaters, furniture, wooden pallets, aircraft ground equipment and electronics for proper disposition. The Recycling Center had personnel on location from the 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron supply section, 436th LRS Flight Service Center and Defense Logistics Agency and Recycling Center personnel to assist with the disposition process.
“The purpose of the open house is a one-stop-shop for disposing any excess or unwanted equipment on base,” said Ken Riley, 436th CES Qualified Recycling Program manager. “This was for on-base equipment items only, nothing from off-post.” Hazardous waste materials, such as oils, lubricants, solvents, aerosols, batteries, and light bulbs, were not accepted.
“Here at Dover AFB, the 436th Contracting Squadron provides excellent guidance on how to procure goods and supplies that we need to do our jobs,” said Joe Kowalski, 436th CES chief of environmental compliance. “What we in CES Environmental strive to do is provide guidance at the other end of the spectrum, which is the proper disposition of these goods and supplies when they reach the end of their useful life.”
Placing serviceable items back into the supply system saves the government as a whole. According to Riley, putting items back into the supply chain makes them available to other units that may need them, diverting costs from different units and the military from having to buy new equipment available for use in someone else’s inventory.
A tally of what was collected revealed that 64,000 pounds of pallets, 40,000 pounds of reclaimed metals, and 10,000 pounds of refuse were collected, netting an estimated $6,000 in return from private contractors for the items collected.