How to recycle at the 144th FW

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mercedes Taylor
  • 144th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Recycling responsibly is a task base members here are required to perform in addition to their regular assignments as employees of the United States Air Force.

One of the ways the 144th Civil Engineering Squadron Environmental office facilitates recycling and proper disposal of materials is with the Qualified Recycling Program. The QRP reduces the amount of waste headed to landfills and brings money to the base the more items are recycled.

“People call me when they want to get rid of stuff, like large amounts of metal and cardboard,” John Macedo, 144th CES Environmental office manager said. “Bulk metals are tossed in a large blue roll off bin. Bulk cardboard is put in a green roll off bin. When the bins get full, I call contractors to come pick up the containers, swap them out and give us money for the metal.”

Macedo takes the money received from recycling centers and turns it into the 144th Comptroller Flight, where it goes into an account for the base.

Base members can also turn in alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries, and lightbulbs to the Environmental office.

“For the alkaline and rechargeable batteries, I place them in a universal waste container to be stored in the hazardous material area on base,” Macedo said. “Those can be brought to me a year after placing the first battery in or when it’s full, whichever comes first.”

For lightbulbs, Macedo will collect them in a pre-packaged box and take them to the Traffic Management Office to be shipped out.

“People can even turn in their old car batteries,” Macedo said. “I’ll take them in, get money from the recycling center, and get a money order for the Finance office. From there, they deposit it into an account.”

Similar to bulk metal and cardboard, waste oil is also picked up by local community partners.

“I arrange for our waste oil to be picked up whenever our containers get full,” Macedo said. “The offices that have waste oil also have a lube cube, a rectangular container that holds anywhere between 120 – 280 gallons of oil.”

Waste oil is collected from the offices of the Civil Engineering Squadron, Aerospace Ground Equipment, Vehicle Maintenance, Jet Engine shop, and the flightline.

Base members can still do their part to recycle responsibly even if their office doesn’t use oil or large amounts of metal and cardboard.

“When you take out your recycling, remember you can place plastic bottles, aluminum cans, broken down cardboard boxes and paper in the blue bins by your workplaces,” Macedo said. “Bins are not supposed to be too full to where you can’t completely close them. This can be prevented by breaking down your cardboard when placing them in bins.

No matter where they work, base members are still responsible for properly recycling during their duty days. To contact the Environmental office for more information on recycling, call (559) 454 – 5236.