Recycling Program Drops Anchor

The U.S. Navy base in Philadelphia, consisting of Naval Support Activity (NSA) Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Naval Business Center, has launched a new desk-side recycling program.

Beginning in early October, the Qualified Recycling Program (QRP) has been collecting all recyclable office materials using a single blue desk-side container.

Office paper, colored paper, magazines, newspapers, phone books, and empty beverage containers (both aluminum and plastic) can all be recycled in the same container. The commingled system has the potential to significantly reduce the number of collection containers the Navy has placed throughout the region, as well as the number of trucks and people on the road collecting materials, according to Mike Randazzo, the base’s communications director.

This system, coupled with automated collection vehicles, has resulted in considerable savings to the Navy in other areas of the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as increasing the number and volume of commodities that can be recycled, according to Randazzo.

Materials collected are sold to one recycling firm that sorts the materials by commodity and reports weights and volumes back to the base QRP. Randazzo estimates that the system uses 75 percent fewer resources (fuel, labor and collection containers) while also increasing the number of materials the Navy can recycle.

In the previous system, white paper was recycled in the blue containers and employees took their other recyclables to a designated collection point. In the new system, employees are still responsible for taking their commingled recycling bins to a central collection point inside the building. (At PNBC, though, recycled materials will be collected by janitorial contractors at the desk.)

 “I encourage all military and civilian employees to support and participate in this new collection program,” says Rear Admiral Rick Ruehe, Commander of the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic. “With all hands participation, this collection system has the potential to significantly increase our recycling rate while saving much needed disposal funds.”