ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- The Arnold Air Force Base Recycling Center recently announced via a base-wide email that beginning June 16 the center will no longer accept plastic materials.
This move is the result of rising costs related to the collection, sorting and processing of recyclable plastics coupled with a reduced market demand for plastic across Tennessee. The decision was simply a case of the costs outweighing the benefits.
“I got with [Arnold AFB Qualified Recycling Program Manager Mark Anderson], crunched some numbers, did some research and decisions were made that was kind of the direction we needed to go, at least for now,” said Eric Hopp, operations manager of the Arnold AFB Recycling Center.
According to Anderson, the plastic recycling program at Arnold has not been “economically feasible” for some time, as expenditures have exceeded gains for the better part of the past decade.
Despite years having passed since the effort generated revenue, the Arnold Recycling Center forged ahead with its plastics program in the interest of environmental stewardship.
“All those years we kept collecting plastics expecting a market to materialize just because of the sheer volume of products that switch to EPT-type plastic from aluminum or paper carton packaging,” Anderson said. “We just expected the market to materialize because of that volume, and it never did. It still hasn’t because of costs.”
A setback the Recycling Center encountered last year only served to further increase costs associated with plastic recycling. Following a safety inspection, it was determined the compactor used to condense plastic materials collected throughout Arnold was no longer safe to use. Hopp said the machine, purchased in the late 1980s, did not include many of the safety features in place on newer compactors.
Even when the compactor was in use, the vendor-minimum quantity could not be met in a reasonable amount of time. Therefore, the plastic was picked up and combined with local community plastics to meet those minimum quantities.
“Plan A was to replace the compactor,” Hopp said. “That would have been about $15,000 to $20,000 for a resource that we wouldn’t get a return from.”
Once the compactor was taken offline, the onus of getting plastic materials from Arnold to the local center was placed upon base Recycling Center personnel. Unsorted bags of collected plastics are transported to the county center at least twice a month, resulting in increased labor hours and expenses.
“That’s where the costs increased exponentially,” Anderson said.
Bottles make up the majority of the items placed in the plastic recycling bins at Arnold, though sometimes other items, such as toys, are dropped into the receptacles. Hopp said a portion of what ends up in the bins – including some bottles – is non-recyclable.
“I think people are just trying to help out, and they assume when they put it in the bin it’s going to go to a magical place where it gets recycled,” Hopp said, “but, in my personal research, less than 10% of the plastics ever produced have been recycled.”
The bins found in facilities across Arnold to collect plastics will be, for the most part, removed on June 16 by Recycling Center personnel.
The base Recycling Center will post flyers and intends to send another email blast ahead of the discontinuance date to remind Arnold team members. These flyers will feature a QR code that provides information on nearby recycling centers for those looking for plastic recycling options.
As Hopp mentioned, the plastic recycling at Arnold has not necessarily been trashed permanently. Should factors align and the endeavor once again appear profitable, those at the Arnold AFB Recycling Center will explore reinstatement of the program.
“There’s the caveat if there’s a market, obviously we’ll start picking up that again,” Hopp said.
The Arnold Air Force Base Recycling Center will continue to accept paper, aluminum cans and cardboard, and both Anderson and Hopp encourage Arnold team members to continue their recycling efforts.
For now, Arnold Recycling Center resources and manpower once dedicated to plastics will be reallocated to these more profitable pursuits, namely the collection and sorting of paper for recycling.
Paper recycling on base is not new, but the program has undergone changes in recent weeks. Regardless of whether it was white office paper or glossy magazine pages, collected paper was previously baled together. However, the quality of these mixed bundles led to diminished returns.
Recently, Recycling Center personnel began sorting the paper, separating the more-coveted office paper from the other types.
“The paper is kind of a new opportunity for us,” Hopp said. “It hasn’t been done in a while, and it’s going to be a lot more labor intensive because now, instead of having mixed, we’re looking for office white paper. That’s what’s most valuable.”
For information on the recycling program at Arnold AFB, call 454-6068.