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OTC recycles 10,000 pounds of
paper
By Christine Luciano,
DPW Environmental Outreach Coordinator
The Fort Hood
Operational Test Command is making an
environmental impact by keeping its recycle bins
full of used paper and saving more than 96
trees.
“Overall, the command at OTC tries to do the
right thing and recycle,” Cherise Jones, Support
Services specialist for OTC, said.
Jones coordinated with each responsible
directorate within OTC to gather 600 boxes of
records that were eligible for destruction.
Jones then contacted the Fort Hood Recycle
Center to learn how to properly prepare the
boxes of paper for recycling.
“Our team spent long hours every day over a
couple of months removing any sticky notes,
laminated papers, large paper clips and carbon
paper from the 600 boxes of records,” Jones
said.
“In the end, we got down to 500 boxes of records
that was 98 percent white paper.”
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The records were mostly raw data used for
operational testing that were no longer needed
for current operations and were eligible for
destruction. The process requires some records
to be held for a period of several months to a
few years.
“Currently, we have over 400 boxes that are
current but not eligible for destruction,” Jones
said. “But eventually, these boxes will come to
the recycle center as well.”
After spending months preparing the boxes for
recycling, Jones coordinated with the Fort Hood
Recycle Center to pick up the 500 boxes.
“There was so much paper that it had filled up
our recycle truck, and another (privately owned
vehicle) had to be used to haul the paper to the
recycle center,” Rufus Walker, Recycle Center
assistant manager, said.
When the boxes of paper arrived at the center,
Jones and her team set up a station around the
shredder and spent two days shredding almost
10,000 pounds of paper.
“We figured out a good rhythm for shredding that
worked and timed ourselves to averaging about 47
boxes an hour,” Jones said.
“Recycling is simply just the right thing to
do,” she added.
Step into any office in OTC and you will find
recycle bins for paper, cardboard and aluminum
cans.
Susan Kinsella, executive director of
Conservatree, a non-profit organization that
educates paper buyers on environmental paper
purchasing, said most printing and writing paper
is made from trees.
“More than 90 percent of the printing and
writing paper made in America is still made from
trees,” Kinsella said.
“The type of paper that has the most
environmental impact is office and copy papers.
Every ton of recycled paper substituted for
non-recycled paper saves 12 trees to 24 trees
and reduces a significant amount of energy and
water that otherwise would be required to make
paper from trees.”
Nearly 900 million trees are cut down each year
in America to make paper.
It is the No. 1 material that is thrown away.
According to the Energy Information
Administration, “for every 100 pounds of trash
we throw away, 39 pounds is paper.”
Jones said recycling is actually an easy task.
“If recycling our boxes is saving 10,000 pounds
of paper from going into the landfill, we are
going to get rid of it the right way,” Jones
said. “Being good stewards of the environment is
everybody’s job. It is as easy to put something
in the recycle bin as it is to put it in the
trash, so you might as well recycle.”
Walker said OTC’s efforts to recycle were
appreciated.
“The recycle center is happy that an
organization like OTC took the time to do the
right thing and recycle,” Walker said.
The Fort Hood Recycle Center operates on money
raised in recycling paper, cardboard, plastic,
compact discs, aluminum cans and brass.
Each year, the money goes back to supporting the
Soldiers. In October, the Fort Hood Recycle
Center gave $100,000 to the Directorate of
Morale, Welfare and Recreation for Soldiers’ use
and also paid for the fireworks for this
summer’s July 4 Freedom Fest.
“It is important to understand that recycling
helps take care of our Soldiers and supports
them so that they can have every opportunity to
do their jobs,” Jones said. |
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