MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - -- People will stand in line for hours to get a bargain. But bargains don’t get much better than free, and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune’s Hazardous Material Re-issue Facility now has some seriously good deals for units.
The re-issue facility previously provided an outlet for unused materials, but halted due to a civilian hiring freeze, said Anthony Recob, head of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Section, Environmental Management Division, aboard MCB Camp Lejeune.
RCRS personnel receive materials used by base units and determine if they can still be put to further use. They don’t want to see the materials put in the landfill, said Recob. If there is still life in the materials, the re-issue facility can make it possible for other units to pick it up and put it to use. Products that are no longer usable go through the disposal process needed for hazardous materials.
The re-issue facility met with success in the past and saved around $427,000 in re-issued hazardous materials in 2011, said Recob. Now that the reissue facility has reopened, units will be able to obtain hazardous materials like cleaners, paint and batteries among other products from the facility.
The newly opened re-issue facility, which is located in building 1606 aboard the base, was recently staffed with an employee trained to run the warehouse.
“We just had a unit turn in 30,000 batteries of all different kinds, makes and sizes,” remarked Recob. “If they still have shelf life or we can extend the shelf life, they’ll go up to (building) 1606.”
Recob added that people should look at the re-issue facility as a first stop. Instead of going to ServMart, as they can get materials they need for free. Units should look at purchasing new materials after they have taken their list of needs to the re-issue facility and checked off items there. It can save the unit money and reduce the need to put more hazardous materials into circulation.
However, the advantages brought by the re-issue facility do come with some costs. Improper resource management led to the surplus of materials in the first place, which in turn required further efforts for proper disposal.
“The first step is to reduce waste at the source,” said Recob. “We have a re-issue department because there are too many people mismanaging hazardous materials.”
The priority should be the proper management of resources, said Recob. The re-issue facility can help people and units save money, but efforts should be made to reduce usage and waste.
Reduce, reuse, recycle is the green order of the day. Products that don’t make it into those categories go through disposal, which costs money.
“Buy what you need, use what you buy,” said Recob, adding, “Don’t spend your excess operational funds buying hazmat, buy something else with it.”