FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Nada, nothing, zilch -- that is the goal when it comes to trash.
The Directorate of Public Works staff began a net zero waste pilot program in May to reduce, recycle and compost as much waste as feasible.
The DPW duo behind the building 1219 net zero waste pilot project are Eric Bailey, solid waste program manager, and Rich Yohn, a pollution prevention consultant. The directorate is undertaking the challenge to show what is possible on a small scale first.
"We are working small and then gravitating toward other organizations on post," said Yohn.
Fort Carson spent $1.2 million of its budget last year to dispose of garbage, said Bailey, underscoring the fiscal driver behind achieving net zero waste objectives across the installation.
The endeavor began with a directorate net zero policy signed by DPW Director Hal Alguire, demonstrating his commitment to the installationwide net zero waste efforts and initiatives under way, which his staff oversees.
"The DPW will learn how to do this first, then help others on post who want to get to net zero," said Alguire.
To kickoff the pilot program, Bailey and Yohn placed composting bins in break rooms and restrooms, hung educational signage, selected volunteers to champion the composting efforts in the building on each floor and set up a SharePoint site to educate staff. Champions also inspect bins to see what is being thrown away that could be recycled or composted.
Yohn established a "countdown" of 90 days for staff members to turn in their personal trash cans, which ends Aug. 13, to promote the use of the compost bins and increasing recycling.
While recycling is something the staff is used to, composting is a new concept for people to get on board with.
"We get a lot of questions and we have some resistance," said Bailey.
Some members of the staff, however, have taken a keen interest in researching just what all can be composted, which is far beyond fruit and vegetable peels, to include tea bags, egg shells and paper towels, to name a few.
People are composting quite a bit, said Sara Eastin, DPW Stormwater Program consultant and one of the volunteer net zero waste champions. The most common items she finds in the bins are banana peels and coffee grounds.
Eastin hopes the net zero efforts in place at building 1219 will help staff think about what they buy and how it is packaged. Less packaging is another way to reduce waste before products are even brought in to work.
Compost bins are emptied once a week and combined with grass clippings collected on post, which are already sent to a composting contractor off post.
To measure success, the composted materials are weighed as well as any remaining trash that is disposed of to track the difference that is being made.
Bailey hopes to expand composting on the installation in the future so it becomes just one more item collected from facilities along with their recyclables and assists Fort Carson in getting closer to achieving net zero waste by 2020.
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