NATICK, Mass. (Sept. 28, 2015) -- A team of three from the Army Public Health Center, or APHC, were recently at the Natick Soldier Systems Center, or NSSC, conducting a solid waste characterization study to assess the amount of trash the installation is producing.
"[The study] will help the installation save money in the long run when we determine how much of the solid waste that goes out in our trash cans is recyclable, how much is organic material, [and] how much of it is truly solid waste," said Rich Valcourt, an environmental engineer with U.S. Army Garrison Natick.
This study gives Valcourt valuable information to better assess the installation's needs. Valcourt said the study is "going to dictate how we see down the road [and] whether we need to strengthen our recycling policies."
Performing the study will also give Valcourt a better idea of what NSSC's footprint will look like going forward.
The APHC's mission included receiving trash from each building, sorting through each bag, and weighing the trash by each of 30 categories. The main categories were paper, plastic, metal, glass, organics, construction and demolition waste, and special waste.
Kim Fleischmann, an environmental scientist with APHC, said in a majority of instances, these studies are done to help an installation set up or improve a recycling program.
"The recycling here is pretty good," Fleischmann said. "We're not getting a lot of white office paper, [and] people are doing a very good job with cardboard and aluminum cans.
"We usually try to give real data to figure out how you should focus, where you can improve or set up your programs."
Fleischmann said here at Natick, programs are already in place; they just need to be improved.
"The Army's goal is to try to [get] to net zero waste, which means you are recycling or reusing everything and there's no actual waste," Fleischmann said.
Valcourt said that each time you throw something away, you should think about recycling it, instead.
"It doesn't matter what you wear on your shoulders or what your pay grade is," Valcourt said. "We all work here, and we need to do the right thing."
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