Recycling unavailable at Korea bases; called too costly

[unhappycamper]

Recycling unavailable at Korea bases; called too costly
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, August 16, 2008

CAMP CASEY, South Korea — High costs have prevented U.S. Army Garrison-Red Cloud from setting up a recycling program, officials said at a Camp Casey town hall meeting Thursday.

Responding to a question posed by one of about 30 audience members at the Casey Digital Conference Center, officials said the garrison, also known as Area I, contracts only for garbage removal, not recycling.

Staffing a recycling point and paying for the service would be costly, said Don Needham, director of public works. The only profitable recycled item would be metal, and it’s usually bases with family housing that produce significant metal waste, Needham said. "We don’t get a lot of metals thrown away," Needham said.

Most discarded metal furniture is disposed of through the military’s Defense Reutilization Marketing Office, Needham said.

Nevertheless, Needham and Camp Casey commander Lt. Col. Donald Meisler said they would look into the prospect of contracting for recycling.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56787