One person's trash...

Published July 7, 2009
By Senior Airman Kali L. Gradishar
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- Multiple mountains of waste are piling up around bins. Bags upon bags of trash are dumped in places they shouldn't be. Because of this, the base's funds are being drained.

"Illegal dumping has been an issue for many years," said Staff Sgt. Christina Magdaleno, 52nd Civil Engineer Squadron Service Contract Section. "Currently, about 20 percent of trash in base bins is really personal trash, and sometimes all that's in a base bin is personal trash."

When masses of disposable waste stack up outside or on top of a bin, the base racks up additional costs. The waste-disposal contract is estimated at €1.9 million, but after additional fees and penalties, the base pitches out approximately €2 million. That's €100,000, or nearly $150,000, wasted.

"Sometimes it's laziness, but sometimes it's pure negligence," Sergeant Magdaleno said. "I've been going out with my gloves and hand sanitizer to try to hold some of these people accountable. It gets very costly, but it's hard to get people to care."

Something people may not realize when they bring trash from off base is they're not just improperly disposing of waste, they're stealing.

"When people living on the economy dispose of their personal trash on base, that's considered theft of service because they should be using their utilities allowance to pay for disposing of their own trash," Sergeant Magdaleno said.

With her hands covered and hand sanitizer ready for use, Sergeant Magdaleno hunts through trash that is clearly personal. You can really tell by the type of bags people use, she said. The personal trash is coming from both on and off base.

Once she scouts illegally dumped trash for names, has found names on multiple items and can guarantee she knows who is responsible, an e-mail with a description of the violation and pictures of the items dumped is sent to the individual's first sergeant and the 52nd Fighter Wing command chief.

"We've been working with the first sergeants, and some have volunteered (the Airmen who violate waste disposal rules) to help me go through other illegally dumped waste," the sergeant said.

In June there were 10 incidents and violators verified, while many others are still being investigated. In a matter of just three hours on June 17 there were 17 waste disposal violations found in only four enclosures, and that was just in one area of the base, she noted.

There are many ways the base's fees and penalties add up.

Contractors won't pick up a bin if it's overflowing, if bags are piled outside the bin or if items inside the bin are not appropriate for that container. For example, if personal trash is dumped into a paper recycling bin, it will not be picked up by the recycling contractor. Plus, there will be an approximate €24 fine to dispose of the waste as trash, and the base doesn't receive the monetary credit for having recycled those items.

Improper waste disposal costs money, and it also costs time, Sergeant Magdaleno said. "It takes a lot of man-hours and time away from regular government work for facility managers to get improperly disposed items in their bins to the base recycling center or the appropriate facility. They have to do this to keep the area within base appearance standards."

The following are some tips on what belongs in each bin:

 Regular refuse goes in the green-lidded recycling containers.
 Paper-based products go in the blue-lidded recycling containers. Cardboard boxes should be broken down. Other types of waste should not be placed in this container.
 The Base Recycling Center accepts electronics, plastic, metal, treated and untreated wood, and bulk trash. The Spangdahlem BRC, located in building 64, is open 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. - noon the first and third Saturdays of each month. The Bitburg BRC is open noon - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

For more information, call the 52nd CES Service Contract Section at 452-6183. The section will be able to answer questions about illegally and properly disposing of waste.

"Any way we can stop people from improperly dumping their trash means less money going to fees and penalties and more money going to places that need it," Sergeant Magdaleno said.