GREENING OUR BASE

  • Published
  • By Carroll Hale
  • 452 CES
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  What actions can we take to create a cleaner environment? There are many; among them are turning off the lights when you're not using a room, rideshare, recycling and buying environmentally sound products. All are things we can do to make the base a better, cleaner place. 

You can also ride your bike or walk to get from point A to point B if it's practical, especially for round trips of less than two miles. Reuse your grocery bags or get reusable cloth bags. At a rate of one trip to the store a week, they pay for themselves in a year and will be good for far longer than that (to say nothing of the 5 cent credit you are soon to get at the cash register for each bag used). 

Practice the three R's: first reduce how much you use, reuse what you can, and recycle the rest. Disposal must be in the most environmentally friendly way. 

· Reduce:
o Buy permanent items instead of disposables.
o Buy and use only what you need.
o Buy products with less packaging.
o Buy products that use less toxic chemicals. 

· Reuse:
o Repair items as much as possible.
o Use durable coffee mugs.
o Reuse boxes. 

· Recycle:
o Recycle paper (printer paper, newspapers, mail, etc.), plastic, glass
bottles, cardboard, and aluminum cans. If your community doesn't collect
at the curb, take them to a collection center.
o Recycle electronics.
o Collect all hazardous materials for recycling/reuse. 

Make every effort to recycle material from your workplace. Remember never bring Hazardous Materials on the base. 

Common items collected and recycled are wood, pallets, metal, cans and plastic bottles, paper and cardboard. There are also items you may not normally think of like toner cartridges, batteries, fluorescent lights, cell phones, electronics and CRT's (TV's and monitors). All these items are recycled and diverted from the landfill and that's good for the base and good for our environment.