JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
On top of being the world's greatest air, space and cyberspace power, the sequester has added to the Air Force's laundry list of responsibilities the challenge of evaluating every penny spent on every program. No ideas are off the table in the search for ways to limit the impending fiscal impact.
The latest Air Force-wide movement to be financially savvy is the Every Dollar Counts campaign, constructed under the leadership of Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer, to help lessen the financial impact caused by sequestration.
Many programs and initiatives are in place to help balance the Andrews budget, and one example of smart financial management is the recycling center here, which takes all the recyclable waste on base and turns it into a revenue stream.
"Our goal is to get all the solid waste into the disposal center," said Aaron Sprouse, 11th CES environmental associate. "We take the recycled material on the base and sell it, then use that money to go back into the recycling and disposal programs, so essentially we're funding ourselves."
Turning refuse into revenue is no easy task as the recycling center processes tons of material for resale each day.
"We normally get about three to four tons of recycling material a day," said Wayne Carter, 11th Civil Engineer Squadron recycling technician. Carter and several other workers are responsible for moving the recyclable material to the recycling center.
"We currently recycle about 50 to 55 percent of the solid waste on base, but our goal is to get to 60 to 70 percent," said Mark Wilburn, 11th CES recycling technician.
The recycling center plays an important role here because people always have garbage to throw away, said Carter.
Recycling pickups are done biweekly in government buildings and housing recycling is completed by a private contractor. However, housing residents can take their recyclables to the recycling center between Monday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the Pearl Harbor gate on the east side of base.
"I can't stand it when I see people throwing away recyclable material because it's like a double whammy; we pay for that waste to be disposed of and then we can't sell it, which means we lose money that could go back into our environmental programs," said Sprouse.
The recycling center is just one example of how the Air Force conserves much needed revenue. Every Dollar Counts promotes saving and returning budget dollars so they can be better used for priorities that benefit the whole service.
Savings generated through the Every Dollar Counts Campaign will be used to fund higher readiness priorities, such as squeezing in extra flying hours and repairing more aircraft.
The "Airmen Powered by Innovation" website will run from May 1 to June 1, where Airmen can submit their ideas for saving money.