Recycling saves money

Discarded miniature practice bombs from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are piled at a commercial shredding facility near the base. The bombs will be fed into a shredder and the shredded material then will be recycled. To date, more than seven million pounds of range debris metal have been recycled, saving the government millions of dollars. (Courtesy photo)

Recycling saves money

A large mechanical claw at a commercial shredding facility near Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., grabs a load of discarded miniature practice bombs that will be fed into a shredder. The shredded material then will be recycled. To date, more than seven million pounds of range debris metal have been recycled, saving the government millions of dollars. (Courtesy photo)

Restoration officials recycle bombs, save money

Published Jan. 18, 2011
By Mike Spaits
96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Environmental restoration officials here are shredding their way through 50,000 practice bombs.

So far, they have recycled more than 1 million pounds of metal from the BDU 33 and Mark 106 bombs.

The effort is part of the Air Force's military munitions response program.

The mission of the MMRP is to take action to ensure munitions response areas and munitions response sites located off of active test ranges are safe for reuse, and to protect human health and the environment.

In this effort, restoration branch officials and their contractors use a commercial car crusher to "demilitarize" practice bombs prior to recycling. This crushing operation is part of an agreement between the crushing company, the recyclers and Eglin Air Force Base's contractors, and has resulted in savings of more than $1 million.

"This method of demilitarizing the practice bombs costs us about $150,000 for 1 million pounds shredded," said Ralph Armstrong, the 96th Civil Engineer Group environmental restoration project manager. "Had we done it in a more traditional way, the cost would have been between $1 and $2 million.

"Based on all of the information we found, this is the first time this has been done in the United States," he added.

To date, MMRP efforts by officials at Eglin AFB have resulted in more than seven million pounds of range debris metal being recycled, saving the government millions of dollars.

Department of Defense officials launched the MMRP in 2004. Eglin AFB has 24 sites managed under the MMRP, most of which are located within its 724-square-mile land area.

Once this phase of operations is finished, which Eglin officials estimate may take several years to complete, a final MMRP report will be made available to the public.