Where are you tossing your trash? Published Dec. 5, 2008 By Steven Kitt 377th Civil Engineer Division KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico -- Where are you tossing your trash seems an unlikely question but one that is causing Kirtland AFB officials a lot of concern lately. Why? During the last few months we have had incidents of medical waste, hazardous waste and materials banned from landfill disposal dumped into Kirtland AFB trash trash container. Perhaps it is time to review a few of the more general rules regarding waste disposal on Kirtland AFB. A quick lesson on trash receptacles located on Kirtland AFB: Outdoor trash containers: There are approximately 261 of these located throughout the base. They are all painted dark brown with black plastic lids. These are only for the waste generated in the commercial base facilities which they are next to. It is against base policy to dispose of waste from on base privatized housing, off base residential housing and off base businesses. If you live in Kirtland AFB housing or off base, you are provided with a refuse service, so please use it and not the base trash containers. Trash roll-offs: There are six of these on base, four at the landfill transfer station and two for various job sites. They are 30 or 40 cubic yard containers, dark brown in color and owned by Arrow Waste. These are explicitly for job site use only and not for residential waste. Recycling roll-offs: The base recycling program has six roll-offs for recycling cardboard and other commodities. They are all green in color and all are readily identified with recycling signage on all sides. These are for recycling purposes only and no trash of any kind should be disposed of in them. Only recycle that commodity which the sign says is being collected in that particular roll-off. The most common place for the base populace to see these is at the Central Recycling Drop-Off center located in the Commissary parking lot. Outdoor recycling containers: There are 47 white containers with steel or plastic lids distributed over most areas of Kirtland AFB. These are for the collection of corrugated cardboard only. Please remove and discard all non-cardboard packing materials and take a few minutes to break down boxes. Boxes that are not broken down take up a lot of "air" space and ultimately we recycle less. Office recycling bins: Last but not least, is the office recycling container. There should be two large blue recycling containers centrally located somewhere in your building. One is for white paper, the other is for newsprint. In addition, you should have a small individual blue container at your desk or next to a copier or fax machine in your work area for white paper. White paper means just that, white paper without sticky notes, candy wrappers or anything else that belongs in the trash can. White paper can have colored print or pictures on it. If paper is manufactured as a solid color, it is not recycled through the Kirtland AFB program at this time. White paper may have staples in it but all paper clips, clamps and colored sticky notes should be removed. It is very costly for the collectors to have to sort through the recyclables to remove trash or non-recyclable items and it defeats the program's goals and objectives. The newsprint container is for newspaper only and not magazines. Also, please make sure not to mix white paper with newsprint when placing in the large containers. It makes a huge difference because again, the collectors have to spend valuable time to sort it out. For more information on recycling on Kirtland AFB, contact the base Solid Waste Program manager at 846-9014.