Crane Army Ammunition Activity has a mission to recycle as much as possible. It鈥檚 good for the environment, supports local and regional businesses, and adds to the CAAA financial bottom line. Production in the organization鈥檚 large machine shop, for instance, creates a lot of metal waste. All the refuse metal is collected and sent to nearby recycling companies on a regular basis. Demilitarization of munitions provides another source of metals, plastics and chemicals. Those, too, are targeted for reuse.
鈥淲e recycle as much metal as we can,鈥� said Tony Barger, a demilitarization commodity manager for CAAA鈥檚 Manufacturing and Engineering Directorate. 鈥淲e work hard to be environmentally responsible, especially when it comes to evaluating items to be (demilitarized). We remove as much metal (from munitions) as we can before sending an item to a detonation or burn range. We often collect a lot of plastic as well.鈥�
Barger added that separating or breaking down munitions by material type creates efficiencies in the recycling process. Aluminum, brass and other metals eventually wind up in other products intended for industrial or consumer use. Selling pre-separated metals also recoups more tax dollars since the downline, private industry recycling process is easier.