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NSA Recycles, Refurbishes, and Reuses

NSA recycled, refurbished, or reused millions of pounds of recyclable materials at the Fort Meade campus during 2007. This equates to hundreds of pounds of recyclable materials for each NSA employee! There are four broad classes of recycled material from NSA: facilities-related materials; declassification materials; Automated Data Processing Equipment (ADPE); and employee-derived materials.

When it comes to handling waste, NSA excels. The waste diversion rate is the percentage of the entire waste stream that is recycled compared to all the generated waste. In 2007, NSA had a waste diversion rate of 68.6 %, which means that nearly 70% of all generated wastes were recycled! The state of Maryland's diversion rate goal for recycling is 40%, while the goal in Virginia is only 25%. Since 2002, the amount of waste landfilled at NSA has been reduced by 17.5%, while the amount of materials recycled has increased by 75.3%.

The largest amount of NSA recyclables is produced from facilities-related recycled materials. Recycling these materials prevents the use of about 1,650 cubic yards of landfill space. This is equivalent to about 140 large dump truck loads. During renovation projects, most of the raised flooring is salvaged, the carpet is recycled, and the flooring is refurbished and re-installed. The older style of raised flooring is sent out for metal and carpet recycling, and the 220 tons of paving materials have been reused on-site, generating enough material to pave about 19,000 square feet of parking lots.

NSA has for many years been declassifying paper through a pulping operation. Although the workforce calls this "the burn bag process," the paper is not burned but pulped in a machine similar to a giant blender. Each year nearly 1,750 tons of paper is recycled into paper pulp, which is used to make a wide variety of paper products such as cardboard boxes, egg cartons, and gift boxes, to name just a few. Classified materiel conversion produces the equivalent weight of three pickup trucks in pulp every day. Additionally, every ton of pulp recycled saves about two tons of wood. Therefore, NSA's recycling efforts save over 2,200 fifty-foot tall southern pine trees!

NSA also has a robust electronics recycling program, with over 1.8 million pounds of electronic equipment recycled. This is NSA's third largest category of recyclables and includes computers, monitors, test equipment, and electronic devices such as PDAs. Recycling just one computer monitor can prevent four pounds of lead from being placed in a landfill. In 2007, NSA recycled a large number of computers; some went to local schools while the remainder were dismantled and recycled as scrap.

Nearly 47 tons of materials that were once considered hazardous waste, such as lead acid batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and waste oils, were recycled in 2007. Fluorescent bulbs are hazardous because the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury. Lead acid batteries are hazardous due to the lead casings and the sulfuric acid they contain, which can leach into the environment if not properly disposed. The recycling of batteries and waste oil materials has reduced NSA's annual disposal costs significantly.

NSA has a robust in-office recycling program for plastic bottles, newspapers, and aluminum cans. Last year, this Agency recycled over 57 tons of metal soda cans and plastic soda bottles. This equates to about 2 million drinks here at NSA annually. The resources saved by reusing the material derived from the recycling of one aluminum soda can equal the energy it takes to power a standard television for three hours. The goal is to continue to provide a program that allows employee participation while reducing the environmental impact through reduction in landfill disposal.