Recycling staff helps community turn trash into cash

  • Published
  • By Bob Farrell
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  When it comes to taking a dirty job and turning it into an advantage for Enid youth, Vance Air Force Base can count on the resource, recovery and recycling program office.
On Tuesday, the Enid Public School system reaped the rewards of more than a year's worth of cereal-box coupons the RRRP office staff collected from discarded boxes in base recycle bins.
Terrell Cokeley, Shiela Humble, Mike Day, Jerry Hill and William Fraley began clipping the coupons three years ago. What most people see as seemingly useless little coupons on the boxes actually added up to $140 in a year and a half. The RRRP staff decided to donate the money to the EPS system.
Dr. Ruth Erdner from EPS visited the base to receive the donation. Although this amount may seem insignificant, Dr. Erdner doesn't think so.
"One hundred and forty dollars will buy a lot of instructional material for our students, a lot of books or maybe subscriptions to educational magazines," she said. "We plan on looking at that and putting things in our classrooms for our students."
Dr. Erdner was most interested in expanding the future possibilities this program has started.
"We will identify those schools where parents can participate in the program by doing the same thing. You all (Vance) are a very good example for our students and our parents, " she said.
Richard Johndrow, Computer Sciences Corporation lead man over RRRP, is extremely proud of the staff.
"They picked up on the program and ran with it on their own. When they see a box with a coupon, they set it aside and later cut it out," Mr. Johndrow said. "This is totally self-initiated and the public schools will be the benefactor of this program."
In addition to the coupon program, the RRRP staff has developed two other programs that help both the community and departing active-duty Airmen.
First, they have been saving the pull tabs from aluminum soda cans. The pull tabs have a higher grade of aluminum more sought after by recyclers and, therefore, is more valuable. Periodically the staff sends the tabs to the Ronald McDonald House, which in turn sells the tabs for cash. This money is then used to subsidize their program of providing shelter for families with children receiving medical treatment at various locations throughout the United States.
The last program the RRRP staff started came about through their regular business activity, collecting recyclable materials. Military members and families remember the many permanent change of station moves made over the years that create mountains of boxes set out on the curb to be hauled away. These boxes have become a gold mine for outbound Airmen, thanks to the RRRP staff. When boxes are collected at the curb, reusable ones are taken back to RRRP, where they are sorted by size and stacked for future use. Over the past year, the RRRP staff has provided outbound Airmen more than 2,200 boxes, at an average cost of $6.50 per box. This program alone has saved Airmen more than $13,200 in out-of-pocket expenses.
To donate cereal box coupons, pull tabs or moving boxes, bring them to the recycling center on Elam Road, Bldg. 126 just inside the west gate. Housing residents can set them, separate from their trash, on their curbs Mondays and Thursdays for pick up.