Federal law mandates office paper recycling Published Sept. 20, 2013 By Frank Carpenter 341st Civil Engineer Squadron MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Malmstrom Air Force Base members may not be aware of federal law 40 CFR § 246.200-1, which mandates the recycling of office paper on federal installations. The law specifically states, "High-grade paper generated by office facilities of more than 100 office workers shall be separated at the source of generation, separately collected and sold for the purpose of recycling." Malmstrom complies with this mandate by contracting for biweekly office paper pickups. The majority of buildings have 90-gallon, grey office paper recycling containers located in their facilities. The containers belong to the contractor and are assigned to the facilities and shouldn't be removed for other purposes. Knowledge of the proper way to recycle office paper lowers disposal costs, obtains revenue from the sale of the paper, conserves trees and reduces air, water and land pollution. Recycled office paper at Malmstrom includes white or natural-colored, high-grade paper such as white typing paper, computer printout paper, index cards and tabulating cards. Staples and paper clips may be recycled. The current shred policy has generated a lot of questions concerning proper recycling of shredded paper. Shredded paper can be recycled as long as it is shredded to an appropriate size and does not contain an unacceptable level of contaminants. Please place plastic bags of shredded paper into the 90-gallon recycle containers. In recent months there has been an increase in garbage and other non-recyclable materials being placed in the office paper recycling containers. This has resulted in increased costs and the containers not being picked up. It requires additional man hours to have the container emptied, and all the effort and time expended is wasted. Bottom line, if the containers are not being used properly, money is wasted. This is a mandated program and is everyone's responsibility. All this adds up to the fact that it costs money that could be used for more important things. So it is up to Team Malmstrom members to do the right thing and take those few extra steps to put trash in a garbage container and not the paper recycling containers - or any bin specifically designated for recycling. The fiscal 2014 pickup schedule follows and for additional information on office paper recycling contact your building facility manager. Blue office recycling containers are available by request from Pollution Prevention at 731-6163. For more information, contact Frank Carpenter at 731-6448. Office paper and base recycling calendar schedule Oct. 2, 16, 30 Nov. 13, 27 Dec. 11, 26 Jan. 8, 22 Feb. 5, 19 March 5, 19 April 2, 16, 30 May 14, 28 June 11, 25 July 9, 23 Aug. 6, 20 Sept. 3, 17