National Greening Fire Team Quarterly Bulletin - Winter 2019; Volume 1
Message from the Director
As a conservation organization, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) together with other fire-related agencies -- is well positioned to be on the leading edge of efforts to promote ecological resilience and restoration. These considerations must be accounted for throughout our internal business processes and should be modeled in the communities that we serve. USFS Fire & Aviation Management is committed to integrating such principles.
The work of the National Greening Fire Team (GFT) comes at a critical time for fire operations in the agency. As fire intensity increases and the fire season becomes increasingly longer, the value of increasing operational efficiency at incidents and throughout the incident supply chain increases. I encourage each of you to follow the important work of the National GFT and consider how to support their mission.
Statistics
- 36% - 46%: The range in waste diversion realized during the 2017-2018 contracted incident recycling pilots.
- $2.25 per person per day: The cost of contracted recycling on medium-large incidents based on a 1,000-person fire (0.05% of daily fire operating costs!).
- 10: The number of years the Greening Fire Team is moving the needle towards more sustainable operations.
Contact Us
Interested in learning more about the Greening Fire Team? Have questions about any of the stories in this Bulletin? If so, contact the Greening Fire Team.
Links of Interest
- U.S. Forest Service Sustainability & Climate Website
- U.S. Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Website
- Earth911
Spotlight
Shelly Pacheco, Regional Safety & Occupational Health Manager, USFS Southwest Region
Where were you when you first encountered on-site incident recycling?
I am a Base Camp Manager and a Facilities Unit Leader Trainee. As a Base Camp Manager, I work closely with the camp crews to ensure we set up common areas for sleeping, eating and meeting spaces and maintain a clean camp. As a Facilities Unit Leader, I work on setting up land use agreements for camps, and work closely with vendors for services such as trash, showers, recycling, and potable/non-potable water.
Where were you when you first encountered on-site incident recycling?
Almost every camp I’ve ever worked on we have had some kind of recycling effort. Cardboard, plastic bottles, and used office paper are the most common items. Sometimes a camp crew was managing recycling, other times a contractor has been in place. So far, in my 14 years of working in fire camps, the Klondike Fire in Oregon had the best contractor-managed recycling program operation. I saw the benefits immediately of what a great recycling program could be.
What was your impression of the on-site incident recycling and how was this different from how you've seen fire camp waste managed in the past?
It depends on who is managing the recycling as to how effective it can be. Having a contractor who supplies all the recycling stations and takes care of pick up and sorting has been far more successful than using a camp crew who gets bored with it over a few days. Also, sometimes we have to split a camp crew between camp locations or between kitchen, supplies, and camp clean up duties, and recycling becomes a lower priority. Having a contractor dedicated to the recycling helps us manage recycling more effectively and reduces the number of times the dumpster has to be emptied resulting in a cleaner camp. Having a place to properly store recycling out of the weather prevents it from flying around and getting wet.
Would you recommend we do it on other wildfires?
Yes! I try to do recycling in most camps that I work in. In certain spike camps, back haul recyclables go in the same truck as the trash, and I’m not certain of the outcomes after it leave spike camps. I’m thinking if every Forest had information on recycling available during the in-briefing, and if the IMT’s are evaluated based upon their efforts, I believe it would happen more often.
When you saw the recycling in action on the wildfire what were you thinking and how did it make you feel about the Forest Service?
I would say when I see recycling efforts happen it feels good as a Federal employee and as a member of the Green Team. It’s a conscious decision to act on protecting the environment. In some States like Oregon, they recycle plastic bottles at 10 cents a bottle. This is profitable and beneficial to keeping recyclables out of the waste stream.
How do you see efforts to reduce the operational impact of incidents as connected to the USFS mission?
Our actions become a positive influence to help others be a part of the stewardship. By giving the option to toss or recycle, we often will choose recycling. This past year, I saw more fire personnel making a personal choice to use a canteens or bring their own mug. I witnessed a contractor set up his solar powered hand wash station, it was quiet and allowed for use without disturbing the nearby sleepers. Lastly, another innovative idea I observed was a weed wash station that captured, filtered, and reused the water. These actions can easily be replicated in our communities and speak to the deeper understanding of our mission.
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Who Is the National Greening Fire Team?
The Greening Fire Team (GFT) was established in 2011 and is comprised of seasonal and permanent employees from across the nation. Its mission is to integrate sustainable operations best management practices into the fire community. The main focus of the team’s work has been to research, recommend, and assist with implementation of sustainable practices at fire incidents with a focus on camps. Priority areas include: 1) waste reduction, 2) renewable energy, and 3) outreach and education. In March 2017, a partnership between the GFT, previously aligned with the Office of Sustainability and Climate, and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Fire Aviation and Management organization was developed. Since that time, the Team has evolved and refined its deliverables to best align with current priorities.
In FY 2019, the partnership is being championed by Shawna Legarza, USFS National Director of Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) and the GFT Leads: Lara Buluc, R5 Sustainable Operations & Co-Climate Change Coordinator, and Dennis Fiore, R6 Fire Management Specialist. Fiscal year 2019 priority work items for the GFT include:
1) Finalizing the “Opportunities for Energy, Water, and Waste Reduction at U.S. Forest Service Fire Camps” Report and “United States Forest Service Fire Support Guide and Best Management Practices” in partnership with the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (DOE NREL),
2) Continuing to build-out the Sustainable Operations Page on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Website to transition it into a “one-stop shop” resource for the interagency fire community,
3) Building on USFS Regions 3, 5, and 6 contracted incident recycling pilots by developing a Blanket Purchase Agreement for contracted incident recycling, and
4) Leveraging networks of the DOE NREL and other state/federal agencies that comprise the NWCG to advance greening fire goals. If you would like to better understand the Greening Fire Team’s FY 2019 Program of Work, it is available for viewing and download. (Note: Pinyon access required).
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Contracted On-site Incident Recycling – Making Green Strides!
6.7 – 9 million pounds! That’s the amount of waste estimated to be generated in a single year by incident management teams (IMTs) in just the Southwest Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC) (based on fires in 2011).
The majority of this waste was most likely sent to community landfills. The Forest Service is required to divert 55% of their non-hazardous waste from landfills (starting in 2014). IMTs have struggled to meet this goal. There is a cost to the communities when the waste is not recycled and is sent to the landfill instead, particularly if the cumulative impact from decades of firefighting camp waste causes the community landfills to reach their maximum capacity prematurely.
U.S. Forest Service Contracted Incident Recycling Pilots
To minimize the waste stream from incident camps, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has piloted contracted on-site incident recycling over the past two fire seasons (2017 and 2018) across USFS Regions 3, 5, and 6. Such services were ordered on a per-incident basis via an Emergency Equipment Rental Agreement (EERA). Triple Flare, one such contracted incident recycler, supported five incidents, including the Delta Fire in Region 5 and the Taylor Creek Fire in Region 6, in the past two years for a total of 157 days of service. They achieved a 36% - 46% waste diversion rate at these incidents (based on the volume of recyclables diverted relative to the overall volume of trash hauled to the landfill).
Scaling Up: Pilot to Blanket Purchase Agreement
While these pilots have proven effective, the EERA approach is not scalable. As such, the Greening Fire Team (GFT) has launched a two-pronged market research effort as a step toward the establishment of an On-site Incident Recycling Services Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA). The Team is working with the General Services Administration and Incident Contracting Officers to request input from industry on their capabilities and services related to on-site incident recycling. Responses to these Requests for Information were due in mid-December 2018 and are currently being reviewed by the GFT to inform the BPA, which will be available for fire season 2019. The scope of the BPA will include recycling of cardboard, mixed paper, and plastics. Waste diversion services will include on-site collection, sorting, and transporting to the nearest recycle drop-off or processing center, and quantifying/documenting actual waste diversion quantities. The primary GACCs that will be targeted with this BPA are the Northwest, northern California, southern California, and Southwest. The Northern Rockies, Great Basin, and Rocky Mountain GACCs could also place an order.
Stay tuned for more information once the BPA is available come late spring 2019!
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Myth Buster #1 – Recycling on fires is too expensive…or is it?
Is contracted incident recycling more expensive than doing it “in-house”?
From interviewing various incident commanders and logistics chiefs, it was determined that it was reasonable to assume that an in-house incident recycling program would require a 4-person AD-C team, plus AD-D squad boss for squad/camp crew labor, SusOps Tech Management (equivalent of an AD-K), and an estimated 6 hours per day of the Logistics or Facility Unit Leader.
Based off current wages, the cost of providing in-house recycling services at a fire camp of 1,000 personnel is estimated between roughly $2,400 and $3,900 [1]. The cost to contract on-site incident recycling services is actually lower, at $1,450 to $3,050 per day, or roughly $2.25 per person per day, on a 1,000 personnel fire camp.
Putting it in Perspective
When we compare the cost of incident recycling to other common services at fire camps, it may be surprising to learn that port-a-potties and hand wash stations cost nearly three times as much as incident recycling when there are 1,000 people at a fire camp. On the Whitewater fire in 2017, the contracted incident recycling amounted to only .05% of the daily fire camp operating costs!
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Clearly, there is a cost for contracting incident recycling, however, there is also a cost for not recycling, especially if our community landfills reach their maximum capacity prematurely, since a new landfill is estimated to cost between $11.9 and $27.5 million in taxpayer dollars [2], plus the continued cost of hauling and tipping fees for solid waste disposal.
Additional Benefits
Recycling is not just about avoiding future infrastructure costs tied to new landfills (or reducing disposal fees), but it is also about jobs! EPA estimates that there are 1.57 jobs, $76,030 in wages, and $14,101 in tax revenues for every 1,000 tons of recyclables collected and recycled. In 2007, this amounted to 757,000 jobs and $36.6 billion in annual wages for the Unites States![3] In New Mexico alone, it is estimated that increasing the waste diversion rate from 20% to 34% would generate 9,318 new direct and indirect recycling and reuse jobs, of which 4,871 jobs would remain local. In the meantime, such increased recycling and reuse would drive down the state’s solid waste disposal costs by $12.5 million! [4]
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[1] The in-house cost estimate was based on 2017 Interagency Business Management Handbook personnel salaries. Cost of Forest Service vehicles and fuel is not included. [2] EPA, 2014, Municipal Solid Waste Landfills [3] EPA, 2016, Recycling Economic Information Report, [4] ICF International, 2013, Adding 5,000 Jobs to New Mexico’s Economy: A Plan to Increase Jobs Using Recycling Based Pay-As-You-Throw and Economic Development Click "Read More" again to close this accordion.
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Recruiting Interagency Greening Fire Team "Ambassadors"!
The National Greening Fire Team serves an interagency mission, but has largely been comprised of U.S. Forest Service employees to date. We’re eager to onboard “Ambassadors” from inside (and especially outside!) the agency.
What is an “Ambassador”? Glad you asked! “Ambassadors” are not formal Greening Fire Team members, with deliverables, salary funding to cover part of their time, etc. Rather, “Ambassadors” are individuals with a keen interest in advancing sustainable business operations throughout the Fire organization/supply chain. They receive periodic emails (including Quarterly Highlights Bulletins), are invited to Team Update Webinars (1-2 per year), and, when in positions to do so, are asked to apply information/products (e.g., our onsite incident recycling BPA, in process) developed by the Team.
If you are interested in being a Greening Fire “Ambassador” please contact the Greening Fire Team.
Participants
- Team Chairs: Lara Buluç, Dennis Fiore
- Team Members: Hector Basso, Steve Bigby, Judith Downing, David Haston, Ryan Jackson, Kelly Jaramillo, Dylan McCoy, and Bobbie Jo Skibo
- Team Ambassadors: Sally Claggett, Matthew Cnudde, Kevin Cooper, Michael “Brent” Davidson, Holly Ennist, Roberta Lim, Kevin Martin, Martin Maricle, Christina Montiel, Kevin Moriarty, Alaina Osimowicz, Michael A. Rivera, Tym Sauter, Tenaya Stanton, James Starling, Nick Swagger, and Jessica White
- Partner: Alicen Kandt (Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
- NREL Interagency Agreement Oversight: David Wiley
- Senior Leadership Liaison: Shawna Legarza
Last modified/reviewed 02-27-2019