By Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III
76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Naseb Saad Hasan Altememy, holds up a can of future profits for his company’s recycling center site at a refuse collection site at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. The recycling center, which will provide jobs to local Iraqis, will assist current efforts to sort through daily garbage collection on post for recyclables. Photo by Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III.

And that business is about to become worthwhile for the Iraqi people, while also furthering the consolidation of security gains made by the Iraq’s government and security forces.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, July 10, Coalition forces, contractors and Iraqi business leaders commemorated the opening of a recycling center designed to turn the military’s trash into Iraq’s economic treasure.

Contracted through an Iraqi-owned company, the center is designed to spur green practices among Joint Base Balad’s waste management operations by creating a hub for recyclables to be collected and shipped to recycling plants throughout Iraq. In the past, recyclables that are collected are either burned in incinerators or stockpiled throughout various holding areas on post. With the new recycling center, large amounts of aluminum, glass, plastics, cardboard and steel products are instead packed up and shipped to recycling centers near Baghdad and sold on the Iraqi market.

“This is a great day for Joint Base Balad because we’ve solved a problem that’s been present here for a long time, and it’s a great day because we have yet another opportunity to help the local economy,” said Brig. Gen. Brian Bishop, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing and installation commander.

“With the addition of this center, Joint Base Balad looks to reduce its trash volume by literally tons a day,” said Col. Kenneth Newlin, deputy commander of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “The center will also have the ability to drive new industries here and allow us to aggressively seek a new market for plastics recycling locally.”

“If we’re ever going to leave this country, we have to build not only by supporting its people, but its economy, too,” said Air Force Capt. Robert Yates, a contracting officer with the Air Force’s Joint Contracting Command-Iraq.

Beyond providing a green approach to bolstering the Iraqi economy, the center will also present jobs to local Iraqis.