Air Force Plant 42 converts rubble into roads

  • Published
  • By Jennifer Schneider
  • AFCEE Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Air Force is always on the lookout for new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Piles of rubble generated on Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., were successfully converted into road base for the installation, effectively avoiding the disposal of 50,000 tons of soil, concrete and asphalt to offsite landfills and saving the Air Force over $2 million in disposal costs.

Plant 42 is a federally owned military aerospace facility under the control of Air Force Materiel Command, and is used by the Air Force and its contractors as a center for aircraft manufacturing and flight testing. One site at the facility had been used historically for surface disposal of construction rubble and waste generated during the demolition of an old runway in the late 1960s.

To ensure suitability of the rubble for re-use, the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment and remediation contractor CH2M Hill, Inc., worked with California state regulatory agencies to develop a comprehensive sampling plan. Sampling protocols were developed to customize individual risk screenings for each of the eight rubble piles identified onsite.

"The results of the Site 27 rubble pile investigation were used to demonstrate to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Regional Water Quality Control Board (Lahonton Region) and California Integrated Waste Management Board that rubble pile materials were suitable for onsite recycling," said James Laws, CH2M Hill project manager.

Care was taken to screen the piles for hazardous waste, such as paint chips, before reusing.

There were many benefits reaped from using the innovative approach, said George Warner, remedial project manager for Air Force Plant 42. In addition to waste diversion and cost savings, the base also no longer needed a Federal Aviation Administration waiver, which had been in place due to the proximity of the waste piles to an active runway.

Use of the recycled material resulted in a higher quality road, and generated $160,000 in cost savings by eliminating the need to purchase road base, said Ed McCown, Air Force Materiel Command project manager at Air Force Plant 42.

"Additional aggregate base increased the roadway pavement structural section of the perimeter road, giving longer service life of the road under heavy fire truck traffic," Mr. McCown said. "The additional structural fill increased the roadway elevation, which provided better drainage and driver visibility and safety."

The success of projects such as this one emphasize how going "green" can be both environmentally and financially beneficial.

"It's great that we were able to recycle waste instead of just hauling it off," Mr. Warner said. "It was a win-win-win situation."