Waste Case Studies

• In 2008, the US Postal Service Western Areas conservation efforts saved the region $44 million. These savings were achieved by reusing and redistributing equipment and materials within the postal system, as well as diverting 35,000 tons of waste from the landfill.
• The Federal Prison Camp (FPC) in Duluth, Minnesota used a three-tier recycling program to increase its recycling rate by 118% in just one year. The three tiers were:
  1. Detailed institution trash recycling,
  2. vermiculture or worm farming, and
  3. food waste composting.

Additional Case Studies

• Waste Case Study: New Composting Program Boosts Waste Diversion (pdf) (391.75 KB, February 2014, EPA-905-F-14-009)
  The U.S. Navy’s Naval Station Great Lakes, near Waukegan, Illinois, increased its amount of materials recycled by an astounding 114 percent by initiating a campaign to add a composting component, reuse construction and demolition debris, and increase the number of collection bins available throughout the installation.
• Waste Case Study: Waste Diversion through Cold Composting (pdf) (293.49 KB, February 2014, EPA-905-F-14-009 )
  The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (Departments of Veterans Affairs and Navy) in North Chicago, Illinois, prevented 320 tons of lawn waste from going into a landfill through “cold composting.”
• Waste Case Study: Enhanced Recycling Increases Waste Diversion (pdf) (386.85 KB, February 2014, EPA-905-F-14-001)
  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chicago Field Office diverted waste from landfills by revitalizing its recycling program. This work resulted in a recycling rate of 38 percent.