BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Operations Directorate ended 2021 with notable achievements to include closing the door on a 20-year divestiture with DLA.
DLA Disposition Services manages the disposal of hazardous property for Department of Defense entities. Recently, the operations directorate completed the long-standing divestiture of DLA-operated hazardous waste storage facilities by closing the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson facility located in Anchorage, Alaska, and ceding operational control of the final two hazardous waste storage facilities located at U.S. Army post Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina.
“During the 1990’s peak, when Disposition Services field sites took physical custody of hazardous waste, we operated 81 facilities across the world,” said DLA Disposition Services Chief of Public Sales and Services Division Rick Klingel. “Ceding control or closing the hazardous waste storage facilities streamlines processes and reduces DLA costs, without degrading disposal service to the supported customers.”
Now the DLA Dashboard will monitor each field site’s hazardous waste line-item throughput to ensure supported customers continue to receive timeline and reliable hazardous waste disposal service.
In concert with the DLA Disposition Services strategic plan initiatives to increase in-country disposal of hazardous waste within U.S. Africa and U.S. Central Commands, the Operations Directorate has started the vetting process and made recommendations to decrease exports from Bahrain and Poland.
“In-country disposal of HW is always timelier and more reliable than export, and often times less expensive,” said Klingel.
Additionally, the Reutilization, Transfer and Donation Branch processed 126,637 requisitions with a total acquisition value of $2,486,132,142.76.
RTD’s special programs play a vital role in humanitarian and natural disaster support. In 2021, the branch provided inflatable life rafts, all-terrain vehicles, earth moving equipment, flashlights and more to aid Hurricane Ida and Tennessee flood relief efforts - representing an acquisition value of $743,000 - as well as providing four requisitions, valued at $249,000, in support of the Afghanistan drawdown.
“The RTD office has had another outstanding year providing support to the warfighter, transfer and donation customers, and our various special programs, said RTD Branch Chief Justin Funk. “Several highlights from FY21 are Hurricane Ida disaster relief and the Afghanistan drawdown.”
Moreover, the branch continued to support DLA’s COVID response and ended the fiscal year with 4,754 requisitions made up of gloves, ventilators, gowns and masks valued at $34 million.