Camp Pendleton Recognized For Environmental Programs By Keep America Beautiful

OCEANSIDE, CA — November is a busy month at Camp Pendleton with both the Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day to commemorate. Now the Marines have another reason to celebrate their accomplishments as Keep America Beautiful & Keep California Beautiful recognized USMC Camp Pendleton Base and Staff with a Hero Award for Military Base Environmental Programs.

Keep California Beautiful (KCB) is a non-profit dedicated to litter and marine debris prevention, alternative waste management, beautification, community networking, and outreach. KCB functions as an umbrella organization that initiates and networks local affiliates in communities across California. The mission of KCB is to ignite individuals, state and local government, community, and corporate responsibility, through strategic initiatives and volunteer action, to preserve and protect California’s beautiful resources for generations to come.

KCB is the state affiliate of the national organization Keep America Beautiful. The KCB Partnership and Campus Sustainability Program (CSP) recognizes the outstanding work of military bases, colleges/universities, local government, and other institutions in sustainability-related to litter and waste elimination and encourages new ways of assessing efforts.

Recognition of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is one of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) busiest installations and most extensive West Coast Corps training facilities for active and reserve Marine, Army, and Navy units and national, state, and local agencies. The 60-year-old Camp Pendleton facility is one of the largest employers in San Diego County. The base housing complex houses more than 38,000 military family members in 7,300 units, and the daytime population exceeds 70,000 military and civilian personnel. Preserving the environment and compliance with waste reduction is an important consideration of Camp Pendleton, encompassing 125,547 acres of coastal and mountain terrain. The camp ecosystem includes beaches, bluffs, mesas, canyons, mountains, and Southern California’s only free-flowing river, along with a substantial amount of undeveloped coastline.

The land area includes more than 1,000 plants, fish, and animals species. A top concern of Camp Pendleton is protecting wildlife and maintaining the habitat of threatened or endangered species. One creative wildlife effort includes creating a self-sustaining mule deer management program. In 1986, Camp Pendleton established its successful ongoing recycling program for common consumer recyclable materials. Camp Pendleton was the first Marine Corps installation to safely recycle expended brass casings for resale, as required by DoD.

Camp Pendleton Report Summary

* Litter Programs

Caltrans Adopt-a-Highway participants include:

o National Naval Officers Association

o N.C Chief Petty Officers Association: Cleanup 06/25/2021

o Theta Nu Psi Military Fraternity Inc: Cleanup 09/21/2019

o 1st Medical Battalion CPOA: Cleanup 05/01/2021 and 06/26/2021

Earth Day 7 zone and 21 Area Cleanup Video

* California State Waste and Recycling

Camp Pendleton recycling began in 1986, and the Recycling Center opened in February 2008. In 2021, Camp Pendleton diverted 6.8 million pounds of material in the first three quarters. In 2020, Camp Pendleton collected 8.1 million pounds of recyclable materials.

The Base operates a recycling center and sorting facility. Camp Pendleton’s Recycle Program diverts recyclables from the landfill and uses funds for military functions on the Base for the Marines, Sailors, and their families.

The Secretary of Defense recognized Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton in 2021 with an Environmental Quality Award for their partnership with the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office. The collaboration resulted in the removal of vegetation obstructions in the runway clear zone. The installation lowered the project’s cost from $20 million to $7.8 million.

View more about the Camp Pendleton Recognition Report

Reduce, reuse, reward

Keep America Beautiful and Keep California Beautiful, nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving recycling efforts, reducing waste, and beautifying communities, presented an award to Camp Pendleton for its environmental programs on Nov. 8, 2021. pic.twitter.com/HF2r79ZSMD
— Camp Pendleton (@MCIWPendletonCA) November 15, 2021

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