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Hammer Award Feature, December 1998
Pollution-Prevention Van Hits the Road

The DLA-USPS reinvention partnership began in July 1997, when the Defense Logistics Support Command's Fred Baillie signed a Memorandum of Agreement with USPS, allowing DLA/DDSP to take excess wooden shipping pallets from post offices in the Washington Metro Area to the depot for reuse and recycling. The DLA is a reinvention lab.

Partnership Saves Money and Trees
The partnership has been very successful for almost two years. It's saving USPS about $200,000 per year in hauling and landfilling charges. It's saving DDSP significant dollars in costs of new pallets since the depot uses roughly 20,000 pallets per month, according to Air Force Col. Larry McCourry of DLA's Environmental and Safety Policy Office. Additionally, the partners are helping save trees and promoting pollution prevention, said McCourry.

Van Wins Awards
The van showcases the partners' reinvention and environmental efforts, which have received praise from the National Partnership for Reinventing Government as well as Fran McPoland, the Federal Environmental Executive.

DDSP's reinvention efforts have won the depot the White House Closing the Circle Award, the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in the state of Pennsylvania, and the Vice President's Hammer Award. Exhibits in the carpeted, wood-paneled van describe how DDSP is recycling wood pallets and fiberboard waste to reclaim and create new pallets and 100-percent-recycled-content fiberboard cartons. USPS reinvention and recycling efforts are depicted as well.

The van is high-tech, with a television monitor for videos and a laptop computer for access to the Internet.

Van Debuted on Nov. 5
The van debuted on Nov. 5 at DLA Headquarters. DLSC's Commander, Navy Rear Adm. David Keller, toured the van in the afternoon and exchanged letters of appreciation with USPS officials, Environmental Management Policy Manager Dennis Baca and Vice President for Engineering Bill Dowling. McPoland attended the informal ceremony. DLA headquarters employees were invited to tour the van. DLA Director Lt. Gen. Henry Glisson also escorted several former DLA directors and deputy directors on a tour of the van as part of the Former Director's Day Conference activities.

After its headquarters debut, the van began its busy travel schedule, starting with the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the Nov. 9 "America Recycles Day Rally." The next day, it moved to the city's General Service Administration Regional Office Building for the "Buy Recycled Workshop" sponsored by the Federal Steering Committee for the "America Recycles Day."

For More Information
Tara Jennings-May, public affairs specialist,
Defense Logistics Agency's Office of Congressional and Public Affairs
(703) 767-6186
tara_jennings-may@hq.dla.mil
8725 John J. Kingman Rd., Ste 2533, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

For Hammer Award Information
Visit www.npr.gov/library/awards/hammer or contact denise.clyburn@npr.gov.

For Reinvention Lab Information