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Cheyenne Mountain is one of the most unique military installations in the world—a 4.5-acre grid of chambers and tunnels excavated from nearly 700,000 tons of solid rock, in which 15 buildings are sealed behind 25-ton steel blast doors and surrounded by 2,000 feet of solid, Rocky Mountain granite. Each product and resource that is brought into this enclosed facility must be properly managed throughout its life cycle—presenting a complex set of waste management challenges.

The U.S. Air Force has established a goal of diverting 40 percent of the solid waste that it generates at Cheyenne Mountain through waste management and recycling programs. Tetra Tech is providing an economic analysis of Cheyenne Mountain’s waste management and recycling program, including evaluation of alternative operating scenarios to reduce operating costs by selling its recyclable commodities—such as scrap metal, high-grade paper, cardboard, and aluminum.

Many of our U.S. Air Force recycling and reuse programs pose unique challenges—ranging from on-site materials recovery at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; to recycling at remote locations such as the interior of Alaska and Thule Air Base, Greenland; to waste management within the confines of Cheyenne Mountain. Building on several years of experience working with Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Tetra Tech has evaluated recycling, composting, reuse, and disposal programs at 14 U.S. Air Force Space Command installations worldwide—helping them reduce costs and minimize their environmental footprints in their communities. Fortunately, for places like these, the mission of national defense can be compatible with environmental stewardship.