Warren Depot's Excess Cardboard Recycled to California FORT BELVOIR, Va., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Approximately 40,000 pounds of excess cardboard from the Warren Depot, Warren, Ohio, has a new home in California with the help of three Defense Logistics Agency organizations. The depot is one of 45 Defense National Stockpile Center facilities. Jack Pittano, depot manager, decided that the cardboard, formerly stocked and used for packing certain commodities for shipment, could now be recycled because it was no longer required. His decision to offer the material through the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office, Columbus, Ohio, resulted in significant savings for a law enforcement agency. Additional savings were realized by leaving the property in place so that it could be shipped directly to its new owner, rather than transferring it to Columbus first. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department acquired the cardboard with approval of DLA's Law Enforcement Support Office. The sheriff's department, with the assistance of inmates, is using the cardboard to create silhouette targets for weapons training. According to Pittano, a sheriff's department representative advised that the department is seeing significant cost avoidance because the targets were formerly bought from commercial sources. The icing on the cake is that the cardboard is recycled again, after weapons training activity by more than 9,000 police officers has taken its toll. DNSC was created after World War II with the mission of acquiring and storing strategic and critical materials for national defense purposes. The stockpile ensured less dependence on foreign supply sources in the event of a national emergency. The stockpiled materials include industry grade materials, many of which are required to make steel. Most of DNSC's materials have now been declared excess and are being sold. At Warren, that excess material includes such commodities as cobalt, lead, tungsten and zinc. DNSC currently has 50 commodities on hand, valued at $1.7 billion on the current market. The DRMO facilities are field activities of the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, which disposes of excess property received from the military services such as the cardboard turned in by Pittano. The inventory changes daily and includes thousands of items: from air conditioners to vehicles, clothing to computers, and much more. Property is first offered for reutilization within the Department of Defense, transfer to other federal agencies or donation to state and local governments and other qualified organizations. Reutilization means big savings. In fiscal 2002, $1.2 billion worth of property was reutilized. Every dollar of property reutilized is a tax dollar saved. The LESO provides excess DOD equipment to federal and state law enforcement agencies. More than 17,000 law enforcement agencies are able to receive property through LESO, increasing the quality and quantity of equipment law enforcement personnel have to carry out their duties. DNSC, DRMS and LESO are all part of the Defense Logistics Agency, which provides supply support, and technical and logistics services to the U.S. military services and several federal civilian agencies. Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., the agency is the one source for nearly every consumable item, whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations. All these agencies can be accessed through DLA's Web site at http://www.dla.army.mil/. DATASOURCE: Defense Logistics Agency CONTACT: Marcia Klein of Defense Logistics Agency, +1-703-767-5064, or Web site: http://www.dla.mil/

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