Planet vs. plastics: DeCA supports the movement to help protect the environment

FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – This year’s Earth Day theme is “Planet vs. Plastics,” and the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) continues to implement initiatives in support of the environment, including removing single-use paper and plastic bags at certain locations.

“At DeCA, we take pride in helping to protect the environment,” said Steve Edlavitch, DeCA engineer. “Most recently, we discontinued single-use bags at some locations, which saves resources and reduces pollution.”

Commissaries on Guam were the first to remove single-use paper and plastic bags on March 15. In the next three months, patrons can expect the elimination of single-use bags in Hawaii on April 30 and California and Washington on June 30. DeCA intends to adapt its approach based on each location's needs and legislative environment until all stores in the agency have discontinued single-use bags.

With the initiative, DeCA will keep thousands of single-use bags, which take years to break down, out of landfills worldwide. Commissary customers are encouraged to bring reusable bags from home or purchase reusable or hot/cold bags from the selection available at each store. Commissaries will post signs to keep patrons informed.

DeCA is not only cutting its usage of single-use bags, it’s also undertaking several other long-term initiatives to help reduce emissions and lessen its environmental impact. Through its environmental program, the agency recycled over 99 million pounds of materials in 2023.

The agency recycled or diverted the following commodities in 2023:

• Equipment liquidation - 503,303 pounds

• Cardboard - 78,888,159 pounds

• Food donations - 5,311,960 pounds

• Plastic - 1,884,051 pounds

• Wood pallets - 6,469,705 pounds

• Compost – 1,591,158 pounds

• Fat and bones - 1,285,492 pounds

• Wood - 1,336,490 pounds

• Local farm – 520,200 pounds

• Consolidated recyclables – 524,291 pounds

• Metal - 442,854 pounds

• Other recyclables – 580,294 pounds

• Rotisserie chicken oil - 127,494 pounds

• Office paper - 242,179 pounds

• Fryer oil - 13,229 pounds

• Food recovery (organics) - 301,771 pounds

• Aluminum cans – 8,947 pounds

• Toner cartridges – 3,706 pounds.

“Supporting and protecting the communities around our commissary locations is a major concern for the agency,” Edlavitch said. “The agency takes its mission to be an aid to those communities seriously, whether it's ensuring that items that can be recycled don't end up in a landfill, or that food donations make it to a local food bank.”

In 2012, DeCA began donating edible but unsellable food to local food banks located around commissaries in the U.S. Over 41 million pounds of food have been diverted since the agency began the program. The food bank program helps move unsellable products out of commissaries without sending them to a landfill, while helping feed those struggling to put food on their table. In 2023, the agency donated 5.3 million pounds of edible but unsellable food from 179 commissaries.

Every year, the agency, its employees, and patrons participate in the federal government’s Feds Feed Families campaign and donate to stateside food banks and pantries. Of the 10 million pounds donated in 2023, the Department of Defense (DOD) contributed 5.9 million, or 59 percent, an increase of more than 26 percent from 2022. DeCA’s share of DOD’s 5.9 million was 4.1 million pounds, or 69 percent, an increase of more than 28 percent.

Commissaries also make it easy for patrons to live more sustainably by offering environmentally friendly products. For example, patrons can find organic produce, energy-saving compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs, high-efficiency laundry products, environmentally friendly cleaning products, and reduced packaging products like paper towels and bathroom tissue without the cardboard tubes for sale. Also available for purchase are reusable shopping bags to help reduce the number of paper and plastic bags sent to landfills.

Patrons can also find Full Circle Market, a Commissary Store Brand, on store shelves. Full Circle Market provides sustainable choices with all-natural ingredients while not costing a fortune or sacrificing taste. According to the brand's website, their "organic foods are farmed and produced without chemical treatments and processing. Full Circle Market organic foods have been produced using cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that support cycling on-farm resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity."

The agency is also reducing its footprint by:

• Renovating stores to minimize energy and water consumption

• Installing glass doors on refrigeration units to conserve energy

• Using natural light and energy-efficient LED lighting when possible

• Installing low- to no-maintenance flooring in some stores, reducing the chemicals and equipment needed to strip and polish floors

• Installing motion sensors to reduce lighting when there are no personnel working in a particular area

• Implementing computer-controlled HVAC systems with a modulated mechanical system to conserve energy

• Using variable frequency drive technology in refrigeration racks to reduce the energy consumption at the stores

• Replacing legacy refrigeration systems with systems that use natural refrigerants with low global warming potential

• Using heat reclaim technology to capture the energy generated by compressor racks and use it elsewhere in the store.

"Every day of the year, DeCA is working to shrink our footprint while we increase food donations and recycling; it's been ingrained in our everyday work lives,” Edlavitch said. "We hope our patrons will join us to help protect mother earth for many generations.”

-DeCA-

About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.