FCC hosts VHS tapes recycle drive Published June 18, 2010 By Senior Airman Leandra D. Hernandez 97 Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs June 18, 2010 -- ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla.--The Freedom Community Center is collecting Video Home System tapes during the month of June for recycling. After June 25, the tapes will be sent to the Digital Audio Disc Corporation in Terre Haute, Ind., a center specifically for all CD, DVD, date cartridges, digital audio, video tapes and floppy disks. "The recycling of VHS tapes came to Altus by way of the Live Green Air Force program for Community Centers," said Jill Wolfe, the point of contact for VHS tapes recycling. "These programs are to increase awareness of the community's actions on the environment and how communities can help. Anytime you recycle you are helping the environment. It takes a long time for plastic to break down in a dump site so the recycling centers can break it down and reuse it." According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of plastics generation in municipal solid waste (MSW) has increased from less than one percent in 1960 to 12 percent in 2008. Plastics, as well as tapes, are collected from the base recycling center or in this case, the FCC's drop-off site. The waste then goes to a material recovery facility where they are sorted from other recyclables. The resulting mixed plastics are sent to a reclaimer. At the reclaiming facility, the scrap plastic is passed across a shaker screen to remove trash and dirt, and then washed and ground into small flakes. Flakes are then dried, melted, filtered, and formed into pellets. The pellets are shipped to product manufacturing plants, where they are made into new plastic products. The recycling and reuse of plastics decreases the amount of plastics that end up in landfills. When people recycle, fewer natural resources are used to produce virgin plastic. For more information contact the FCC at 481-6600.