Studies define solid waste stream at base camps.

Base camp planning typically does not include a strategy for long-term management of nonhazardous solid waste, because this issue has low priority compared to other operational concerns. However, for camps that endure and evolve toward semipermanent status, solid waste quickly becomes a very large problem. Ideally, longer-term plans would put equipment and services in place when needed to handle the waste produced.

Solid Waste Studies

Before planners can identify ways to manage solid waste at base camps, they need to know the types and amounts of waste to be expected. Two studies completed by the United States Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) characterize, for the first time, the makeup of solid waste generated at military base camps. The findings are published in two ERDC technical reports and summarized in a public works technical bulletin (PWTB) issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. (1)

ERDC's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) conducted the studies at two base camps in the Balkans. The sites included Camp A, which in 2003 had recently …