Department of Defense

Military bases routinely receive millions of dollars annually from the sale of aircraft, vehicles, and other materials that are specifically excluded from a scrap recycling program and spend the money on recreation activities instead of using it to offset the need for appropriated funds or returning it to the U.S. Treasury. In addition, some installations are holding their own sales rather than selling materials through disposal offices. As a result, the total amount that installations are receiving from the recycling programs and spending on everything from golf courses to boating and ski equipment is unknown. In addition, Defense Department (DOD) regulations have not been revised to reflect the latest legislative changes, and internal controls for the recycling program are not being adequately followed. In some cases, program proceeds are not being properly handled. Several Inspector General and military service reviews of the recycling program over the past few years failed to report the abuses GAO found. DOD recently revised its recycling program guidance to include ferrous and nonferrous scrap and some firing range brass, a move that appears to conflict with the purpose of the recycling program since these materials are not part of the waste stream.

GAO found that: (1) widespread abuses exist in the recycling program; (2) millions of dollars are being used for morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) activities that should be returned to the U.S. Treasury or DOD fund accounts; (3) some installations are holding unauthorized sales rather than selling materials through disposal offices; (4) about 90 percent of the recycling program's proceeds represent sales of excluded items and items that would not normally go into the waste stream; (5) the total amount that DOD installations are receiving from the recycling program and spending on MWR activities is unknown; (6) few of the proceeds from the recycling program are spent on pollution abatement and safety and environmental projects; (7) DOD has revised its recycling program guidance to include ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal, which conflicts with the purpose of the recycling program, since these materials are not usually part of the waste stream; and (8) DOD installations are not complying with the program's internal controls and DOD Inspector General and military service reviews have not reported any deficiencies in the recycling program's internal controls.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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