CAMP CASEY, South Korea — The military community here will be banned from dumping off-post household trash at the camp if Garrison Commander Lt. Col. Terry D. Hodges has his way.
Hodges said last week he would ask the judge advocate general whether he could impose a ban on dumping trash from off-post houses at Camp Casey.
Area I spokeswoman Margaret Banish-Donaldson said Tuesday the ban would not apply to other bases in Area I, which currently permit U.S. military, status of forces agreement personnel and South Korean soldiers assigned to U.S. Army units to dump household trash on post.
Hodges said he believed the practice might be “fraud, waste and abuse” because most SOFA personnel receive a living quarters allowance.
“There is no policy that says you cannot bring trash on. But once you receive LQA, which provides for your trash and your garbage, if you bring it on an official military installation, why are you receiving LQA?” he said. “Bringing your trash onto a military installation means the government is now paying to dispose of your trash. It is not right for you to do that.”
Soldiers whose non-command sponsored spouses live off post received an overseas housing allowance beginning Oct. 1 so they also should not be entitled to bring trash on-post, Hodges said.
The practice was brought to his attention one morning when he saw a civilian worker throwing garbage into a camp Dumpster, he said.
“I asked him what he was doing. He said he was taking trash from his house and putting it in the Dumpster. ‘I have been doing it for the last 10 years,’ he said. I told him he couldn’t put trash into the Dumpster. I do not want that happening,” Hodges said.
This month Army Community Services in Area I circulated an e-mail with advice on how properly to dispose of trash off-post.
The e-mail lists prices for trash bags — 2,000 won (about $2) for a large bag — and gives advice on recycling. It also warns of $1,000 fines for setting out trash outside the correct times, which are from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., except Saturdays.
If the ban on dumping off-post trash could not be imposed legally, Hodges said, he would consider providing a special Dumpster for off-post trash to be dumped on-post at Camp Casey.
Area I officials said they spent about $765,000 for trash removal at Camp Casey in fiscal 2005.
