Scrap Tire Cleanup At Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Completed

Naval Station (NAVSTA) Guantanamo Bay, in coordination with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast, has completed a tire reclamation project at an installation disposal site that included legacy scrap tires and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe sections.

In late 2025, NAVFAC Southeast’s Environmental Division awarded a $3.6 million scrap tire management contract to CEG-Montrose 8A JV, LLC, who partnered with on-island subcontractor RQ Construction LLC, of Carlsbad, California.

“This project was designed to increase environmental stewardship and regain real estate while reducing fire hazards,” Troy Stewart, project manager in NAVFAC Southeast Hazardous Waste Division, said.
” We were also able to design a covered monofill for the scrap tire shreds that can be easily accessed for future civil engineering applications at the operating landfill and elsewhere.”

Two specialized heavy-duty industrial shredders, and a shear for removing tires from rims, were shipped and mobilized onsite.

Contract crews sorted, staged and fed more than 58,000 legacy tires, along with approximately 1,200 pieces of HDPE pipe into the grinders.

Crews processed all-terrain, passenger, forklift, and large heavy-equipment tires. A specialized tire shear was used to cut multi-ply, heavy-duty equipment tires into smaller pieces before feeding them into the main shredders.

For the HDPE pipe sections, a Navy industrial shredder was used to handle the size, shape and hard plastic composition.

Half of the shredded tire product was hauled to the base’s municipal solid waste landfill for use as daily cover, and the other half was staged in a scrap tire monofill for future use.

“We didn’t just clean up a hazard; we repurposed the material to directly benefit the installation, setting a high standard for environmental innovation.” NAVFAC Southeast Environmental Director Mary Oxendine, said.

© Scrap Tire News, August 2026