A sometimes-overlooked group is among the busiest departments during closure activities at the Blue Grass plant.

“Closure may sound like slowing down, but we’re busier than we ever have been,” said Ashley King, waste manager, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, or BPBG. “We’re handling everything coming from the main plant and the scrap from both the Static Detonation Chambers. All the filters from the air treatment systems also are creating a lot of work.”

The Waste Management team is responsible for handling, tracking, storing and shipping every kind of waste from paper and old batteries to used personal protective equipment and liquid waste drained from storage tanks during closure of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.

In the first three months of 2025 alone, the team shipped more than 561,000 pounds of hazardous waste, 215,000 gallons of liquid waste and almost 48,000 pounds of non-hazardous waste to permitted waste disposal facilities.

While numbers measure their work, safety is their focus, whether emptying trash dumpsters or loading drums containing hazardous waste.

“My parents live near the plant. They are in their golden years so I want this done as safely as possible so they can live a long and happy life,” said Marcus Wehrly, waste supervisor, BPBG.

“Safety is our job, that’s what we do, that’s what every detail, even the smallest thing, is about,” said Amanda Fredericks, lead waste engineer, BPBG.

Team members acknowledge they aren’t as visible as workers who wear the Demilitarization Protective Ensemble suits or as recognizable as the Control Room operators who monitor every activity throughout the plant. But the mission is bigger than any one group, they say.

“It’s special being a part of something this big and historic, and knowing every person’s part was important,” King said.