Eielson Air Force Base has unloaded 160 million pounds of recycled asphalt to several buyers in the Fairbanks area, marking the largest sale of scrap material in the history of the United States Department of Defense.
The 160 million pounds of asphalt equates to roughly 57,500 cubic yards, or, as the Department of Defense characterized it —186 Boeing 747 airplanes. For those not familiar with the mass of commercial aircraft, the sale can also be considered in terms of its comparison to famous ships — 160 million pounds is equal to 1.4 times the mass of the Titanic — or precious metal extraction — it is just less than half the mass of all gold ever mined, according to Wolfram Alpha.
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