HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-08-14 Solid Waste Advisory Committee Minutes - RevisedSolid Waste Advisory Committee--Amended Minutes
14 August 1996
Berger Room, Reading Town Hall Annex
Members present: Bob Brown, Kay Clark, Jean Krogh, Anne Mark, Lynda Zarrow
Staff present: Ruth Clay, Ted McIntire
Guests present: Martha Moore, Rocco Nenarella (FinCom; until 8:35), Ron Wood (after
8:40)
Kay Clark called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
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Lynda Zarrow moved, and Jean Krogh seconded, that the minutes of the July meeting be
approved as amended.
Lynda summarized the Pay-As-You-Throw subcommittee meeting of July 29, 1996. The
subcommittee decided to ask to meet with the Board of Selectmen to clarify the Board's and
SWAC's intentions and wishes with respect to PAYT, and the committee discussed
Lynda's draft of a letter requesting such a meeting. Jean moved, and Lynda seconded, that
SWAC accept the letter as amended and mail it to the Board. The motion passed, 5-0-0.
Martha Moore asked what information FinCom would need about a PAYT proposal.
Rocco Nenarella replied that FinCom would want to know what impact the program would
have on community finances and suggested that SWAC present different financial scenarios
(most likely, least likely, in-between). Ted McIntire suggested FinCom would want to
know how the program would affect the expense side (would it reduce collection costs and
tipping fees? increase recycling fees?) and the income side (how much revenue would it
generate?). Ruth Clay suggested that knowing the Reading recycling rate would give
SWAC a better idea of how much impact PAYT would have on recycling. Information
gathered by block leaders during the last recycling participation survey still exists. Ruth
suggested that 100% of the town should be covered in any future participation survey.
Bob Brown mentioned that the Commonwealth will offer a video conference in the fall on
cost accounting for PAYT-type programs.
The committee discussed whether trying to recycle increasing numbers of materials is
optimal in terms of overall solid waste management--in general, the costs vs. the benefits of
recycling. The consensus was that cost of collection and marketability/actual recycling of
the materials need to be considered in deciding whether or not to add new materials to the
recycling program, rather than collecting recyclables simply for the sake of collecting them;
but that recycling is an important component of solid waste management. Members
mentioned that environmental and health costs of product disposal have to be factored in
along with economic costs; that reducing the total waste stream has environmental and
economic benefits; and that part of solid waste management is to encourage people and
institutions to "buy recycled."
Ted McIntire reported that the collection/disposal/recycling contract bids will be opened
September 18. Had the Town signed a 15-year contract for recycling/collection/disposal
with Waste Management, it would have received a $75,000 recycling credit; but this was
lost when the contracts were sent out to bid.
No button batteries were reported collected between the July and August, meetings. Bob
reported on, the August 1 household hazardous waste (HHW) meeting held in Danvers: Pat
Scanlon of -"eelabrator presented a nationwide program that will allow stores,
municipalities, and small-quantity generators to collect rechargeable Ni-Cad batteries and
send them to a recycling facility. Bob will pick up 2 collection buckets at the DEP office in
Woburn; he will speak to the Reading Police Department about putting one bucket at the
police station, and the other will probably be placed at the fall HHW collection in
Stoneham.
Bids for the collection/disposal/recycling contract will contain proposals for trash/recycling
education in the Reading grammar schools and funds for production and mailing of an
educational brochure. Lynda will call Newton to find out how they funded their
educational flyer.
Peter Hechenbleikner sent a memo and written materials to the Town department heads and
the School Department about the DEP "Buy Recycled" campaign.
Kay will look at the Town trash regulations with an eye toward resolving the ambiguity
about whether recycling is mandatory or nonmandatory in Reading.
Ruth noted that office paper recycling at the 11 Town sites (7 schools and 4 Town
buildings) is problematic. It will probably no longer be possible to have the paper picked
up for free; part of the problem is that the hauler has to make many stops,which can't be
consolidated. The paper can't be included in the curbside program because of volume.
Ted and Ruth are looking into alternatives.
Anne Mark passed out Carol Nelson's draft of a cover letter to Selectman Bruce
MacDonald about putting Reading trash/recycling information and precycling tips on the
Town home page. Members will call Carol with any suggestions.
Jean expressed SWAC's thanks to Ruth for her many years of work with the committee
and best wishes for her new job. The thanks and best wishes were heartfelt and
unanimous.
Lynda moved, and Jean seconded, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed (5-0-
0) and the meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Anne Mark