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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-08-12 Solid Waste Advisory Committee MinutesReading Solid Waste Committee Meeting Minutes - August 12,1992 Conference Room, Reading Town Hall The meeting convened at 7:35 PM. Present were members Anne Mark, Carol Edwards, Linda King,Ted McIntire, Ruth Cogan, Sally Sabo, Bob Brown and Don Anglehart; and guests Susan Cohen and Trish Brigham. The minutes of the June and July monthly meetings were unanimously approved subject to miscellaneous corrections. ( See amended minutes) National Recycling Congress - Ruth handed out information/registration brochure for the event to be held in Boston in September. Recycler of the Month Award - No recipient for September. October awardees to be discussed at the next meeting. R.R. P. - Bob Brown reported that the group collected $250 in donations in July. The Reading Republican Committee will staff the September collection. At the September - collection, phone books will be accepted and the junk mail reduction campaign set up. Bob will be supervising the phone book collection and Linda, the junk mail effort. Flyers informing people of these two activities will be handed out at the August collection. Bob also stated that Waste Management, who is now picking up the plastics, accepts #1 and # 2 plastics only, anti-freeze containers, tubs, and motor oil containers. In response to Carol's question, Bob estimated that Waste Mgmt.'s charge for pick-up was $400. Therefore, the group hoped to schedule a pick-up only every third month. RRP is considering contracting with Sudbury Recycles Inc. to pick up plastics which Waste Mgmt. does not accept, ie #5. This company will be used on a test basis to assess their reliability. The next meeting of RRP is 9/10/92. A general meeting will also be held on 9/21/92 in the Library. New members will be encouraged to attend this meeting, MRF visit, Hudson, NH - Bob, Anne, Sally and Ruth toured this facility. Each of them related their impressions of the visit. Some of the key comments: *The facility didn't smell, nor was it offensive *The recyclables being sorted appeared to be dirtier than those collected in Reading *The process was people-intensive and basically a conveyor belt operation *Some of the recyclables are currently sold in the Far East *BFI finances the facility which is currently losing money, company expects to eventually turn a profit N. Shore MRF - Sally updated the Committee on the plans for this facility. The city of Lynn has offered to site the facility. June 1993 is the deadline for communities to adopt the bylaws of the consortium in order to become an initial member. There is considerable financial advantage to being an initial member. The towns which adopt the bylaws must pay 10 cents per capita for legal costs. S.W.A.C. is planning to draft an article to be presented to Town Meeting in the Fall which will request the funds required for participation in the MRF. Sally will determine the exact dollar amount needed ( based on a particular census). Ted will write the article and Sally will present it to Town Meeting with supporting commentary. Sally is meeting with Peter Hechenbleickner and will discuss the appropriate methodology for presentation to the Board of Selectman (the body which has authority to adopt the bylaws). It was suggested that John Merritt from DEP be available during one of the presentations to answer questions. Sally made a motions that the Solid Waste Committee support the concept of Reading joining the North Shore MRF consortium. Linda seconded the motion. The motion carried with 5 votes in favor and 1 opposed. Newspaper articles -Carol Edwards' article on paper recycling appeared in the Chronicle. Committee members commented that the article was excellent. Anne passed around a press release to appear in the Suburban News and the Chronicle, informing people of the availability of a Recycling Resource notebook in the Library. Members of the Solid Waste Committee were thanked for their efforts in updating the notebook. Linda King suggested that a topic for future articles should be reduction of waste. The Committee agreed that this was worthy of pursuit and a sub-committee comprised of Linda, Carol and Trish will work on it. Brush Disposal - Ted stated that applications for grants will be accepted by the state until September 15. It appears that the state will not begin assessing fines for violation of the waste bans until 1995. 1993 and 1994 are being viewed as phase-in periods. Junk mail reduction - Linda asked for volunteers to monitor the effectiveness of the campaign, ie after requesting ommission from mailing lists, do catalogs actually cease being mailed. Miscellaneous - Sally passed along the McNeil, Lehrer videotape on the "Economics of Recycling" Ruth reported that a video on composting will be run on cable in September. The white paper recycling program in Town Hall is up and running again with a new contractor. Ted and Ruth are submitting a grant application to MWRA for funding of a permanent waste oil collection. Ruth will contact Wakefield and Stoneham for inclusion in the grant since regional efforts are viewed more favorably. Ruth showed the Committee a copy of the "Green Pages", a recycling reference brochure produced by the city of Newton. She suggested that the Committee might consider putting together a similar brochure. Carol reported that, according to Jose at Hiltz/Waste Management, steel products such as band-aid containers are not acceptable as recyclables. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM.