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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-01-09 North Shore Regional Recycling Committee MinutesNORTH SHORE REGIONAL RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 9, 1992 Attendance: Rim Lord 'from Salem welcomed the attendees to this meeting. She presented a brief overview of,the process which has been ongoing and defined a materials recycling facility. She stated that the biggest problem ,facing municipalities regarding recycling is findin# markets for the materials. A materials recycling facility (M.R.F' ) will allow long term planning and stability for the recycling program. She noted that the~North Shore Recycling Committee is made up of communities totaling approximately 300,000 in population. Wayne Attridge, the Health Director from Marblehead, presented a brief history of the group.. He noted that the group started out very modestly with a small membership of approximately 10 and has since grown.to a membership of 21 communities. He stated that. in spite of the many successes of the municipal recycling programs, in some respects communities have put the cart before the horse in that we have a significant quantity of material being recycled and no place to direct it. At this time each representative of the various communities described briefly the status of their recycling program and the activities that they are involved in. Keynote speaker, Daniel Greenbaum, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection complemented the group for its initiative in moving forward on a regional basis. He expressed optimism that currently 300 communities out of the 351 communities in the state have recycling programs ongoing. In addition, of those, 55 communities have curbside programs. He further noted that 2/3rds of, the, towns have composting programs ongoing. Mr. Greenbaum expressed his pleasure in the progress of the Millis consortium in developing its regional recycling facility and complemented the North Shore group for its initiative in going down the roll of regional recycling. He stated that in spite of the limited technical and financial `resources, he was committed to ensuring that dollars and staff were focused on areas of the state where regional efforts were ongoing. In spite of the current difficulties with markets, he stated that the 'greatest challenge for each town is to look beyond the immediate problems and immediate budget constraints and to look to the long-term picture. Clearly a significant challenge will be to create strong markets. { however in order to do--_ this, it=- is, c~].ear that- municipalities must be able to assure a steady source of.materiahand a high quality of material. Developing a regional materials recycling facility clearly addresses those issues.- Currently recycling has been pursued largely because of its environmental benefits and only marginally because of the economics. In the future it will be critical for recycling to be'viewed both as an environmentally prudent and an economically sensible measure. Doug Priest, a Selectman froi Milks and a leader of the Millis consortium addressed the group. He explained that the consortium started about 4 years ago with 20 communities- joining. The intent was to establish a regional =nsortium so that the private sector could participate using their financial resources and e=artise. Each of the communities was looking at this as a long-term solution for their recycling issues. Doug Priest indicated that, clearly one of the major concerns of the private sector is a guaranteed volume of recycling material. This ensures that the private companies are able to establish contracts for delivery of the material to the processor or final user. The regional effort has benefits in terms of economies of-scab Finally, pursuing recycling on a regional basis increases_.the opportunity for state grants. Doug Priest described the formula for developing a successful materials recycling facility include the following characteristics: 1. There needs to exist a common interest. 2. There needs to be a "spark plug" or two to keep the process moving. 3. Committee members must go to the decision makers and explain the process. 4. It should be understood that everyone involved in the con`ort31xm. will not agree all the time. However compromises can be reached and the process wored through.. He noted that in the Millis example a separate subcommittee was established just to deal with the procurement process: 5. It- is critical that continuous, communication and education take place.; with the elected officials and appointed officials that make the decisions. In summary Mr. Priest indicated that the-contract has been awarded to New England Crane and currently each of the towns are reviewing the contract and deliberating on whether to sign onto the contract. -2- ~0 s (Lo ) John Merritt, DEP Regional Planner, presented an overview of the process that the North Shore Recycling Committee is involved in. He stated that one of the key elements of this process is to ensure that information is disbursed to all of the towns so that no one goes unadvised of the process. In a nutshell, the M.R.F. would allow numerous communities to take each of their individual piles of recyclables and combine them into one larger quantity to be separated, quality controlled and provided on a consistent basis to the end users. John 'Merritt stated. that . the meeting of October 10, 1991 was of particular significance for this Committee as it voted unanimously to circulate a set of bylaws around to .each of the member communities similar to those adopted by the Millis consortium. He stated that those communities who adopt the bylaws by June of 1953 will be in the consortium. Being an initial member of the consortium has numerous benefits. Based upon the Millis example the initial members will be able to participate in a 75$/25% sharing of revenue from sale of the recyclables. Also the Millis communities are guaranteed to receive a 20 year guarantee on the price of newspaper. After the June 1993 deadline communities may still join the consortium but will require a 2/3rds vote of the existing members. Mr. Merritt emphasized that by adopting the bylaws the towns will not be bound to accept the proposal at this time. Adopting the bylaws simply gives the community the opportunity to participate in the development of the request for proposal and contract. Only after the bid process has been completed a qualified bidder selected and a contract developed will communities be asked to decide whether to sign onto this concept as a member. At this time John opened the floor up to questions from the audience. 1. How do we avoid granting a monopoly to the private sector, i.e. RESCO? Controls can be established through creating an advisory committee. 2. Will the State be able to contribute money to this process? Response: The State may be able to contribute but first will look to see a level of commitment including financial commitment from the interested communities. I. What is the state doing to establish markets? Response: The State is pursuing a four-fold approach: (a) An executive order authorized by the Governor allows for the purchase of recyclable material. -3- (b) Economic development initiatives are being pursued between the State and various companies in an effort to bring them into the state to conduct business. (c) Legislation is being proposed and is currently being deliberated by the Governor and others which includes packaging and other issues. (d) Labelling to make the sorting process easier is being pursued. The meeting adjourned at 3:45 P.M. RECORDING,SECRETARY -4- Reading Recycles Plastics Maryellen represented the group and said a subcommittee is. exploring ways to reduce junk mail. She reported that the collection of plastics was good in November, and that the group is ahead $700 because of donations by participants. Bill Currier is still the vendor. Petra Conboy, a-RRP member, spoke to the committee about an article she has written on waste reduction. The committee was enthusiastic about the content and the need to once again publish such information in local papers. Ruth suggested that RRP act as a subcommittee of the Solid Waste Committee and submit articles to the committee for review. She also said it is probably a good idea to break the article down and mention only one or two points. Anne will work with Petra on doing this. Carol suggested that the articles also point out any money-saving benefits of waste reduction, because saving money is on many people's minds. Clean-Up Day Instead of SWAC heading up the clean-up, the Conservation Commission will identify sites, and interested groups will show up at the sites on the last Saturday of Earth Week. SWAC has been asked to help publicize the event and help coordinate the work on-site. Ruth announced that the National Recycling Congress will have a meeting at the Hynes Center Sept. 15-17. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.