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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-03-12 Solid Waste Advisory Committee MinutesReading Solid Waste Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting on March 12, 1991 Arnold Berger Room - Town Hall 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM by Anne Mark, Chairperson. Committee members in attendance were: Don Anglehart, Trish Brigham, Carol Edwards, Linda King, Sally Sabo and Steve Thomases. Also in attendance were Ted McIntire DPW Liason, Susan Cohen, Mike Shannon and Stanley Wirsig. 2. PRESENTATION OF MARCH RECYCLER OF THE MONTH Presentation of Award as Recycler of the Month for March, 1991 was made to Stanley Wirsig by Leslie McGonagle, President of Reading Chamber of Commerce, and Alan Letch, President of Passport Travel. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - FEBRUARY 13, 1991 Minutes of meeting of February 13, 1991 were accepted with the following corrections: Participation Survey would be conducted for three weeks over a four week period in April. The $50/month charge for plastic recycling by Bill Currier will be paid from the DPW budget for Rubbish Coll / Disposal 4. PLASTICS RECYCLING (Item'6 on the agenda taken out of sequence to allow Mike Shannon to complete his presentation early). March will be the last month in which Mike will play an active role in the plastics collection. Hiltz has received a permit to recycle plastics, but will await funding by Town Meeting before committing to any capital expenditures. It will therefore be about 3 - 4 months before Hiltz will be doing curbside pickup of plastics. SWAC will pick up the dropoff collection management in the interim period as follows: - April: Anne Mark. - May: Carol Edwards, if Trish Brigham cannot arrange schedule to allow her to take May. - June: Trish Brigham, unless she can arrange her schedule to allow her to take May, in which case Susan Cohen will take June. Mike will give updated set of instructions to Ted McIntire by Friday, March 15 for distribution to the committee. SWAC will attend a training session during the March 23 collection at 1:30 PM to observe (and participate as appropriate). Mike will attend the next SWAC meeting on April 9, 1991 to complete training of the committee. The Februry 28, 1991 Recycled Materials Pick-up Report by RSI was distributed. 5. NOMINATION OF APRIL RECYCLER OF THE MONTH Nominations for April Recycler of the Month were opened. Mike Shannon was nominated and elected. David Williams will be considered for May. Reading Rotary will be considered as a Recycler of the Month in the near future for their generosity in supporting many facets of the recycling effort. Linda King volunteered to organize the monthly award ceremony, including writing a press release and contacting presenters, recipient and Chronicle photographer Don Young. Linda will discuss with Ruth Cogan who has managed the process to date. Anne will check with Peter Heckenbleikner as to the procedure for appointing Associate Memberships to Susan Cohen, Stanley Wirsig and others who paraticipate actively in Committee work but who are not members. 6. UPDATE ON CURBSIDE RECYCLING Ted McIntire reported on collections as follows: - January: 630.35T to RESCO; 124.40T (16.5%) recycled - February: 529.10T to RESCO; 113.OOT (17.6%) recycled Average recycling for first five months of the program is 17.8%. The program is going well from DPW's perspective. There have been few calls (complaints and inquiries) which are an outcome of good educational and training programs both for town residents and Hiltz. 7. FY92 REFUSE BUDGET AND COST PROJECTIONS It is estimated by DPW that FY91 will have a total of 13,000T of trash and recyclables. Projections for FY92 are 9,000T of trash and 1,400T (13.5%) recyclables for a total of 10,400T. This is a conservative estimate of recyclables for budgetary purposes. The $10,000 overtime labor on Form B represents Forestry/Parks personnel Saturday time from April through November. Public Education, Form D, will be required even if there is no curbside recycling for issues such as source reduction, selective purchasing practices, etc. Professional Services, Form C, represent Reading's share of legal expenses for the ongoing suit against RESCO. The Committee felt that the supporting material for the budget, comparing curbside and dropoff recycling was incomplete and largely irrelevant to Reading. The absence of dropoff recycling costs; the assumption that dropoff will yield the same reduction of trash as does curbside; The very low labor estimate for managing dropoff; the absence of any startup costs for dropoff (Concord spent $200,000 in site preparation and startup costs for their dropoff program) all contribute to the Committee's sense of this material (which was more applicable when it was used in the FY91 budget discussions'at ~.'last year's Town Meeting) as being misleading.. It was voted to send a "Fact Sheet" and letter to the Board of Selectmen stating the Committee's support for continuation of curbside recycling. Anne Mark and Sally Sabo with support from Linda King will draft the Fact Sheet and letter to the Board covering the relevant budgetary issues (dropoff public education, etc.) and the Committee's recommendation on recycling for review by the members prior to delivery. 8. RECYCLING PARTICIPATION SURVEY Block leaders will be asked to count bins and houses on collection days for three weeks, starting as soon as instructions are received (It had been intended that there be a choice of three of the four weeks in April, but timing of Town Meeting does not permit the luxury of that choice). A portion of the town (±10%) is without block leaders. The three leaders in those neighborhoods will be asked to count the blocks without leaders. Susan Cohen has reported that if 60% of the town, including at least 10% of the areas without block leaders, is counted, the survey will be statistically sound. If there is a shortfall of "counters", Anne, Trish and Don volunteered to fill in as needed. The Committee will call all block leaders. Anne will divide list among members. Anne will write letter of instructions to leaders. Don will address, copy and stuff for mailing. Ted will help as needed. 9. TRASH FEE OPTIONS Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) list,' RESIDENTIAL TRASH FEES IN MASSACHUSETTS 1990 dated 11/90 was divided among Don Anglehart (Amherst, Brockton), Trish Brigham (East Brookfield, Hinsdale), Linda King (Medway, Sheffield), Sally Sabo (Holliston, Marshfield), Anne Mark (Webster, North Reading), and Steve Thomases (Ashburnham, Chelmsford, Gloucester) for direct contact with towns which have instituted various methods of fee collection. MMA's Patrick Marquis can be contacted at 426-7272 for the names of contact persons in each town. Information should include town statistics, date of start of fees, how fees work and are collected, stickers sold, etc., results, advantages, problems experienced to date, changes in disposal patterns and/or amounts. 10. OLD BUSINESS Rotary will fund junk mail project. Linda King is trying to find a scout willing to take project on, as Mike Shannon took on plastic recycling for Eagle Scout qualifications. Sally Sabo reported that school paper recycling is being implemented both in classrooms and administrative offices, per Superintendent Bob Munneley's information. 11. NEW BUSINESS Postponed until next meeting.