Solid Waste Advisory Commission

Athens-Clarke County Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting of the Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday, August 15, 2018 Location of Meeting: Solid Waste Administrative Office 725 Hancock Industrial Way Athens, GA 30605 Present at Meeting: Commissioner Jared Bailey, Michael Brugger, Jere Bowden, Larry Dendy, Jared Harper, Christy Tweedy, Abigail West, Eric Crislie, Abbie Dillion, Suki Janssen, and Susan Lyon (minutes). I. Welcome Commissioner Jared Bailey called the meeting to order at 5:37 pm. Introductions. II. Public Comments Larry asked if a plastic bag ban would be reconsidered. Jared B: There are new in-coming Commissioners who are for a plastic bag ban and it may be revisited; however, it is not on a current agenda. Mayor Nancy Denson does not support a plastic bag ban. She believes that it is bad for business and is a burden on the lower class. Suki: Commissioner Bailey tried long ago to ban plastic bags; but did not have enough support from other Commissioners. Tiffany, a past ACC Recycling Intern, founded UGA Bag the Bag. ACC SW staff will be ready to revisit the subject if approached by a Commissioner. Jared Harper asked for clarification on one of the slides in the Litter PP presentation. It was presented that uncovered loads count for 20% or more of the litter on the roads. How is it determined? Suki stated that the number was provided by Keep America Beautiful, who has conducted numerous studies. It is a national statistic and not specific to Athens. The State is looking to do another waste characterization study and a litter characterization study in the near future and we will have State data again. Top five items found as litter on the side of the road: cigarettes, plastic bags, fast food containers, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles according to KAB. Suki distributed the updated litter laws pamphlet. Christy T. asked about the enforcement of illegal trash dumping and would like to know more. Suki stated that Solid Waste does not enforce laws and ordinances. Code Enforcement is responsible for investigating illegal dumping and they can write citations, warnings and pursue a case in court. The Police Dept. is very short staffed and litter enforcement is not a priority for them at this time. ACC has a new attorney on staff who is very eager to prosecute litter cases in Municipal Court. The back of the pamphlet lists telephone numbers to use for reporting litter and illegal dumping, including the litter hotline. III. Approval of Minutes: May 16, 2018 Larry moved to approve as presented. Jared Bailey second the motion; passed unanimously. IV. Division Reports (ATTACHMENT I & II) Keep Athens Clarke County Beautiful: Suki reviewed information from the last three months as presented in Attachment I. Recovered Materials Processing Facility/CHaRM, Recycling (page 2) additional information: -The MRF Facilities Supervisor position has been vacated and Republic is recruiting to fill the position. -Bathroom and other renovations are planned in the next couple of months. The facility will be 25 years old in 2020. -SW staff is taking a proposal to the M&C next month requesting to move the Recycling facility to the landfill. The proposal asks to build a new facility which is twice as large as the current facility and would have a covered area for materials. Now the materials are held outside in the weather, which can diminish the value or if it is too wet, material must be composted or thrown into the landfill. A new MRF would cost between seven and nine (7-9) million dollars and would be provided by the next SPLOST, if accepted by the M&C and the SPLOST Citizen Committee. -It is a very difficult time for recycling in our country. In the last two (2) days, China has put a tariff of 25% on recycled material. ACC does not ship to China; however, the West coast did and is now flooding the US markets with their material. Currently vendors have too much supply for the demand. Collections: (Attachment I) additional information: -Korey Jones is the new Collections Administrator. -Collections is short staffed currently. Nationwide, there is a CDL shortage for over-the-road haulers and they are recruiting CDL drivers and offering higher wages. -Collections staff have been trying different ways to service downtown for the Clayton Street project. Staff will be recommending to M&C the use of Eco-Stations with dumpsters and hope to run the pilot program in October to demonstrate that the proposed changes will work for the area. -The Clayton Street Renovation Project presents the opportunity to replace the 103 trash and 56 recycling ped-cans. The project will only fund ped-cans for Clayton Street, so SW staff is working to find money to purchase cans for the remaining areas in downtown to provide consistency. There are four (4) options of bins that would work downtown and are seeking input from citizens. (Foam boards with pictures of the four bin options presented to committee members at this time.) All bins will have an art component. The Cultural Affairs committee has been asked to help with the art component. The bins must be water-proof and must be front pull-out for our staff to empty them easily. Landfill: Suki reviewed information from the last three months in the Attachment I. Compost (new report): Suki reviewed information from the last three months in Attachment I. -Columns 2 and 6 (Organics) pertains to Let Us Compost only. -Bio-solids is what comes from Public Utilities and we no longer landfill biosolids. We only compost and the rest is handled by Public Utilities.  -During the first week of October, we will be hosting a consultant, Peter Moon, to work with our staff on our aerated static piles and he will present a day-long workshop for others in the state. We will be converting to all aerated static piles and will be able to bring in more tonnage. Per our current permit, we can bring in 500 tons of food scraps annually. Aerated static piles allow us to get usable compost in one (1) month and most importantly, cuts down on odors. There is a place on our website where one can report odor issues at the landfill. -Two new brochures (Landfill and Compost) for distribution. PDFs are online. Reusable metal straws were also given to attendees. V. Other Business Landfill Construction bid has been awarded to Cooper, Barnett, & Page. There will be cameras installed to take video footage of construction to show everyone how a landfill is built. Vulture Festival in October. A new initiative with Corrections to hire a Corrections Officer I to work at the landfill with a crew of inmates. Position was submitted to HR this morning. The new position is responsible for creating a swap shop on-site at the landfill with materials diverted from the landfill. It replaces the KACCB Trash 2 Treasure fundraiser, which stopped a couple of years ago. Mattress Recycling will start in Sept. We are partnering with Atlanta Furniture Bank. Shred Event (last one) is scheduled on Sept. 22nd at the GA Square Mall. After that date, material for shredding will be accepted at the CHaRM when they are open. Customers can place documents for shredding into locked containers (our staff will not have keys) and Lindsay will pick up and shred the material. Our staff will not touch the documents, as it would be a liability for us. It will be publicized in the water bill and flyers handed out to visitors at the event on the 22nd. Next meeting will be November 14, 2018. With no other business to discuss, Jared Harper made a motion to adjourn; Larry seconded it; passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 6:41 pm. Respectfully submitted by Susan Lyon Amended 08.15.19 per committee Approved by SWCAC 08.15.18