Solid Waste Advisory Commission

Athens-Clarke County Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting of the Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday, November 14, 2018 Location of Meeting: Solid Waste Administrative Office 725 Hancock Industrial Way Athens, GA 30605 Present at Meeting: Commissioner Jared Bailey, Commissioner Sharyn Dickerson, Larry Dendy, Abbie Dillon, Abigail West, Michael Brugger, Jestin Johnson, Mason Towe, Suki Janssen, and Susan Lyon (minutes). I. Welcome Commissioner Jared Bailey called the meeting to order at 5:34 pm. Introductions. II. Public Comments Commissioner Bailey and Larry: We have an amazing, award winning Solid Waste Department. Michael: Thank you to our two Commissioners for their service. III. Approval of Minutes: August 19, 2018 Sharyn asked to amend a sentence in the third paragraph under Agenda item II. Public Comments: “Suki stated that Solid Waste does not enforcement laws and ordinances” to read as follows: “Suki stated that Solid Waste does not enforce laws and ordinances.” Sharyn moved to approve with amendment; Larry seconded the motion; passed unanimously. IV. Division Reports (ATTACHMENT I & II) Happy America Recycles Week Mason- activities this week to celebrate: Tuesday – open house tours in morning, recycling coordinators meeting/luncheon, Boy Scout Troop after hours Wednesday – Denise, Commercial Recycling Specialist, did a presentation at Dondero’s to educate staff about recycling and it was opened to the public Thursday: Sustainability Roundtable meeting at Maepole Restaurant, Binny the Mascot will visit Winterville Elementary, more open house tours at 3 pm Friday: School group tours of MRF and landfill Saturday: Fix-It clinic Scrap Tire Amnesty all week Keep Athens Clarke County Beautiful: Suki reviewed information from the last three months as presented in Attachment I. Additional information: KACCB staff nominated Cecile Riker for the Public Works Employee of the Year. Cecile is the ACC Storm Water Coordinator and former KACCB Intern. She was chosen as the winner and will receive the award during a ceremony in December. Keep GA Beautiful is celebrating its 40th anniversary during the state conference in Dec. Interviews were conducted today for the new position of Litter Abatement Specialist. The person will be responsible for managing the litter abatement steering committee, PR and education. A day of service is scheduled for this Friday (Nov. 16th) to plant daffodils on Old Hull Rd ramp. Daffodils will be planted along Lexington Rd at the end of the airport runaway. Recovered Materials Processing Facility/CHaRM, Recycling (ATTACHMENT II): Recycling in-markets are still low due to China material flow. Revenue is still low. China is opening a plant in Montezuma, GA for mixed plastics (#3-#7), auto and agriculture plastics. They will clean it, pelletize it, and send it to China. This plant is in response to tariffs. New MRF plant manager - Jimmy Huff. ACC will negotiate a new contract for MRF operations in 2019. Suki submitted two SPLOST 2020 proposals: 1. New recycling facility to be located at the landfill in the amount of $16 million (without partnership or grant funding). Our current MRF is small and is now at capacity processing 120 tons per day. Proposal includes: -a covered tipping floor to keep materials dry and more holding space for bales waiting for shipment; -double the size of the facility; -a tour area located off the floor for safety reasons; -extra bunkers for separating plastics; optical sorting for plastics for cleaner streams; -add cartons with a partnership with the Carton Council; -an opportunity to be innovative with glass recycling in partnership with the glass industry; -the facility could be built for about half the price if we partnered with industry reps for equipment. 2. Move the CHaRM, Tool Shed, Teacher Reuse Store to the current MRF facility and vacate the property at 1005 College Ave. The cost of selling the College Ave property was not included in the proposal. The Office of Sustainability may have submitted a SPLOST proposal for funds to clean up sites, including the College Ave. property. Collections (Attachment I): Additional information: -The department is still short on drivers. Suki stated that we have a fanominal collections staff and she would like to applaud their efforts to cover the shortage of labor. -Korey Jones, Collection Administrator, presented to the GA City-County Managers Conference and at SWANA. He is also a lead on implementing City Works software, along with Veronica Hatfield, within our department.  Landfill (Attachment I): Suki reviewed information from the last three months in Attachment I. Cooper, Barnette, & Page received the construction contract for Phase V and work started in October. There are two cameras filming the construction so there will be time lapsed videos at the end of the project on how to build a new landfill. The Solid Waste Dept. hosted an aerated static composting workshop featuring Peter Moon, from O2Composting, in Athens. The workshop welcomed over 50 attendees from around the state in October. He worked with our staff at the landfill and we will convert our pad to all a.s.p. within the next month. This will allow us to produce more compost. Staff will complete the interview process next week for a Correctional Officer I position in partnership with the Corrections Department. Suki has been part of the Solid Waste Trust Fund Task Force. The fund is scheduled to sunset next year and the task force is working to keep it going. Annually it raises approximately $7 million from the tire fee that is charged whenever new tires are purchased in the state. EPD has been receiving $2 million from the fund annually, with the rest going into the general fund. The task force is asking for half of the money raised annually in upcoming years to fund clean-up of dump sites, tire amnesty. The task force is also asking for a waste characterization study focusing on organics and composting, and a state-level position for technical support housed in EPD. V. Other Business Recognition of Commissioner Bailey and Commissioner Dickerson for their service to the community and the committee. Larry seconded the appreciation. Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 20, 2019. The future Mayor does not have the intention of dissolving the committee and will appoint new commission representatives. Larry suggested the addition of UGA to the agenda. National SWANApooloza will be hosted by GA SWANA in Atlanta in March, 2020. With no other business to discuss, Sharyn Dickerson made a motion to adjourn; Larry seconded it; passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 6:23 pm. Respectfully submitted by Susan Lyon Amended and Approved Unanimously 02.20.19