Solid Waste Advisory Commission

Athens-Clarke County Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting of the Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday, February 16, 2022 Present at Meeting: Commissioner Patrick Davenport, Jere Bowden, Jared Harper, Michael Brugger, Abigail West, Jenn Dunlop, Suki Janssen, Joe Dunlop, Mason Towe, and Susan Lyon (minutes). I. Welcome and Introductions Commissioner Davenport called meeting to order. II. Approval of Minutes: November 17, 2021 Michael Brugger’s name to be added to list of attendees. Jared made a motion to approve minutes as presented; seconded by Jere, approved unanimously. I1I. Public Comments Jere asked that the signage at the landfill be reviewed for clarity, as it can be confusing for visitors. Abigail passed around flyers for the upcoming Repair Cafe. Sustainability Roundtable at Community tomorrow morning. III. Division Reports (ATTACHMENT I) – Printed reports given to members in attendance for review. Susan to email reports from UGA. KACCB has borrowed the orange, flashing road signs to promote no littering on roads. KACCB staff are working with property owners to install cameras on their property to monitor heavy littering on Pittard Road and Smokey Road. Equipment is being repaired at the RMPF and is slowing down processing due to neglect of prior operators to perform routine maintenance. Since August, eighteen (18) tons of recyclables that had been sitting in weather and on the ground were authorized to go to the landfill. The material had already started to degrade. CHaRM is receiving 2,700-2,800 customers a month. Also of note is the fact that the list of accepted material at CHaRM has continued to grow. No material has been removed from the accepted list since the CHaRM opened in 2015. Two (2) new initiatives are included in the Solid Waste FY23 budget submission:  A fulltime position has been requested to add to CHaRM staffing. This position to will assist Chris as backup with increasing customer and tonnage numbers.  A part-time position for KACCB to review camera footage and report illegal activity to the Police or Code Enforcement and write incidents reports. Patrick asked for information about cameras for front-end loaders be sent to him to possibly add to the budget.  Solid Waste will lose 10-12 roll-offs when the GA Square Mall site is redeveloped. Staff looking at contingency plans for another site in the area, possibly at The Church of Athens site (old Wal-Mart site) or the Cleveland Road Fire Station. The current mall drop-off site is the only site that is not on ACC property. The Mechanic position in the Collections division has been reclassified and applications are being accepted currently. Staff proposed an increase to Collections rates to cover services. Rates have not increased since 2011. Landfill tonnage has increased by ten percent (10%). The increase, plus ongoing compactor issues, has the possibility of Cells 1A and 1B filling faster than the estimated six-year life expectancy. Currently. we are half-way through the six years. Mayor and Commission approved $900,000 for a new compactor and it has been ordered. No delivery date. Staff have proposed a tip fee increase from $43.00 to $45.00 per ton at the landfill, with an increase to $20.00 for the minimum. ACC landfill has the lowest minimum in the region causing other counties to try and dump with us, which can be difficult for staff to monitor. Per agreement, the ACC Landfill is to be used for Clarke and Oglethorpe waste only. Staff also asking for the elimination of the individual bag fee of $1.50. If not approved, another plan would be to match Oconee County disposal rate of $3.00 per bag with a six (6) bag minimum. Compost Now out of Atlanta is bringing all of their material to our compost operation. Part of the budget process last year was expanding the Waste Minimization Fee to include institutional customers, i.e. UGA. Implementing the fee was delayed due to COVID. UGA Brief UGA hired ACC to collect compost from four the (4) primary dining commons. In November 2021, the UGA Sanitation Shop was restructured within the Facilities Management Division and rebranded as Waste Reduction Services, which is now within the Office of Sustainability. A Waste Reduction Coordinator was hired and she will be responsible for education and communication to internal and external customers. A new Sustainability Program Manager started in January with the primary role of data management, reporting, and systems analytics and monitoring a new concept of Campus as a Living Lab, which uses a university campus as a showcase of best practices. UGA purchased a new Isuzu mini-packer to streamline collection. UGA Office of Sustainability awarded two (2) grants this semester. The recipient “Close the Loop” focuses on reducing clothing waste with sewing repair workshops. The other recipient, “Full Circle” focuses on minimization and diversion of waste in UGA Research labs. On Saturday, February 5th, Mason took a student team to the Billie Eilish concert at the State Farm Arena and they volunteered to help the arena reach 92% waste diversion at the event. UGA is working on developing the Zero Waste Master Plan. V. Old Business Susan will send out a new doodle poll to schedule future Adopt-A-Highway clean-ups. Black Lives Matter Resolution – Suki, Assistant ACC Manager Josh Edwards, Patrick, and Mike Wharton from the ACC Office of Sustainability met regarding Dunlop Road. Mike has drafted a report on Dunlop and Pittard roads and they are working on an RFP for a health study by a third  party at the landfill. The consultant will review all data from the landfill since the 1970’s to ensure that best practices are in place to protect the residents on Dunlop Road. By-Laws – Susan to send by-laws examples to the sub-committee by the end of the week. Sub- committee will begin work on writing a draft. Plastic Bags resolution – ACC would be the first area in GA not on the coast to address this issue. Attorney’s Office stated that we do not have enough data to support a resolution if challenged in court. Philadelphia, PA used the data from how plastic bags caused wear and tear on the RMPF and the amount of money those repairs cost per year ($300,000). Joe is working with RDS to obtain data to combine with DebrisTracker data. The goal is to have a draft to the Mayor by May which will include a timeline. Michael Brugger suggests a social media campaign using #plasticbagpollution. Styrofoam containers should be addressed separately. NEGA Solid Waste Regional Plan was approved by the ACC Mayor & Commission. The document will be emailed when posted online. • New Business Patrick requested more recycling centers around town with one in the S. Milledge Ave. area. Joe suggested businesses be offered incentives to house a drop-off site, i.e. Stormwater Utility fee adjustment. Jere made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Abigail seconded; passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 6:49 pm. Respectfully submitted by Susan Lyon:05.11.22