Committee for a Better Environment

Approved: 09/28/16 Pay as you Throw/SMART Committee Meeting July 20, 2016 Present: Councilmember Christine Nagle, Suchitra Balachandran, Gemma Evans, Janis Oppelt, Bob Stumpff Guests: Sheryl DeWalt, contract secretary The meeting started at 7:34pm. Councilmember Nagle conducted the meeting. She stated that she thought this committee could/should be a sub-committee of the Committee for Better Environment (CBE). She also stated that she prefers the acronym SMART (save money and reduce trash) rather than Pay as you Throw. The committee members present agreed with her suggestion of using SMART. Timeline for the committee: a. Schedule monthly meetings through February i. Next meeting is scheduled for August 24 at 7:30pm b. Beginning of January have all information compiled c. End of February, present information to City Council Committee “To Do” list, not in any specific order: 1. Contact other communities with a large university who have the SMART program. 2. Engage with consultants that have done the program with other communities. a. SAS Engineers – California office b. GBB c. Water experts in Pennsylvania – Ms. Evans will try and remember the name of the company d. Lisa Schullmats 3. How will it be rolled out to the general public? 4. Listen to comments, suggestions, and complaints from your neighbors and have responses ready. 5. What kind of advertising can be used? 6. Can the trash that is collected now be qualified and quantified? Can you show the difference when the students are in session and when the students move out? Mr. Stumpff has all of that information and can share with the committee. 7. What is the breakdown percentage of trash versus recycling? Mr. Stumpff has all of that information and can share with the committee. 8. Is there a waste audit performed for College Park? Can someone reach out to Stacy with Prince Georges County?  9. How will the financing work? 10. How much will the cost be for bags, carts or boxes, depending on which type of program will be recommended? 11. Decide which program to recommend. 12. Should the City be encouraged to separate out the cost of trash on a separate line item? 13. Information to be placed on the City website. 14. Do we have a baseline for costs on littering? 15. Incentive/contest to reduce trash costs? 16. What is the cost of running of MERF? 17. How often are trucks out to pick up trash and/or recycling? a. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – 2 trucks. Recycling is Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. b. Thursday, Friday – 1 truck, sometimes 2 trucks depending on bulk waste c. Saturday – 1-2 trucks, depending on time of year 18. Prince George’s County states that 65% of trash is recycling. Do we know exactly what composes the 65% into recycling? Is commercial waste counted? 19. It is stated that 50% of paper is not recycled and only 33% of plastic is getting recycled. Can we find out why and what is happening? 20. Recycling rebates to the City include scrap metal, electronics. 21. Need to find a way to compare “apples to apples.” 22. Discussed various recycling trash cans in the City. The committee likes the trash cans on Lackawanna. 23. RFI readers on carts and trucks – are they accurate? Will they work 100% of the time? 24. Average landfill rate is $59 per ton. All committee members can assist by signing up for various tasks. The meeting concluded at 9:00pm. Respectfully submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, contract secretary.