Committee for a Better Environment

Approved: 10/28/19 Committee for a Better Environment Davis Hall, College Park July 29, 2019 7:00 PM Members Present Absent Suchitra Balachandran X Alexa Bely (7:10pm) X Pablo deOliveria (7:15pm) X Matt Dernoga X Oscar Gregory X Alan Hew X Todd Larsen X Andrea McNamara X Cameron Thurston X Daniel Walfield X Caroline Wick X Also Present: Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works; Scott Somers, City Manager; Janis Oppelt, resident and former CBE chair; Janet McCaslin, City Liaison; Mary King, resident; Laurie Lemieux, Proteus Bikes; Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by Todd Larsen, Chair. 1. The agenda was reviewed. Ms. Wick motioned. Ms. McNamara seconded. Motion carries 7-0-0. 2. The June 24 2019 minutes were reviewed. Ms. McNamara motioned. Ms. Wick seconded. Motion carries 7-0-0. 3. City activities: • The new fiscal year has begun with a budget of $8600. • Food waste program has netted 3.6 tons since April 1. Five hundred fourteen pounds were collected this week. The largest weight collection was 760 pounds over the week of July 4. There is over 140 buckets in use. • Ms. McCaslin is working on the updates to the Sustainable Maryland report which has an extended deadline of July 2, 2019. She will share a copy at the July 22 meeting. 4. Laurie Lemieux from Proteus Bikes received a Green Award. All Green Awards winners will be announced in the City newsletter. It is time to start thinking about Green Award winners for this upcoming fiscal year. 5. Bulk Trash Discussion. Mr. Somers and Mr. Marsili presented a memo to CBE regarding recommendations to the City Council. There are five primary problem areas: a. increasing costs of disposal; b. inefficiencies; c. fairness and equity; d. environmental concerns; and e. worker safety. It is understood that CBE is very concerned about the environmental issues surrounding bulk trash. The historical timeline of CBE’s subcommittee on Pay As You Throw was reviewed. Mayor and Council reviewed the bulk trash study and recommendations of SCS Engineers at the January 8, 2019 Worksession and February 26, 2019 Council meeting. After these sessions, Mr. Somers and Mr. Marsili attended a previous CBE meeting and a meeting with Prince George’s County Property Owners Association. Each meeting offered feedback on bulk trash and some comments highlighted were: • Eliminate construction materials for pick up • Encourage charitable pickups for usable items • Charge for electronics pick up • How are items counted? • Four free pickups per year Mr. Marsili expressed that public works employees safety is a concern with bulk items. Several employees have been hurt trying to pick up items which are not properly wrapped or tied together. Safety of the employees needs to be paramount. Several people mentioned that contractor dumping is unacceptable. Public works is not a house clearing service. There needs to be some kind of control mechanism in place for bulk trash pickup. A couple CBE members mentioned that the object is to ensure there are less amounts of items going to the landfill. It was also mentioned that bulk trash is 15% of all waste. There seems to be quite a bit of pushback from residents because they either do not need or use bulk waste pickups meaning that there are residents who have never abused the special trash program and if they have an emergency, like a flood, or they are going to move, they would be responsible to pay for their large collections. Bulk trash will undermine SMART/PAYT. There was a discussion on each service mentioned in the July 29 memo presented by Mr. Somers and Mr. Marsili: ➢ Special/Bulk Refuse Collection – CBE supported 12 item limit annually up to 3 free collection per calendar year (instead of the 20 item limit proposed) ➢ Electronics with CRT and appliances containing Freon - $25 per item as long as it covers costs ➢ Electronics without CRT and appliances without Freon - $20 per item over limit ➢ Soft and Woody year waste – free except for oversized materials requiring a crane. Crane charge at $100 per pick up. ➢ Construction debris – put on permit that construction debris must be disposed by contractors or homeowners. ➢ Mattresses need to be wrapped in plastic or placed in plastic mattress bag - $20 per item over limit  ➢ Oversized materials requiring a crane - $100 per hour for pick up ➢ Additional recycling cart – no fee ➢ Tires - $4 per tire CBE will not support an additional refuse cart. There was discussion from several CBE members about neighbors possibly dumping bulk trash items in other yards if they have used up their allotment of pickups. Ms. Bely motioned to recommend 12 items per household with 3 bulk trash pickups per calendar year. Mr. Dernoga seconded. Motion carries 7-0-2. 6. CBE Annual report was reviewed and will be sent to Mayor and Council. 7. At the September meeting, the Downtown Farmer’s Market will be discussed. 8. The next meeting is scheduled for September 23, 2019 at 7:00 pm in Davis Hall. Mr. Larsen made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Bely seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm. Respectfully submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, contract secretary.