Recycling Ad Hoc Committee

RECYCLING AD HOC COMMITTEE MINUTES - DECEMBER 8, 2020 12/ 8/ 2020 - Minutes 1. Declaration Of A Quorum And Call Meeting To Order Chair Joanie Steinhaus declared a quorum and called the meeting to order at 1: 02 p. m. 2. Roll Call Present ( via videoconference): Board Members Joanie Steinhaus, Cody Wright, Matt Havard, Stephanie Vasut, Susan Syler, Dorothy Trevino, and Paul Sivon; Cindy DeWitt, Director of Administration and Sanitation; Scott Van Slyke, Recycling Department; Dan Buckley, Deputy City Manager; and Janelle Williams, City Secretary. 3. Consider For Approval Minutes Of The November 10, 2020 And November 24, 2020 Meetings Stephanie Vasut made a motion to approve Minutes of the November 10, 2020 meeting, seconded by Dorothy Trevino. Unanimously approved. Matt Havard made a motion to approve Minutes of the November 24, 2020 meeting, seconded by Paul Sivon. Unanimously approved. 4. Public Comments ( Limited To Three Minutes Each) None. 5. Presentation Of The Park Board Recycling Program g, Goals And Expectations From Citizens Of Galveston ( From 3- 4 Years Ago). Document Updates From Cindy. Cindy DeWitt provided the following information: As presented in the last meeting, the Recycling Fee was separated from the Utility Drainage Fund. This allowed for more funding for drainage projects and the center to operate under its own budget. The Recycle Center is a self- service drop off location. 7. Opportunity To Tour The Recycle Center- Schedule A Date During A Future Meeting. Committee members will tour the Recycling Center on January 12th. g, The Recycle Committee Would Like The Following To Help Understand The Scale Of Waste Generated By Galveston And The Effectiveness Of The Recycling Program Over The Past Year. Cindy DeWitt provided the following information: Tonnage ( or other measure) of waste through the Transfer Station from the City and the Park Board separate values): This information has been discussed in the meeting at being an average of 100, 000 tons each year going through the Transfer Station. FY 2019. 2020 - 100, 953. 10 Tons. Tonnage( or other measure) of materials moved through the Recycling Center in total and by category: The requested information was submitted to the Committee in the form of a power point presentation. The presentation was e- mailed to the committee August 11, 2020. The presentation was given as an introduction for the committee to have a broader understanding of the Recycling Center. The tonnages for commodities broken down were included in this power point presentation. The totals provided went back to 2013. 2014. The committee was also shown  the totals for the fiscal year 2019. 2020 ( as of that date). The information given also included a projection for fiscal year 2020- 2021 based on those numbers. Tonnage( or other measure of materials actually recycled or repurposed; in total and by category: As covered in an earlier meeting - vendors were being contacted to submit that information. In the final tonnages report above ( for 2019. 2020) - those areas high- lighted in pale yellow are recycled or repurposed 100% as reported by the vendor. If the area is not high- lighted the requested information has not been received. No request was sent for metals. Revenue from recycling or repurposing activities, in total and by category: Total revenue for Fiscal Year 2019. 2020 was $ 15, 165. 27. Copy of Contract with BFI/ Different contracts with commodity collections/ Information from City Auditor on process flow diagrams or descriptions of an overall flow/ Detailed budget for recycle center. The Transfer Station contract and the detailed budget for the Recycling Center was sent to the Committee on October 23, 2020. The e- mail included the response from the City Auditors office, and the information on contracts. Define success for recycling and metrics that may be used to measure success: Diversion, Recycle/ Reuse, Financial ( sales, diversion savings, expenses), and Participation. Value of Recycling( goals), Value of recycling, not in dollar terms, Define city' s mission for recycling and vision for the future: The identification of goals and value of recycling ( not in dollar terms) were submitted to the Committee via e- mail on November 6, 2020. The goals section were presented via power point in the November 10, 2020 meeting. Mission: " The mission of the Recycling division is to reduce the landfill waste stream by providing opportunities for citizens to participate in educational programs and recycling certain wastes through the Recycling Facility." A rough draft of the Recycling development outline was also presented to the Committee in the November 10, 2020 meeting. The committee was informed that this was a working outline and had not been finalized. The goals and development aspect was to have operational goals accomplished, with everything in place, ( move being the unknown), and have the public education campaign started with the City Wide Clean Up. Percent of tonnage of our waste being diverted from landfill: Based on the amount of commodity tonnage for the Fiscal Year 2019 - 2020, using city and residential tonnage totals being deposited at the transfer station ( total 34, 139. 85) the number is about 5%. If using entire tonnage being deposited ( 100, 953. 10) the number is 2%. Covid- 19 has had an impact on the commodities being deposited. Beginning March 2020 the numbers began dropping significantly. 9. Requests For City Staff: a) Copy of contract with BFI b) Different contracts with commodity collectors c) Information from city auditor on process flow diagrams or descriptions of an overall flow on how the recycle center works d) List of current rates and tonnage information e) Detailed budget for recycle center Cindy Dewitt provided the following information: The Transfer Station contract and the detailed budget for the Recycling Center was sent to the Committee on October 23, 2020. The e- mail included the response from the City Auditors office which stated that no audits have been performed by the City Auditor' s office, and the information on contracts. 10. Updates From Scott And Cindy Cindy Dewitt provided the following information: a) Define success for recycling and metrics that may be used to measure success - diversion, recycle/ reuse, financial ( sales, diversion savings, expense), and participation. b) Value of recycling ( goals) 1. Define city' s mission for recycling and vision for the future - The identification of goals and value of recycling ( not in dollar terms) were submitted to the Committee via e- mail on November 6, 2020. The goals section were presented via power point in the November 10, 2020 meeting. Mission: " The mission of the Recycling division is to reduce the landfill waste stream by providing opportunities for citizens to participate in educational programs and recycling certain wastes through the Recycling Facility." A rough draft of the Recycling development outline was also presented to the Committee in the November 10, 2020 meeting. The committee was informed that this was a working outline and had not been finalized. The goals and development aspect was to have operational goals accomplished, with everything in place, ( move being the unknown), and have the public education campaign started with the City Wide Clean Up. 2. % of tonnage of our waste being diverted from landfill - Based on the amount of commodity tonnage for the Fiscal Year 2019 - 2020, using city and residential tonnage totals being deposited at the transfer station ( total 34, 139. 85) the number is about 5%. If using entire tonnage being deposited ( 100, 953. 10) the number is 2%. Covid- 19 has had an impact on the commodities being deposited. Beginning March 2020 the numbers began dropping significantly. 3. Value of recycling, not in dollar terms 4. Identify trends in recycling - Some trends, as they pertain to the Galveston Recycling Center, were identified in the August 11, 2020 ( power point) meeting under the heading of " Changes to Commodity Acceptance" and " Areas of Concern". This included the details regarding those commodities which Galveston can no longer accept ( mulch, Styrofoam etc), and the issues we were facing with paper/ plastic/ cardboard, e- waste, and tires. Also in the power point, under Items to Consider" was the notation " Alternative commodity collection/ disposal" Staff is considering alternative vendors in order to process commodities in a repurpose/ reuse environment rather than a traditional recycle it or landfill method. 5. Constraints: limitations on using contractors and how to remove these constraints - Pricing - Commodity prices fluctuate; Market - is what drives the sale/ reuse/ repurpose of commodities; Final Disposition: Obtaining final disposition from some vendors is difficult. 11. Request Agenda Items For Future Meetings December 22nd meeting - begin to fill in the axis for the matrix and a presentation from the Park Board. 12. Schedule Future Meetings The next meeting will be held on December 22, 2020. The first meeting in January will be the tour of the recycling center. 13. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 2: 40 p. m. k 0 Janelle Williams, City Secretary Date Approved: April 13, 2021 h t t p s : / / w w w . g a l v e s t o n t x . g o v / e 4 6 6 8 3 3 0 - 5 1 b a - 4 8 f 8 - 9 5 d a - 8 3 c d 4 3