Resource Recycling Advisory Council

Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Commission Regular Meeting May 21, 2018 DRAFT Members present: Alison Johnson, Darrell Gagnon, Bessie Bianco, Robin Hansen. Members not present: Rebecca MacLachlan, Monica Belyea, Krishna Winston, Harold Panciera, Christine Sherwood, Debbie Stanley. Others Present: Kim O’Rourke, Recycling Coordinator The meeting was called to order by Alison Johnson at 7:00 p.m. The members reviewed and approved the minutes with one correction in Mr. Panicera’s name. Ms. O’Rourke reviewed the recycling market conditions, which are not good. The pricing for recyclables has gone up over the last four months. Ms. O’Rourke has sent out a couple articles on the current market situation. China is no longer accepting recyclables from the US and it is creating a backlog and price increase. New containers have come in for some of the parks. Ms. O’Rourke is just waiting for them to be installed. Highway crews have been very busy with cleaning up after the winter and haven’t had time to install them. Members suggested some of the containers be placed at the school playgrounds. Mr. Panciera and Ms. O’Rourke have followed up with each school to check the status of recycling. All of the elementary schools seem to be doing a good job. The middle school is offering it, but doesn’t seem to be collecting many. The high school still hasn’t started. Moody and Snow have started collecting food waste in their cafeterias. Members agreed to move forward with the compost bin sale. Ms. O’Rourke is looking for proper space to store and distribute the bins. It was suggested to look at Remington Rand and maybe combine it with a walk up the path on the landfill. Next month Barbara Heineken from the Carton Recycling Council will be presenting at our meeting. Members also asked if the SMART consultant could come to a meeting and they also felt Bill Russo should be invited to a meeting in the fall. Swap Shack 5/26/18 – Robin 6/6/18 – Bessie 6/9/18 – Monica 6/13/18 – Alison 6/16/18 – Robin Other dates will be sent out to other members. There’s been no communication with the Boy Scouts, so Ms. O’Rourke will check in to see if they are still interested. Members discussed the Open Air Market on August 26. They felt it would be helpful to have a table and invite the scouts to help with the garbage monitoring. They would also like to see Blue Earth Composting come back for composting the food waste. Ms. O’Rourke said she was working on a letter to send to Middletown businesses on the opportunity to recycle food waste. The Center for EcoTechnology is also offering to review business practices to find solutions for reducing food waste and recycle more. More information is available at www.wastedfood.cetonline.org. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Kim O’Rourke Recycling Coordinator