Resource Recycling Advisory Council

Resource Recycling Advisory Commission Meeting of October 26, 2020 7:00 p.m. Via Webex Members Present: Stephan Allison, Debbie Stanley, Krishna Winston, Tisha Zawisky. Members not present: Monica Belyea, Bessie Bianco, Chantel DeArmitt, Alison Johnson, Rebecca MacLachlan, Harold Panciera. Members of the Public: Lydia Wolfe Public Works Staff Present: Kim O’Rourke, Recycling Coordinator Ms. Winston called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. Members introduced themselves via webex. Ms. Wolfe said she was interested in in being involved. Recycling Coordinator’s Report Ms. O’Rourke reported on the efforts being made for food waste collection. She has been working on putting in a drop off in the southend of town at the Emergency Management building. Unfortunately she now needs to wait for DEEP approval. She is still waiting for the RFP to come out of the Purchasing office. She has continued to make connections in regards to food rescue efforts, but need to reconnect with the Mayor and the health department. Ms. O’Rourke said she is working with a Wesleyan student to develop some signage in City buildings to get employees to reduce their waste and take other sustainable actions. She has also continued to work with the Garden Club and Alissa Eliot in the Tax Collector’s office to design a garden in front of City Hall. It will house the compost bins and have some educational signage. Ms. O’Rourke said she has attended numerous meetings and webinars including: universal waste training, Government Reuse, CRC Annual Meetings, CCSMM meetings, State of Trash held by the Environmental Business Council, 2 CCM panels, Mayors Task Force on Hunger, discussions with the Fort Hill Ag-Grid folks and webinars sponsored by the Northeast Recycling Council. She will try to get links to these for members to watch if they are interested. She discussed the membership of the Commission and the need to remove a member who has not been attending. Ms. Winston said she will follow up with her again to try to get her resignation. Ms. Winston reported that the Declaration of Climate Emergency has passed, but there is less support for a Sustainability Commission. The Clean Energy Task Force is working with the Mayor to send out a memo to Department Heads reviewing sustainability practices. She said ECOIN met today and they are taking up the issue of the waste stream and the City’s efforts with PAYT. As the Commission has discussed in the past, PAYT is a wat to incentivize people to reduce waste and recycle more. Recycling is not the solution. We really need to rethink the waste stream and it is encouraging to have ECOIN consider this issue. Ms. Winston reported that Jeff Bianco is willing to help with designing the Swap Shack. Once we get the dimensions, she will work with him. Both the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day and the Compost Bin distribution were very successful. We are planning to do another compost bin day in the spring. With no other business, the meeting ,adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim O’Rourke Kim O’Rourke Recycling Coordinator