Resource Recycling Advisory Council

Resource Recycling Advisory Commission Meeting of April 26, 2021 7:00 p.m. Via Webex Members Present: Stephan Allison, Rebecca MacLachlan, Krishna Winston, Tisha Zawisky. Members not present: Bessie Bianco, Rafael Bianco, Chantel DeArmitt, Alison Johnson, Debbie Stanley, Lydia Wolfe, Members of the Public: Eleanor Nettleton Public Works Staff Present: Kim O’Rourke, Recycling Coordinator Call to Order Ms. Winston called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. No members of the public spoke. Acceptance of the Minutes The minutes of the February and March 22 meetings were accepted as presented. Mr. Allison abstained. Recycling Coordinator’s Report Ms. O’Rourke said she will correct the wording of “acceptance of the minutes” on the agenda for next time. Feed The Earth Campaign Ms. O’Rourke announced that tomorrow they are starting the visits for the restaurant food scrap collection program. It is being rolled out in phases and the first phase will include Metro Square, Riverview Center and Middle Oak. Representatives from BEC and Raffie Bianco will partake in the visits tomorrow. It is scheduled to start the first week of May. She mentioned that other communities are starting all different types of programs, so it is an active time for food scrap collections. Some are doing pilot collections, others are collecting it at transfer stations and mixing it with leaves. Ms. O’Rourke noted that although there is activity, it is not necessarily new. There have been pilots in the past and it always shows it costs more money, especially curbside. There is a new “co-collection” system being discussed where the food waste is bagged and collected with the trash and then separated out at the transfer station and sent on to a food recycling facility. Ms. Nettleton mentioned a program in North Hampton where they picked up food waste in five gallon buckets on bicycles but she didn’t know where it went. Ms. O’Rourke said there is a program like that in New Haven. Members talked about the need for different options for food waste disposal to accommodate the many different people in the city and the state. There still is a need for a place for the food waste to go and Ms. Winston mentioned the gravel pit area at the end of Bow Lane. Ms. O’Rourke said the City has been approved to have a satellite location for food scraps at the Emergency Management facility on Randolph Road. She is working on getting that set up. There are a few stipulations to hosting the site. It must be checked twice a week by Public Works. Members who live in that area, offered to check on the site and send pictures so Ms. O’Rourke wouldn’t need to go there herself. The bins also need to be cleaned, which BEC will do. Ms. O’Rourke said the biggest concern is contamination, random dumping of trash, but hopefully that won’t happen. It is actually does have a camera, so we could post a sign that they are on camera. The cart also has to be in the shade. Cigarette Butt Recycling The Public Works Department purchased a container for cigarette butt recycling and was debating where to place the container. Rachel DeCavage really wanted the container on Main Street so she could use it for her clean ups. She also lobbied for a gum recycling container. Ms. Winston suggested Spear Park as an ideal location. She said we also need a recycling bin at that location. There were some questions about the Gum Recycling, and more information on that is available here. The gum recycling is probably better for the street clean ups because any contaminants must be removed. Book Recycling Ms. O’Rourke said she was approached by a company to put a bin at the recycling center to recycle books. This will take books out of the single stream recycling and get some reused first and then recycled. The bin could go next to the swap shack. She will get a picture of what the bin looks at. Ms. MacLachlan thought this would be a helpful thing to have next to clothing bins in other locations. That is a possibility for the future if it works out. Legislation Members discussed the bills that are currently in the legislature. Ms. Winston asked how people can help. Ms. O’Rourke said the best thing to do at this point is to contact legislators directly and ask them to support these proposals. Abundance App Ms. Winston asked about the Abundance app. Ms. O’Rourke explained the Health Enhancement Community is working on getting this app to Middletown (it is currently in Boston). This app would show all the food resources in Middlesex county and, the idea, is to expand it to include a way to connect food about to go to waste to people who need it; basically add a food rescue component to it. The Boston app does not have this, but there is great interest in including it with the Middletown one. They are looking for a new name, and Ms. Winston suggested “Sustenance” as a new name. Additional Meetings Ms. O’Rourke reviewed some of the meetings she attended recently. She specifically mentioned the Pozzotive company that is taking MRF glass and turning it into a climate friendly concrete product. Also, there is new company in Waterbury that is taking cartons and turning them into a building product. Ms. MacLachlan commented that she is getting counter tops made out of recycled glass. Ms. Winston asked if there were any other questions on the Recycling Coordinator’s report. Chairman’s Report Ms. Winston said she invited Joe Samalois to the next Recycling Commission meeting to discuss a local anaerobic digester. Ms. Winston asked for comments regarding the Shred Event. Members discussed how the truck was getting full by 9:20 a.m. It was steady the whole time. Ms. Winston felt people abuse the event by bringing non sensitive items such as store receipts, greeting cards, empty envelopes and this loads up the truck. We filled the truck with 34 toters. Plastic bags were difficult. People brought plastic items, clothing, a play station, power cords, umbrella. There needs to be more education, but some people just throw it into a bag or box and don’t think about it. There was lots of waste such as file folders used only once. The group made some suggestions: Five boxes only. NO plastic bags. Only paper bags or boxes. We will not take the paper in plastic bags. Should we charge a couple dollars to encourage people to be more careful about what they bring. Members liked the location. The circulation was good. We might need more cones and signs. Sign saying no plastic bags, no junk mail, cost. People can pull off and sort their their own stuff. Next time, we may want to check what they are bringing initially, and check their residency. We can ask the questions initially: is this residential waste; does this include junk mail; are you from Middletown. Ms. O’Rourke reminded the group that plastic bags will be banned in July 2021, so that might help. Ms. Winston also mentioned the compost bin and rain barrel sale. It was very successful and went very smoothly. Both the bin sale and paper shred events will be held again in October. Ms. Winston said she had correspondence and a meeting with a representative (Black) from Salinis Kansas. He contacted Middletown because we are a zero waste community. Ms. Winston said they had a lot of correspondence. They are much more conservative in that community, but he wanted ideas. He got his commission to agree to zero waste by 2050, but he said that was quite difficult. He wanted her to come to a meeting on Earth Day, but she had too many conflicts, so they had a recorded meeting and he was going to show parts of it to his group. She felt it was a meeting of two different cultures. Swap Shack The Director has decided to get a pre fab building for the Swap Shack. It would have vinyl siding, wall height would only be 6’4”. The prices are very different to increase the wall height. Mr. Allison suggested raising the slab to make the walls higher. Ms. Winston, said we have to be sure to have electricity and/or windows, and she questioned whether we would have one door, no more than 3’ feet wide, so people cannot bring in large items. We also want to make sure the door is left open and cannot be shut and locked from the inside. It must have a lock that you need a key for. Ms. Winston also would need to know what the interior looks like for the built ins. After discussing the many issues, Ms. Winston said she will write about all the issues they are concerned with (the door, the windows, the electricity, the lock, the siding, the walls and the interior). Mattress Ordinance Members discussed the new mattress ordinance which charges extra for mattress pick up. Ms. MacLachlan asked by mattresses picked up curbside can’t be recycled. Ms. O’Rourke said the mattresses must be dry in order to be recycled. Once they are set out at the curb, they most likely get wet. Ms. MacLachlan asked if we could coordinate the pick up with the weather and Ms. O’Rourke said she asked and that idea was rejected. The new ordinance forces people to bring their mattress directly to the recycling center, where it will get recycled (as long as the containers are not full). Once they get wet, they are not acceptable in the mattress recycling program, and with the City’s new trash contract, it now costs the city $30/unit to dispose. Mattresses must also now be in plastic bags. City employees had concerns of working with mattresses not in bags. New Member Packet Mr. Allison said the Arts Commission always provided a new member packet to new commissioners and it would be helpful for this commission to have such a thing. Ms. Winston said she is putting together a timeline of recycling and that will be helpful to show the evolution of recycling. Ms. Allison thought that was very important to include. Ms. O’Rourke said she could pull information together in the next couple months for commissioners to review. International Composting Week May 2-7 Ms. Winston asked if there was something else we should be doing beside working towards an anaerobic digester and composting our own leaves. Ms. O’Rourke said she will be creating daily social media posts on composting and writing a column on food waste diversion. Adjournment Mr. Alison made and Ms. MacLachlan seconded a motion to adjourn at 8:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kim O’Rourke Kim O’Rourke Recycling Coordinator