Resource Recycling Advisory Council

Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Commission Regular Meeting via Webex 3/27/2023 Members Present: Krishna Winston, Deb Stanley, Stephan Allison, Tisha Zawisky, Alison Johnson, Nicole Charles, Eleanor Nettleton, Rebecca MacLachlan. Also Present: Jeff Myjak, John Yarmolovich Staff Present: Kimberly O’Rourke, Recycling Coordinator I. Call to Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. II. Public Comment The Chair introduced John Yarmolovich who is interested in assisting the Commission. III. Minutes The minutes of the January 23, 2023 meeting were accepted as presented. IV. Recycling Coordinator’s Report K. O’Rourke referred to her written report. She elaborated on the food waste co-collection program. A community meeting is planned for May 2nd in Council Chambers. T. Zawisky suggested making the meeting virtual to increase attendance. K. O’Rourke mentioned that the City contract with Murphy Road Recycling for trash will expire at the end of this year. The City must decide what to do with the Sanitation District’s trash by October. She is advocating that we go issue an RFP for this service. K. O’Rourke attended the ECRRA meeting in March where it was decided to submit an application to DEEP for a grant that would support looking into the feasibility of adding another line for trash at the Lisbon facility. K. Winston noted that our using Middletown’s own trash-to-energy plant would contribute toward DEEP’s goal of having CT achieve self-sufficiency in waste management. The EPA Healthy Communities Grant for reusable take-out containers is moving forward. Perk on Main, Story & Soil, and ION Restaurant will be participating. CET worked with the Public Works and Health Departments to develop guidelines for restaurants in handling reusable containers. Signs for the Compost Bin Garden will be installed tomorrow. K. O’Rourke said small amounts of food waste are acceptable at the compost bin site. People interested in helping with this project should let her know. K. O’Rourke announced a HeatSmart lunch-and -learn at the DeKoven House taking place on Friday, featuring free lunch and prizes and giveaways. Experts would be available to discuss heat pumps and energy efficiency.  2 She also announced that Vinal Tech would be doing an e-waste collection on April 18. K. Winston asked if any thought had been given to allowing people to cut up the logs at the Recycling Center for firewood. K.O’Rourke said she would look into this, but there would no doubt be liability issues, and restrictions in the DEEP permit might prevent this. T. Zawisky asked if there was anything on the glass recycling on the Web site yet. K.O’Rourke responded she had not had time to update the site. S. Allison asked if Public Works would consider doing a spring pick-up of leaves. He felt it made more sense to pick them up in the spring, not the fall. K. ORourke responded that Public Works was not in a position to start such a program. Spring was always busy with road maintenance, but he could make the suggestion to the Public Works Commission. V. Chair’s Report K. Winston said she had spent a lot of time at the Swap Shack and it was now in good shape. She discussed the collaborative effort with Reboot Eco to take housewares from its swap studio. She asked if members felt it was a good idea to mount a second bulletin board for informational flyers. Members thought it would be useful, and S. Allison volunteered to help install it. D. Stanley said she was having trouble with the clothing at the Swap Shack. Discussion ensued on the pros and cons of allowing clothing. K. Winston felt if the volunteers stayed on top of it, the clothing could be managed. She felt it was a benefit to those for whom money was in short supply. VI. Swap Shack Schedule 3/29 S. Allison & K. Winston will put up bulletin board 4/2/2023 D. Stanley 4/9/2023 N. Charles 4/16/T. Zawisky & R. MacLachlan VII. Old Business Recycling Center K. O’Rourke asked how members felt about accepting crutches, walkers, canes, and possibly wheelchairs for distribution through a non-profit. Members felt such items should be dropped off under the lean-to and a volunteer could pick them up. Policy Changes for Recycling Center Members discussed the upcoming changes at the Recycling Center. Starting April 1 no more than 2 tons of acceptable waste would be allowed at one time, and documentation would be required to show that it was Middletown waste. Starting July 1, all contractors and any company transporting waste material of any type would have to register with the City and obtain a license to use the recycling center. Residents would also need a sticker to use the Recycling Center. Residential stickers would be available  3 at Public Works, or a form could be filled out on line and received by mail. K. Winston suggested offering opportunities at the Recycling Center to obtain stickers, as had been done in the past. Feed the Earth K. O’Rourke reported that Blue Earth Compost had been providing ongoing outreach and as a result additional restaurants had been added to the program. The team was currently trying to think of ways to incentivize restaurants that had refused to participate and encourage those participating to do a better job. Members discussed why some restaurants were not joining. S. Allision suggested a public relations campaign to promote the participating restaurants. A. Johnson suggested finding a restaurant person who might be willing to talk to one or two other managers or owners N. Charles felt there was a lack of knowledge in restaurants on food-waste prevention and suggested training for certification on methods for more sustainable food preparation. K. O’Rourke said Blue Earth had offered training but no one had taken them up on it. She thought the CT Restaurant Association might be a more viable source for such a program. Legislation K. Winston offered an update on the EPR for Packaging bill. She noted that in the legislative hearings a good deal of misinformation was being presented as fact. The tire EPR bill had passed out of committee and hopefully had a good chance of passing. VIII. Upcoming Events K. Winston led a discussion of pending events and volunteer needs. She reviewed the upcoming Road Race needs. A. Johnson explained how she had been cleaning up litter on the road-race route to try to offer a good impression of Middletown. J. Myjak said the Cans group would be collecting water bottles at that event. Other events that were discussed: the Paper Shred event, the Earth Day panel, a Trash Talk, the Earth Day Eco Extravaganza, the compost bin distribution, the Sustainability Scavenger Hunt, the Kids Health and Safety Fair, the Repair Café, and the regional hazardous waste and paper shred events. K.Winston said the group also needed to discuss how often the Recycling program should table at the Farmers’ Market. Toward the end of the summer business at our table had fallen off considerably. Perhaps every other week would be a better use of Commissioners’? No decision was made. The group decided to attend the Open Air Market on August 27 with an information table and the water-filler station. IX. Other Business Alison Johnson mentioned the flag markers on Pine Street. She said Eversource had left them there from a project finished over a year ago. She asked if there was any way to lobby Eversource to remove them and reuse them, and wondered whether abandoning them was the pattern throughout their service area. She said she would contact Eversource. K. O’Rourke said she would check to see if the company could be required to remove these flags as part of obtaining a permit for work. X. Adjournment  4 R. MacLachlan made and S. Allison seconded a motion to adjourn at 8:36 pm. All voted in favor. Respectfully submitted, Kim O’Rourke Recycling Coordinator