City Council

City of Salem, Massachusetts “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs co-posted with the Committee of the Whole met in the Council Chamber on _March 5, 2026__________ at ______6:00______P.M. for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on ___ March 2, 2026__ at ___ 2:10 P.M._________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE OLLA – Varela (Chair), Hapworth, Prosniewski, Holappa, & Smith. COW – Merkl, King, Turowski, & Davis. City – Alisa Cherkasova, Waste Reduction Coordinator, Michael Crounce, Facilities Director, David Greenbaum, Health Agent. Black Earth Composting - Justin Sandler, owner/partner and Jon Laurie, Municipal Coordinator. ABSENT WERE: COW - Sydoriak Ordinance Amendment relative to Municipal and Business Composting (co-posted COW) _and Home Occupation Zoning Ordinance. Discussion on composting - Varela – We are going to discuss a municipal program for composting and Black Earth can tell us how it works. If we decide to move forward, there are other companies that we can work with, but Black Earth is the closest to Salem and they re-purpose the composting so they have an end product where customers and municipalities can purchase the product. There are different ways to compost. A process like anaerobic digestion, the end product would be methane, and the solids are not necessarily usable as a home composting program or a compost like Black Earth and others like them. I originally proposed this ordinance 2 years ago so we could have a thoughtful discussion with our city and our businesses about what we should be doing with composting in the future. There is the Massachusetts Food Waste Disposal Ban that was put into effect in 2013- 2014 by the Commonwealth which says if you generate a ½ ton of compostable material every two weeks, you are mandated by law to adopt a composting program. The goal is to divert as much food waste out of our solid waste stream as possible. We are going to start with Black Earth then move onto the city officials and then open it up to the council for questions. Sandler – I have been with Black Earth since 2011. The state is working to mandate that everyone in the state down to the residential level is required to compost by 2030. We believe that the best use of food scraps is to put it back into the ground and use those nutrients in our local soils. Instead of sending our composting down to Alabama, we compost in Manchester-By- The-Sea, MA so the compostable portion of the waste stream gets put back into the ground locally. It is a financial and environmental win. Varela – One of the biggest concerns for our businesses is the cost of a composting program. As you know, along with being a city councilor, my wife and I own and operate a restaurant in Salem. I think this ordinance is reasonable and going in the right direction for our business community. As business owners, we have a responsibility to be mindful of the community and the environment. My restaurant has a composting program with Black Earth and about 35-55% of the weight of our waste is food waste. Adding that much to our solid waste is expensive and those costs are not going down. So, I see this as a transfer of services from the solid waste provider to a composting program and there shouldn’t be that much of an increase in cost because we won’t be paying as much for the solid waste because the cost of food waste composting will be transferred to a composting provider. Holappa – This is the first thing that has come to the council this year that is about climate. There is a climate crisis and Salem being a coastal city will be affected by this. I believe that there will be catastrophic climate induced flooding in our future and it will cause a tremendous amount of property damage. We need to do whatever we can to mitigate that and I think this is a reasonable start. Varela – Can you talk about the difference between food waste going into a general solid waste landfill and going to a composting facility? Sandler – The reason our solid waste is being sent down to Alabama, is because our landfills in MA are set to close by 2035. We will still have incineration because we will always have trash. We already have the most expensive trash rates in the country at around $120/ton compared $15/ton in Alabama and $25/ton in Ohio. The most cost-effective approach is to burn it in an incinerator but there is still ash left behind that needs to go in a landfill. The journey of trash, first it goes on a truck to be burned, then the ash is put on a train to be carried across the country to a landfill. Alternatively, our compost site is right down the street, so locality of the processing is a massive carbon and cost savings. Plus, you get the benefit of rebuilding our local soil. When compost is applied to local soils, it has better water retention. Hapworth – I agree that this would benefit residents as well as businesses. What are the associated costs to each business. Will it affect each business the same? Will the cost be graduated? Is everyone held to the same standard no matter the size of the business? Will it affect the schools? Will they be held to the same standard? And do we have the ability to enforce this ordinance if it passes? Varela – This started 2 years ago, and the original draft did include that the schools would be mandated to have a composting program. I had a meeting with the school committee, and they weren’t happy that the city council was proposing something that would affect the schools, but the cost of trash comes out of the city budget, not the school budget. The school committee decided to start a pilot composting program at the schools and out of that discussion that has been ongoing for more than 2 years, the schools took the initiative to create their own program that Alicia will speak to. Cherkasova - As waste reduction coordinator, I address several waste reduction issues in the city, and composting has always been a priority. Specifically, since I've started in this role, I've supported the schools that already were composting and have added several more. So, in September of 2023, before I started in this role. all the schools went to back-of-house kitchen composting, so in all of Salem's public school cafeterias, they are composting the food waste that's generated from preparing the food and any food that's going to waste. At that same time, September of 2023, Carlton Elementary School also started front-of-house composting, which means that students can dispose of the food waste, the food that they don't finish, in the cafeteria. In December of 2024, Horace Mann Elementary School also went to composting in the front of house with the students. In September of this school year, 2025, Salem High School Started composting, and we have Collins Middle School and Saltonstall Elementary School that joined in January of 2026. So that means we currently have 3 elementary schools, the middle school and the high school composting on the student side, as well as all the school's composting back of house. And the rollout entails seeking school administrations that are willing to support us and ready to start that process with their students and their educators, assessing the space that the school has in terms of the cafeteria, how many students, custodians, etc., and placing waste stations. We have a share table for food that isn't eaten. We have a pour bucket for liquids, so that they can be poured directly at the school and not going to trash. We have the trash for packaging and plastics, then the compost and the trays, which are compostable, are currently stacked separately and composted as well. So, its significant diversion, not only on the compost side, but also, naturally, we save the foods that other students can take from the share table. Hapworth – Is there still a lot of work to do to get all the schools to get to the level of what we are proposing? Cherkasova – We only have 3 public schools that are not currently composting so we would need to get the cooperation of the school administrators as well as Food & Nutrition Services. The schools that are currently composting, there is a very low contamination rate. The SHS Environmental Club recently did an audit of one of their composting bags and they found less than 1% by weight of contamination. Varela – The ordinances are very vague in general and they outline the requirements. This ordinance does not require that we eliminate all the compost; it only requires that all restaurant/food service establishments must establish a composting contract. The current rate through Black Earth and Casella Waste for one single bin for weekly pickup is $20 - $30. Hapworth – Is there anyone from the city or elsewhere that can tell us what the impact will be on businesses? Holappa – I think the ordinance is intentionally vague because we aren’t telling the businesses how to do it or how much to compost, right? Varela – This is our first meeting to discuss this and to work on how to align this with our city’s values and our businesses’ values. This is a public process, and a lot of the language is taken from California and Colorado which may not apply to Massachusetts, but this is why we are discussing it. Smith – Who is the school’s vendor, and do we have a cost breakdown on whether there is a savings or an additional cost for the schools to compost? Cherkasova – With the current schools that are participating, it costs between $1,600-$1,800 per month. We went from 5 tons of compost in 2023 to 29 tons in 2024 and we were close to 50 tons in 2025. Smith – Does Black Earth have the capacity to handle all the composting for the city, schools and businesses in Salem? And I know there are many companies that do this work, but if everyone in Salem was to sign up with Black Earth, would there be any savings? Sandler - Yes, we have the capacity to handle the whole city and if everyone signed up together, then there could be some savings because it saves us time. Merkl – I have a couple of comments regarding logistics. It says that business will have a trash containers and compostable containers but that puts the burden on the public to decide what goes in each container and there would be a lot of room for contamination because it gets confusing for people to know what goes in each container so maybe loosen up the language so the restaurant can make a plan for how they will manage the composting/trash. Also, some small businesses may not have enough space so can there be an allowance for businesses to share services if there is a space constraint. King – Where did the data from for the cost comparison that is in the packets that we were given? Varela – I used data from several composting companies to get an average cost of services as an example only. I have a question regarding enforcement for Mr. Greenbaum. Food service establishments are required to provide a solid waste contract and a pest control program to receive a health permit. If this were to pass, then the business would also have to submit a composting contract. Would this make it somewhat easy to enforce during inspections? Greenbaum – We wouldn’t have a problem checking the contract during an inspection, but we will not be able to go out looking for violations unless there was a complaint. We have so many other things to do that looking for violations without a complaint would be a low priority for my department. Varela – I want to clarify that the city will be responsible for implementing their own program if this passes. The city is going to lead by example. Mr. Crounce, what barriers do you see with the municipality? Crounce – I can see this starting as a pilot program at the CLC because they have a kitchen and they are cooking meals daily. The only other place that serves meals is at the fire station. There is no kitchen in City Hall, and some buildings have a kitchenette and microwave. One thing that is going to be difficult is where to store it and the ordinance says that it will be available for the public in city buildings. We have enough difficulty in keeping our recycling sorted and clean, so this would make it much more difficult especially since it wouldn’t necessarily be related to a kitchen. Public Comment – Salem Chamber of Commerce – We are opposed to mandatory composting in the city. We have received many emails regarding the difficulties of putting this program in place for a lot of our businesses. They have commented on the space, attracting pests, coordinating more pickups as well as the added cost. We have a mandate to recycle cardboard and since Greif Cardboard Recycling closed, everyone is having a difficult time recycling cardboard. I think our time would be better served to push our recycling program instead because food is biodegradable, but plastic and glass is not, so increasing the recycling capacity is more important than composting. I think we need more information on the cost of this. We all want to save the environment but mandating it in a one size fits all ordinance will be difficult. Kathy Turner, Turner’s Seafood & Chair of Massachusetts Restaurant Association – If this passed, Salem would be the first city in the commonwealth to mandate composting. My restaurant serves seafood which decomposes faster than anything else, so we would need daily pickups to avoid attracting rodents. The city needs to step up and deal with the rodent infestations first. We recycle everything that we can. We would need a pickup every night and I talked to Black Earth and they can’t provide for nightly pickups. It would need to be picked up at night because rodents are nocturnal and they feed off whatever they can at night. It would be better to have the businesses volunteer for this program as opposed to mandating it. John, from hotel side – This is not going to save money and, more than likely, once this is mandated, the prices will increase just like the cost of our trash pickups have increased significantly. Jim Turner, Turner’s Seafood – Every restaurant is different. The ordinance says that we must have a bin for our employees and customers. If our customer has food that they haven’t finished, they are taking it home. Bruce Cohen, Zero Waste Committee member – I am speaking as to my own opinion and not as a member of the committee. The ordinance needs to be modified to address the concerns, but it shouldn’t be thrown out. I think it is a good policy to have restaurants address food waste. It should also incentivize the restaurants to donate the food that would otherwise be discarded. Ryan Harriman, restaurant owner – I have worked in and owned restaurants in Salem. When we had Spitfire Tacos in Salem, we composted and I was concerned about the cost, but my costs actually went down. Most of what isn’t composting can be recycled. As far as the pests, the trash would be there anyway whether it’s in the trash bin or in the compost bins, so you must deal with it already. Front Street Coffee House has bins for their customers that are clearly marked as to what goes in each. I don’t think it is that complicated. Jeff Cohen – I am in support of this ordinance. The city has been working on getting residents to recycle for years and there is a mandatory recycling ordinance, but most people don’t understand what can be recycled and how it works. They just put the stuff in the bin and put it on the curb. I give my tenants a list of what can be recycled and what can be composted and every week they get better at it. In 2020, the city switched from Northside Carting to Waste Management. WM gave residents a 64- gallon bin and many people complained because before they were allowed 3 - 35-gallon bags but they made it work and now there is 40% less trash picked up in Salem. I think the pilot program at the schools is great and I think this should be made city wide and include residential as well. Eric Cresamano, Owner Gulu Gulu Café – I support the idea of composting. I do it at home with Black Earth. My critiques are on the language as written and not the concept. The first half of this meeting is promoting composting, but we need to talk about the language as well. The ordinance assumes that the physical space needed for composting already exists and I don’t believe it does. It also requires composting container for customers and employees wherever trash containers are located. This is just mandating composting, it requires front and back of the house composting. There is very little space in some restaurants already so restaurants would have to revamp their space. My restaurant shares a dumpster with the 7 restaurants in my building because there isn’t space for more. I have a concern about pests getting in because now I am storing composting inside the building instead of outside. And during peak tourist months, we must take trash out multiple times a day and there isn’t enough room for it, so it gets left out. This probably won’t save money for trash pickup for renters. We will have to renegotiate with our landlords so there is no guarantee that trash costs will go down. It also needs to be clear if this is part of the health department or the building department. I hope we have more discussions about this because I think composting is important, but the ordinance language needs work. Jess Cresamano, Owner Gulu Gulu Café – We share our space with the other restaurants and the tenants that live above the building so that is out of our control. There will be a big learning curve with the public because I see it all the time that people just throw everything in the trash and then we would have to go through the trash and separate it ourselves. I want this to go through but there needs to be more thought on how it will work. Continue discussion on composting - Varela – Can you explain the difference between food waste with general trash and compost only containers? The smell and how it breaks down? Sandler – The compost bins are sealed with a plastic liner. We do have a bin washing service as well. We are here to help service the compost whether it is mandated or not and if we had enough demand in Salem, especially more residential business, we could service the city 7 days a week. I wouldn’t say anything is rodent proof, but our bins will not increase the persistent rodent problem, but it will not make it go away either. Smith – Motion to remain in committee, seconded by Holappa. Motion carries 5-0. Discussion on home occupation zoning – Smith – Motion to send this back to the full council to be co-posted with the committee of the whole and seconded by Holappa. Varela – When this was first brought to the committee a couple years ago, we did things different, so this was not co-posted with COW. Now we are co-posting these types of discussion with the COW so the full council can get together and have a meaningful discussion. Motion carries 5-0. On the motion of C. Hapworth the meeting adjourned at 7:42P.M. ___Andrew Varela. MBC (Chairperson)