Sustainable Maryland Committee (Green Team)

Sustainable Maryland Committee Meeting Minutes October 16, 2023 Attendance Chiara Atoyebi Daryl Braithwaite Dorothy Estrada Janet Owens Jeremy Schwartz Emanuel Wagner Sophia Yarrow Discussion The meeting was called to order at 7:06. The SMC adopted the minutes of October 2, 2023. (1) The Committee discussed in brief the Sustainable Maryland application procedure for 2024 which requires that Takoma Park earn 665 points to attain a silver ranking and 400 points for a bronze ranking. (2) Following, the discussion focused largely on two actions that the Committee could recommend to the City Council as feasible sustainable 2024 budget items. a. Update current EV battery charging infrastructure to accommodate fast charging. The current infrastructure was funded by a grant from Montgomery County. To identify the size of the need, more information is needed about the number of EVs purchased by Takoma Park residents. This information would be available from the County. b. Contribute to national goals of reducing food loss and waste and state goals of 60% Green House Gas emissions through food waste reduction and separation of all food waste from landfill-destined trash. The action requires a multiple part strategy: (1) Develop a food waste reduction education campaign that would inform residents on the negative and financial aspects of consumer food waste and instill know-how on how to prevent food waste. The campaign would require multiple messaging and engagement of residents to induce behavioral change and measurement to gauge impact; (2) Ramp up curbside compost collection to cover all eligible residents to an  eventual mandated separation of all food waste from trash that goes to landfill. A brief was circulated to the Committee to highlight food waste issues, and potential strategies for addressing food waste impact. It was discussed that reducing food waste in school cafeterias could also be explored. Regarding cost of scaling up food compost collection the city pays a tip fee to Prince George County but would pay less in the cost associated with sending trash to the county transfer station where trash is incinerated. The City of Laurel has proposed a mandatory food composting bill and that its efforts would provide an example of how to proceed with implementing this action in Takoma Park. (3) A question was asked about the availability of public wifi and it was noted that public wifi availability exists at the location of the temporary Takoma library site: 7305 New Hampshire Avenue. It was also asked whether the City of Takoma Park website indicates where the public wifi site is located. The meeting adjourned at 8:27 pm.