HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinal Minutes 9 26 2013JEFFERSON COUNTY
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES – Thursday, September 26, 2013
Jefferson County Public Works Building, Conference Room
1. OPENING BUSINESS:
Meeting called to order by John Merchant at 3:02 PM
Members Present:
John Merchant – City of Port Townsend
Paul Rogland – District #2
John Austin – County Commissioner
Julie Robertson – WA Department of Ecology
Jenifer Taylor – Citizen-At-Large
Alysa Russell – Skookum
Matt Hall – Skookum
Members Absent:
Val Johnstone – District #1
Kent Kovalenko – DM/Murrey’s Disposal
Al Cairns – Port of Port Townsend
Staff:
Richard Talbot – Public Works Solid Waste Manager
Dennis Bates – Public Works Operations Coordinator
Pinky Feria Mingo – Public Health
Tina Anderson – Public Works Administrative Staff
Gail Gautestad – Public Works Administrative Staff
Brian Goldstein – County Resource Conservation Manager
Guests:
Beth Gill – WA Department of Ecology
There is a Quorum
Approval of Minutes:
John Austin moved and Matt Hall seconded to accept as presented.
Motion carried.
Correspondence:
None
Guest Speaker:
Julie Robertson gave a power point presentation of the State Solid Waste Plan Update, 2013 – 2014.
She is the Southwest Region Planner and is working on the State Plan Update. She is getting
information from the counties on the direction the plan should go. First she gave background:
The RCW’s (70.95 and 70.105) tell Ecology to have a 20 year plan with updates every 5 years. It
also tells the direction.
Reduce should be the first priority, recycle should be the second priority and safely dispose as the
third priority. The statute gives the direction – to protect water, people and make a good plan for the
future. The vision comes from the statute and steps were created in the plan.
First look at where we are: look at what things are working around the state, what things work in
certain counties and what things need to be improved on and then get expertise from all the
stakeholders. People that manage waste, store it, haul it, all the people that are experts in Solid
Waste.
There is a lot of diversity in Washington State, a lot of counties facing different issues. In the end
they want a guidance document that can be “pulled off the shelf” for counties to use. A document
that can help counties in their own planning and be pertinent to them.
1972 was the first plan which focused on closing dumps and getting sanitary disposal.
1980 the second plan addressed hazardous waste.
1989 was the Waste Not Washington Act that was used for the 1991 plan.
2004 was the first time they combined Hazardous and Solid Waste planning to make the Beyond
Waste Plan.
2009 there were just minor updates to that plan.
That brings us to where we are now:
Beyond Waste was an expensive update process with the stakeholders. The stakeholders wanted to
focus on the large amounts of waste, what would the risks be and waste streams. Also helped with
the vision to transition to a society where waste is viewed as inefficient and where most waste and
toxic substances can be eliminated. This will contribute to environmental, social and economic
vitality.
The state plan is available on line. It contains the 5 main initiatives:
1. Working with Industries
2. Working on Moderate Risk Waste
3. Organics
4. Construction and demolition debris
5. Mapping out all the Hazardous and Solid waste issues and measuring progress
There is lots of information on-line about where we’ve come and what we’ve done so far since the
Beyond Waste Plan.
Julie showed graphs with Trends in Hazardous Waste, Municipal Solid Waste, Populations and
Recovered or Recycled Waste quantities.
Update Process:
Today, getting broad direction from all the counties. All the information gathered will be
put together for possible draft changes and suggestions for the new plan. There will then be an
opportunity for people to make comments on the plan and from there a draft plan. The target date is
December 2014.
Here are the questions being asked of all counties and our responses:
1. What do you need in the state solid and hazardous waste plan to make it most useful for you?
Building & demolition debris focus – back to Ecology focus
Grant building and reuse of building materials
More MRW access, more push for MRW collection
Take back medications & education on ecological damage from medications
Product Stewardship – generic products
Paying for programs through fees - education on why & what it costs to dispose and recycle
Public Perception of recycling more & therefore should pay less for solid waste
Guidance – streamline guidance to counties. Better access to information
Illegal dumping - perception of cost
Make coding for plastic easier. Make it clearly labeled
Ex: not all #2’s are the same - does the general public understand
Manufacturers have to label to take the guess work out of it
Education – not all plastics are recyclable and contaminate the recyclable items
Value of commodity goes down when mixed with “contaminated” plastic
Impose a Producers’ fee for other Hazardous waste – other than petroleum – to fund the
county programs through grants
Recycling Goals – revisit the goals. They are getting harder to meet.
Packaging – outlaw & in general reduce
2. Thinking of an ideal waste management system, statewide or in your area, what are some key
elements and actions we need to include, especially for the next five years?
Household electronics collection
More items in curbside recycling
Change the financing structure so people have the incentive to recycle
Fund more public recycling places – large cities have lots of places for small recycling
Education for reuse of containers – glass vs. plastic
Labeling on packaging for Hazardous waste disposal information
Standardized labeling
Assistance for private business recycling
Public drinking fountains to reduce plastic bottle use
Education for proper separation of plastics
Locally look at what we’re recycling and what’s important, take a look at what we are doing
now and what we should be doing
Look at a fee structure for recycling
3. Do you have any overall advice for the Department of Ecology for this plan update?
Reporting to DOE be more efficient – now report to 3 different departments with the same
information – Standardized reporting
Bio Solids sends to Headquarters and Region - have same report to both
Better communication with agency
Electronic reporting – paperless – easy
Hazardous Waste reporting electronically
Build a portal to report to one instead of many
Meaningful reports – feedback from DOE on the report
Food Waste household composting options – education
Where is the picture for people – the value to the individual?
The connection in paying for a program
Need infrastructure for some programs
List of disposal issues – manure and other easy products to deal with
DOE funding help for other medium advertising – signs etc.
A core curriculum for Public Health for the schools
Ecology to have enough Power/authority to regulate manufacturers/generators of plastic
There is a list serve: http: //listserv.wa.gov/cgi -bin/wa?AO=WA-STATE-WASTE-PLAN.
There is a survey on line if you wish to take it or send Julie an email at: j.robertson@ecy.wa.gov
with any more comments.
Action Items:
None
2. OPERATIONAL REPORTS:
Education: Pinky: Have done about 45 presentations reaching about 500 students. Late June
launched the One Less Bag campaign. So far there have been 142 people participate with minimal
advertising. There are 2 workshops coming up in December and February on Hidden Hazards in the
Arts. Jen, the part-time educator is gone and they are still looking to fill her position. At the NA
Hazardous Management Conference she learned of an “awesome bomb” that is a bale of waste for
display to educate the public. She and Matt are discussing displaying a bale.
Recycle: Matt: The buyer for glass in Seattle, E-Cullet is under a new owner and allowing us to bring
our glass. We no longer have to pay for glass disposal. Currently being paid about $10.00 per ton.
This greatly reduces the loss by about $36,000 per year. It takes about 12 man hours per load to pick
through glass to take for recycle. Matt is looking at stenciling the glass bins to make it clearer what
can go into the bin.
In the process of replacing the Skid Steer. Talking with Public Works on replacing the Baler. Prices
on cardboard have plateau’d at about $145 a ton, paper is dropped to about $80 a ton. The buyer in
Tacoma for tin, aluminum and plastic closed their doors for recycling. JMK in Tacoma has just
opened up and hopefully will take our product in October. Discussed co-mingled paper success.
Compost: John M: Business as usual – started selling compost on September 9th.
Solid Waste; Richard: Additional columns have been added to the solid waste report highlighted in
green for the garbage tonnage and revenue from the previous year through the current month.
On staffing a new employee will be replacing Al Cairns and working at the MRW. Monte Reinders
is our new Public Works Director, Frank Gifford has moved to Director, Central Services at the
Courthouse.
The Ecology CPG Grant final agreement has finally come through. It will be going to the board for
signature on the next agenda. The grant is $82,693 over 2 years.
The new forklift should be delivered in 2 weeks.
Working on purchasing a trailer jockey or “goat”
Jenifer Taylor is the new member to fill the at-large position
There are still vacancies in District 1 and District 3. Richard will send the position description to
John Austin
Submitted a solid waste budget as part of Public Works budget for next year
Open to any suggestions to improve the statistical information to be easier to use.
3. OLD BUSINESS:
Disposal Fees: Met with the County Administrator and the Commissioners and are scheduling a
hearing for the ordinance in October. There will be a press release. From the county staff point of
view the fee schedule appears to be supported. The budget proposal is based on the new fee
schedule. One thing changed was to drop the citizen fee at the MRW. Concerns were raised about
the cost increase for refrigerators that customers may have comments on and it will be dealt with
when it comes up.
The letter approved in June has not gone to the Commissioners until the fee presentation was made.
It will now be given to them.
Brief discussion on the schedule
John Austin moved to have John Merchant to continue as Chair for the rest of this year.
Matt Hall seconded with all members agreeing.
4. NEW BUSINESS:
2014 SWAC program and calendar:
Is the current schedule workable?
Welcome input about topics you would like to include this year
Richard will work with the Leader about publishing correct dates & times
Suggestion to contact KPTZ with the SWAC schedule – KPTZcalendars.org
Richard has an updated membership list – let him know if you want it e-mailed to you
5. FROM THE FLOOR:
None
6. NEXT MEETING DATE:
Thursday, October 24, 2013
7. ADJOURNMENT:
4:25 PM