HomeMy WebLinkAboutSWAC Final Minutes 5.22.2014JEFFERSON COUNTY
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES – Thursday, May 22, 2014
Jefferson County Public Works Building, Conference Room
1. OPENING BUSINESS:
Meeting called to order by John Merchant at 3:15 PM
Members Present:
John Merchant – City of Port Townsend
Val Johnstone – District #1
Lisa Crosby – District #1
Al Cairns – Port of Port Townsend
Members Absent:
John Austin – County Commissioner
Paul Roglund – District #2
Jenifer Taylor – Citizen at Large
Matt Hall – Skookum
Kent Kovalenko – DM/Murrey’s Disposal
Julie Robertson – Department of Ecology
Staff:
Pinky Feria-Mingo – Public Health Education
Laura Tucker – Public Health Education
Richard Talbot – Public Works Solid Waste Manager
Jerry Mingo – Public Works MRW/Solid Waste Coordinator
Tina Anderson – Public Works Support Staff
Guests: None
There is not a quorum
Approval of Minutes: To be done at June meeting.
Correspondence: None
2. OPERATIONAL REPORTS:
Education:
Pinky: With Laura in place, Pinky is phasing out and will be going to work for ORCA (Olympic
Clean Air Agency). Her last day at the Health Department will be mid-June.
Laura: is the Waste Reduction Outreach Coordinator for Jefferson County.
She is working on outreach events: the Farmers Markets, the Ludlow Festival and others.
Currently working on presentations to the schools and works with the Students for Sustainability.
The Health Department received the CPG Offset grant applied for in the amount of $11,000.00.
This is primarily for education about contamination, waste reduction and the waste stream. The
current focus is on plastics.
Comment from Jerry: a reminder that reduction is only a part of the Solid Waste Education.
Also some good news from plastics: there is a new vendor (Recology) for Skookum that may also
take plastic tubs. They are also investing in making synthetic oil from plastics. He expects plastics
to be discussed at every meeting.
Laura: This is an ever changing area for education.
Discussion followed on the CPG grant funding.
Recycling:
Richard: Matt has two vendors for glass in the Seattle area instead of going to Portland.
Matt is at a ribbon cutting/opening for Recology Clean Scapes.
The future of glass is looking up.
Brief discussion on the bottle bill, reuse and/or recycle.
Discussion about pictures instead of words for signage. Laura plans for the Students for
Sustainability to participate in this project by monitoring and designing signage.
Compost:
Started selling on April 21st and sold 108 yards that day. Selling an average of 30 to 40 yards per
day. The yard debris is barely keeping up. Bought a couple loads from Herman Brothers.
Solid Waste:
Richard sent out the Staff report.
Question about the ground water testing and brief discussion.
3. OLD BUSINESS:
Paul Roglund has resigned and today is the last meeting for Valerie Johnstone.
After 10 years of service to the SWAC she is retiring.
A Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to Val and a brief break was taken to enjoy cake,
cookies and tea.
4. NEW BUSINESS:
Jerry presented a legislative update on PCB contaminated oil disposal.
DOE is directed to draft Best Management Practices.
He is planning to work on the project Al started of turning a shipping container into an
environmental learning center as well as a place to collect oil and anti-freeze. This will take time
to work on the permitting. This setup with two oil tanks will allow a tank to be locked and tested,
and lessens the risk of inadvertently taking in PCB contaminated oil and contamination of a larger
tank. Results of testing take less than 2 weeks.
Jerry reviewed Product Stewardship, aka Extended Producer Responsibility, in which a
manufacturer voluntary or by regulation assume responsibility for the end of life disposal of
mercury lamps, toxic metal bearing batteries, electronics etc. Industry is best able to manage the
waste materials from the products they have made. It gives industry the incentive to maximize the
recyclability of their products. E.g. the European Union requires that autos become more
recyclable. Pinky explained their ruling and the IDIS (International Dismantling Identification
System) database that displays all the hazardous components and how to dismantle a car.
The solid waste industry supports Product Stewardship to reduce waste and protect the common
rate payer from disposal costs of more difficult items.
Other examples include E-Cycle Washington and the Rechargeable Battery Recycling
Corporation’s voluntary “Call2Recycle” program.
Mercury bearing lamps legislation passed and was to go into effect in January 2013. Due to
challenges and a recent agreement the new date is January 1, 2015. The chemical symbol “Hg”
often appears on products instead of “mercury”. (From the Greek word Hydrargyrum or “hydra”
water and “argyros” silver)
Items being discussed as candidates for Product Stewardship are: latex paint, pharmaceuticals,
sharps, other types of batteries, carpeting and mattresses.
Why would we be interested in the Producer Responsibility?
By having industry take on some of its own waste product there is the potential to reduce
toxicity in the waste stream. There would be a cost reduction for us. The mercury lamps disposal
program will reimburse us for our collection costs, for example.
Smaller jurisdictions can support product stewardship initiative with letters of support to
legislators or ideally resolutions from our Board of Commissioners.
Questions: Other counties/jurisdictions have written letters of support for Latex paint legislation.
Currently Waste-Not-Want-Not will only accept full cans of latex paint.
DOE regulates solid waste as things that will not pass thru a paint filter cone.
Paints are currently a focus and next alkaline batteries.
Laura: Proposed that her presentation on Education, Waste Reduction and Climate Impacts be
tabled until the September meeting.
5. FROM THE FLOOR:
Val: officially donated her SWAC binder for recycling
She thanks everyone for their good wishes.
NEXT MEETING: June 26, 2014
ADJOURNMENT: 3:32 PM