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Home My WebLink AboutSWAC Final Minutes 9.25.2014 JEFFERSON COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Thursday, September 25, 2014 Jefferson County Public Works Building, Conference Room 1. OPENING BUSINESS: Meeting called to order by John Merchant at 3:01 PM Members Present John Merchant – City of Port Townsend Lisa Crosby – District #1 Jenifer Taylor – Citizen at Large Henry Fly – District #1 John Austin – County Commissioner Members Absent: Al Cairns – Port of Port Townsend Kent Kovalenko – DM/Murrey’s Disposal Matt Hall – Skookum Staff Present: Jerry Mingo – PW MRW Coordinator Laura Tucker – Public Health Education Richard Talbot – PW Solid Waste Manager Tina Anderson – PW Support Staff Absent: Julie Robertson – Department of Ecology There is a quorum. Approval of minutes: John Austin moved and Lisa seconded to accept the June 2014 minutes, motion carried. Correspondence: None Guest Speakers: None Action Items: Product Stewardship – Paint Initiative Resolution – Jerry Jerry handed out the updated draft resolution with a letter of support to the Jefferson County Commissioners. Discussion followed about the possible push back from paint stores – none expected as there is flexibility for the collections. Industry funded latex collection? Events would be made available if there are no sites. Fees? Fees would be embedded in the initial cost of the paint purchase, not an additional tax. Latex could be handled at the MRW. Savings by not sending Latex to Roosevelt? Possibly small, offset by reduction in quantity and loss of tip fee. John Austin made the motion to authorize the chair to sign the aforementioned letter to the BOCC along with the resolution. Jenifer seconded the motion. Discussion: by sending the letter to BOCC this shows that the SWAC supports the resolution. Motion carried with none opposed. 1. OPERATIONAL REPORTS: Education: Public Health – Laura Tucker: Still doing education at the Port Ludlow Picnic, Festival and Farmer’s Market. Using a game board of what is recyclable, the 1 less bag challenge and giving out reusable produce bags. She has been working on a new flyer. Also reviewing the multi web sites with differing information. There has been a question about taking blue glass. It is currently not accepted for recycling. Working on 11” X 17” flyers for recycling that will be printed in-house. There is a new Household Hazardous Waste flyer with the upcoming recycling events. Once the additional plastics are approved, there is a large campaign planned. The Students for Sustainability are going to create signage for the recycle collection sites. The labor will be free and hopefully generate a newspaper article. They will field test the signs with students there to check what is being brought in and asking if the signs make sense. There will be ads and flyers in the Leader, ads in the PDN and also at the Rose Theater and KPTZ radio. There will also be an interactive survey. The first 100 responders will receive a tumbler with a reusable straw. There will be school visits this fall. Last spring they did a “what is recyclable” activity with one class scoring 100%. Future plans are to align the PW/PH web pages. The Students for Sustainability would like to get grants for recycle bins downtown. Planning two vermiculture and worm composting workshops. Recycle: Skookum – Matt Hall is absent, report from Richard: They are behind on shipping due to a shortage of employees. Matt has been doing a lot on the floor and driving. Recycle quantities for the quarter are up a little. The baler is in poor condition and is planned to be replaced by the end of the year. Compost: City of PT – John Merchant: Still selling compost. Pulled samples last week for another batch. The plan is to run again this winter. There has been no need to purchase yard debris. Question on poison testing in compost – the city tests for the required toxins and PCB’s. There have been no issues as there is a very clean stream. The city is renegotiating with DM for recycle bins downtown. Solid Waste: Richard: Sent out his report via e-mail. Because of the fee increase, have been able to do some substantial equipment maintenance and replacement. There is a new trailer jockey and new boom for the compactor. Winterizing, gutter and roof cleaning. Major rebuild on the inbound scale is done. Next year the outbound scale is planned for rebuild. Question about citizens picking up trash and disposing for free? Solid Waste does not have a specific mechanism in place, this is handled thru the Health Department. Solid Waste gives the Health Department funds toward abatement. The city has seen more illegal dumping and they pick up and pay the fee. 2. OLD BUSINESS: Added plastics to Accepted List of Recyclables: Staff: Richard gave out a status report listing the criteria and status with a copy of the Recyclable Materials Policy Statement from 2010. Question from Richard: With the change in how sorting is now being done, and the change in the market, should we be looking at the economics of further increasing what we take? Jerry proposed that the discussion about which plastics are included and excluded will continue indefinitely since we are tied into a market system. Discussion about the alternatives and turning plastics into oil. Two facilities are now processing in Portland and San Diego. Need to be sure of the markets and processing before giving new options to the public. Jerry passed out the new Household Hazardous Waste brochure and the flyers for the collection events. The collections events are scheduled for October 18, 2014 in Quilcene and April 18, 2015 in Port Ludlow. 1. NEW BUSINESS: Presentation – Waste Reduction and Climate Impacts – Laura Tucker, PH Power Point Presentation: Looking at the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest. Presented charts of water stream flows, snow packs and discussed how acidic our local waters are. With the decrease in snow pack and warmer weather, we will be experiencing dryer summers. Models are showing that the Pacific Northwest is about 10 years behind major climate changes. There has been an increase in the temperature of seawater which has been causing glacial melt in the Artic and Antarctic. This has caused an increase in seawater levels – higher tides. Erosion has already been seen in the City of Port Townsend from increased water levels. Governor Inslee has asked the state to reduce carbon emissions, increase fuel efficiency and use cleaner sources of energy. King County has taken steps by planting vegetation at closed landfills, maximizing collection and utilization of gas produced, increased collection of yard, food and food soiled paper, reduced energy consumption and emissions at facilities and reduced environmental impacts by operating an efficient fleet of vehicles. Waste management practice is heading more towards Zero Waste. The list of waste management goals in order of most to least preferable: Avoid, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Treat and Dispose. Information and diagram on the life cycle of products and energy saved in recycling versus virgin material. Information on Health Department concerns, who is working on climate action in the community and what can be done by individuals. Use the 7 “Rs”: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Return, Repair, Recycle and Rot. More information can be found at: http://epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ and http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ Laura can provide a pdf of the slides for anyone interested. Next Meeting Date: October 23, 2014 Adjourn: 4:40 PM