HomeMy WebLinkAboutSWAC Final Minutes 10.23.14
JEFFERSON COUNTY
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES – Thursday, October 23, 2014
Jefferson County Public Works Building, Conference Room
1. OPENING BUSINESS:
Meeting called to order by John Merchant at 3:04 PM
Members Present:
John Merchant – City of Port Townsend
Kent Kovalenko – DM/Murrey’s Disposal
Lisa Crosby – District #1
Jenifer Taylor – Citizen at Large
Hank Fly – District #1
Al Cairns – Port of Port Townsend
Members Absent:
Matt Hall – Skookum
John Austin – County Commissioner
Staff Present:
Richard Talbot – PW Solid Waste Manager
Laura Tucker – Public Health Education
Tina Anderson – PW Support Staff
Staff Absent:
Julie Robertson – Department of Ecology
Jerry Mingo – PW MRW/Solid Waste Coordinator
No Guests.
There is a quorum
Approval of minutes: comment that Julie Roberson of DOE should be listed as staff.
Jenifer moved and Hank seconded to accept the September 25th minutes with change, motion carried.
Correspondence: email to commissioners and several staff from Jan Misner. Comments that county
does not recycle enough and has observed contaminates in the recycle bins.
Discussion followed on contamination and education. Laura gave out laminated 11” x 17” Glass
Recycling posters for posting. The posters were put in transit buses this week. She can produce these
in-house as needed. Laura has been working on articles and ads for the Leader.
No Guest Speaker or Action Items.
2. OPERATIONAL REPORTS:
Education:
Laura has met with John Merchant about recycling bins for downtown public use. As a part of the new
contract with the City and DM, DM will give up to $10,000 per year towards recycling and solid waste
items.
There are Students for Sustainability ready to do hands-on research of the recycle bins at the Maritime
center. On three (3) occasions they will empty each bin to see what is actually being recycled.
Discussion about how the Students for Sustainability are sending out their group information. Currently
the Students use Facebook for communication.
DM has also agreed to do a white goods recycling event that will be done over a week in the City.
Recycling: Matt absent. Skookum is still catching up.
Compost: Still selling. Another batch has been approved with another ready to test. The yard debris is
keeping up, not having to buy any. Question about not selling out? Sales have been slower but still
selling. The economy and the season slow the sales.
Solid Waste:
Staff report was sent out. Hazardous waste event in Quilcene last weekend was busy. The crew worked
non-stop for the four (4) hours open to the public (eight hours set-up to tear down). There were 55
people bringing in waste. Richard received a lot of good feedback. There was a lot of used oil. There
will be changes in the oil collection in Quilcene to accept more used oil.
Discussion of monitoring for PCB’s in used oil and the testing procedures now being used.
There was a successful auction selling the old trailer jockey for $1,150 and the recycling conveyor for
$2,000.
Currently working on updating the planning documents and winterizing operations.
3. OLD BUSINESS:
Added plastics to accepted List of Recyclables:
Matt and Jerry put together a status report on accepting more plastics handed out by Richard. The
estimate is 48 tons of added material will be diverted from trash. It appears there is a market so we can
take more types of plastics. Solid Waste would like the SWAC to raise any issues or in principle
indicate support for the concept. A final recommendation will be put together for the Public Works
Director.
Laura has been working on educational material. Jerry has looked into the plastics to oil conversion
concept.
Discussion on buckets and types of containers. Henery’s takes plant pots.
All entities involved in the process need to have the same information: pictures, verbiage etc.
Discussions on types of plastic and education to be done.
John Merchant asked if the SWAC supports this in principle. All agreed.
Solid Waste Management Plan:
Richard passed out the Solid Waste Management Plan Process and Schedule. Ecology has requested the
plan be revised rather than amended. One of the areas of note: the current plan does not address
emergency planning very well.
With the preliminary draft scheduled for end of May additional meetings may be scheduled monthly.
There is a regular meeting in January and addition meetings can be scheduled at that time.
Question from Lisa about the food waste in our waste stream. Suggestion that plan includes specific
targets for food waste reduction. A timeline for organic waste reduction?
Also, what role can we take in getting business to use recyclable products?
SWMP – Vision and Goals:
Richard passed out a bedsheet with Vision, Goals and High and Medium recommendations. Many of
the previous recommendations have been accomplished.
Richard would like to see the plan shorter, easier to read and with more focus on 5 to 10 year goals and
recommendations.
Questions arising:
Are there still recommendations from the board?
Are the recommendations tied to a goal?
Do the recommendations have a time line?
Discussion on recommendations. Make recommendations with more “teeth”.
Don’t miss the opportunity to include recommendations that can be used for Grant funding.
Need to keep in mind that recommendations that say we will should have a revenue source to back them
if to be accomplished in the next five years.
4. NEW BUSINESS:
Meeting dates for 2015 are listed on the bottom of the Agenda. More meetings possible scheduled next
year.
5. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING DATE: January 22, 2015
Meeting adjourned at 4:52 PM