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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.25.18 SWAC Minutes JEFFERSON COUNTY SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SWAC) MEETING MINUTES – Thursday, October 25, 2018 Jefferson County Public Works Building, Conference Room 623 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, Washington OPENING BUSINESS Meeting called to order at 3:00 pm by Bart Kale, Chair Introductions – Bart Kale, SWAC Chair Committee Members Present: Bart Kale, Citizen-at-Large Kathleen Kler, County Commissioner Lisa Crosby, District #1 Jenifer Taylor, District #2 Glenn Gately, County Conservation District Chad Young, Waste Connections Stacie Hall for Alysa Russell, Skookum Contract Committee Members Absent Carol Cummins, District #1 Dave Zeller, City of Port Townsend Staff Present: Tom Boatman, Public Works SW Manager Jerry Mingo, Public Works MRW Coordinator Chris Spall, Public Works Support Staff Laura Tucker, Public Health, Education Guests Brian Tate - Waste Connections; Citizens - Tracy Grisman, Margaret Lee, Juri Jennings Quorum Determination: There is a quorum. Approval of August 23, 2018 Minutes: No changes requested. Lisa made a motion to approve minutes and Jenifer seconded the motion. Motion carried. Correspondence: None received. Correspondence introduced for Committee Discussion: Letter from State of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to BOCC concerning rate impacts due to recycling market changes. NEW BUSINESS Manager’s Report – Tom Boatman, Solid Waste Manager 1. Transport and Disposal Contract RFP – Progress Update (SWMP 7.3 Waste Export) Current contract expires April 1, 2019. Due date for proposals is November 5, 2018. Proposals to be submitted to BOCC but will be opened at Public Works Office. Price is 70% of evaluation and, technical, as well as environmental factors will be considered when awarding contract. Republic Services, Waste Connections, Waste Management, and Cowlitz County attended a mandatory pre-proposal conference held September 26, 2018. 2. 2019 Committee Meeting Dates: Discussion and Motion requested (to be able to advertise for Open Public Meeting requirements and provide governance membership). Tom asked SWAC to discuss proposed schedule and approve a schedule of meeting dates for 2019 so that advertisement in the local papers can be completed (listed at bottom of Agenda.). There was discussion and agreement to hold two consecutive meetings in the fall as many people are on vacation in the late summer. Bart proposed moving the August meeting to September 26, 2019. Jenifer made a motion to approve and Lisa seconded the motion. Motion passed. Meeting Dates for 2019 will be January 24, March 21, May 23, July 25, September 26, and October 24. 3. Recycling – Skookum getting market feedback from buyers to reduce amount of ‘browns’ – chipboard and brown paper – in the mixed paper bundles. Cereal boxes (boxboard/chipboard) least valuable of recyclables. What is happening to cereal boxes and brown paper? Paper bags being included in cardboard (OCC) bundles. Boxboard staying in mixed paper bundles and being recycled. Adding brown paper to cardboard (OCC) might endanger the paper mill market for cardboard due to the possibility unattended contamination. Also, some paper board is going into cardboard, but most getting recycled with mixed paper. Up to 8% is contaminant in mixed paper and is going into trash. Staff Report – Jerry Mingo, MRW Coordinator 1. Progress and County cost update of Contamination Reduction Outreach Education Initiative A small percent of tipping fee goes to education outreach through a fund created by an ILA with Port Townsend and, fund expenditures have been directed toward food waste education, such as composting classes. Laura Tucker said she held five (5) composting workshops in 2018, including one at Kala Point, with a total of 112 participants. Cost is $25 for 2 hour workshop, and at the end of the two hours participants get a composter, valued at $125 at the wholesale price purchased by the County. The Quimper Grange provided use of its building in exchange for a composter. Jerry presented details of the public outreach effort to reduce contamination and increase recycling: a. Updated Recycling Outreach Flyers. Special call outs for clean and empty, dated in upper right area, important messages on back; 15,600 PUD county wide customers received flyer in the last bill. Twelve (12) sample boards installed at six (6) locations and placed so people can see. Skookum helped provide recycling samples for the board displays. b. Contaminate Outreach Advertisement Campaign Status. Realized and projected costs (PUD, other); $3,600 into this outreach including staff time of 237 hours. c. Recognition of Volunteers.- 20 hours of volunteer time recognized. Personal thanks from staff and committee for all who took their own time to visit recycle drop off centers and interact with customers, promoting recycling and explaining the need to reduce contamination. Recycling discussion. Recyclables are a moving target, domestic capacity is growing, but we must be flexible for the next few years until new facilities in US come online. Nearest facilities being built in California. China buying closed US paper mills and upgrading them. McKinley Paper purchased mill in Port Angeles, and initially will make containerboard from recycled cardboard (OCC.). Tom said that if Skookum has a non-sustainable, unmarketable material, they have to put it in writing saying they can’t sell it and explaining the problem. Then county will respond with reference to the SWMP but stockpiles must be kept to a reasonable size. No stockpile issue right now. Pulling paper contaminants is not part of contract with Skookum but baling products for shipping and selling recovered recyclables is. Laura Tucker asked SWAC to recommend Public Works pay for meals for Port Townsend High School ‘Students for Sustainability’ group when they go to Yakama County Solid Waste Summit. Public Health will provide providing car and gas. Tom said there is a small fund ‘SWAC expense fund’ or an education expense fund in Solid Waste budget that might be able to be used for this. Cost would be $300-400 for two (2) meals for six (6) students and two (2) chaperones who are not employees of the county. SWAC discussed motion that it is an acceptable use of funds. Students should give a report to SWAC about summit. Glenn made a motion to approve the recommendation and Jenifer seconded the motion. Motion passed. Open Committee and Public Discussion: Margaret, a resident of Port Townsend, said new recycling bins brought to her apartment were not labeled, except to say ‘no glass.’ People are putting different things in each bin. Margaret does not pay a PUD bill as it is included in her rent so she didn’t receive county flyer. Bart thanked Margaret for bringing this up. It makes SWAC aware that residents in multi-resident housing aren’t getting residential recycling information. Chad Young, Waste Connections explained new bins are being distributed throughout the county and that bin labels will be installed to help prevent confusion in the future. Next Proposed Meeting Date: January 24th, 2019 Adjournment At 4:33 pm, Bart Kale called for the meeting to be adjourned.