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Home My WebLink About07.25.2024 SWAC Minutes APPROVED JEFFERSON COUNTY Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting, Thursday, July 25, 2024, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Public Works Office, 623 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA Hybrid Meeting Audio and video recordings posted under Meeting Recordings on this website https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/483/Solid-Waste -Advisory-Committee Opening Business Meeting agenda posted on website on July 18, 2024. 1. Call to Order and Roll Call – Tracy Grisman, Chair Committee Members Present for Roll Call Heidi Eisenhour, County Commissioner Tracy Grisman, Chair & District #1 Phil Sonne, Citizen-at-Large Steve Chappuis, District #2 Tim Deverin, District #3 Glenn Gately, Conservation District Joey Deese, Waste Connections Alysa Thomas, Skookum Site Manager Steve King, City of Port Townsend Committee Members Absent Don Rhoden, District #2 Staff Present Al Cairns, Solid Waste Manager Chris Spall, Public Works Support Staff Laura Tucker, Public Works - Solid Waste Educator Guests/Visitors: Mandi Johnson, JeffCo Repair, Kami Bruner, Repair x Reuse Washington, Rebecca Jewell, Citizen. From WA State Ecology (ECY): Blake Nelson, Lacy Koiman, Megan Davis, Mya Keyzers, Kara Steward, and Tina Schaefer There is a quorum. 2. Public Comment: None 3. Approval/ Correction of previous meeting minutes Heidi motioned to approve the January meeting minutes and Joey seconded the motion. The minutes were approved. 4. Committee Reports (No sub-committees formed) 5. Staff Reports (Q&A on Staff Report) – There was discussion about: Sustainability Stars: Laura Tucker is working on getting ready to launch the program. The plan is to have a webpage and a few other things in place before the program starts, and an article each month in The Leader about a shining star. Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Interlocal Agreement: The agreement with Kitsap County has been in place for about two weeks. Jefferson County residents can take their HHW to the current facility in Bremerton, and to Kitsap’s Poulsbo facility when it opens next year. For now, Jefferson County will continue to hold four (4) HHW collection events a year, but may scale back the number of events after the new facility near Poulsbo is operating. Transfer Station Replacement Planning Process Site Selection. Al’s working on material for a workshop with the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) in mid-August. Task Force meetings will start up again in August. Despite the long-pause, a lot of work has been done towards deciding where a new facility should be. Non-sufficient Fund Transactions: We shouldn’t see an increase in them given that we have a low-income discount. It has not been a big problem in the past but we’re starting to see an uptick. Trying to be kind about it, but we also need to be firmer so people know it’s not okay. 6. Old Business (None) 7. New Business a. Recycling Program Discussion: Al brought up the “Jefferson County Recycling Program Issue Paper” on the screen and spoke about it. Key points from this were • The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) employment program is now separate from the recycling program. • We are the only county in Washington that has a source separated recycling program. Whatcom County recently discontinued theirs and now has a single roll cart collection program. • We have a moral responsibility to ensure the same environmental and worker protections we expect domestically are being met wherever the materials we collect end up. This is why we kept the source separated program and limited the plastics we accept to bottles and jugs. • Our Contamination Reduction Program (CROP) has not reduced contamination much. • Al visited and toured the materials recovery facility (MRF) where our Tin, Aluminum, and Plastic (TAP) bales go. Waste Connection recently bought that facility. At the MRF our TAP bales are broken open and sorted with the other recycling materials, and low-grade types of plastic are pulled out to go to a landfill. It appears that sending our materials mixed to the MRF would still meet our materials acceptance standards, because low grade plastics would go to a landfill instead of being marketed overseas. • This raises the possibility to move from source separated to a single roll cart, which is what Al is recommending. This is seismic shift that we don’t take lightly. First stop for discussion on this is with the SWAC, next a workshop with the BoCC, then on to City Council. Related questions and discussion: • Who pays for the recycling material that is landfilled? We do. Contamination reduces the value of the commodity so we get less for the product. Our tipping fee subsidizes our recycling program. It is our third largest spending area after long haul disposal and operations and maintenance. • Would we keep glass? – Yes, we’d adopt a program like Clallam for recycling glass. Glass out of the roll cart bins but we would stage collection sites around the county for glass. Glass is expensive to recycle but it is endlessly recyclable. • How will program work for Skookum. Discontinue recycling drop-off sites at Transfer Station, Quilcene, and Hadlock. Curbside recycling has a much lower (5%) contamination rate. The same contractor who would collect curbside recyclables would also collect the glass at the designated collection sites. No curbside glass collection. • What would happen to Skookum? Isn’t Skookum’s contract for three years? Will people lose their jobs? Soliciting feedback from SWAC on this proposal to report to the BoCC. Not a fast track proposal. • Contact state representative in support of Rewrap bill will make recycling consistent around the state of WA. • Where would glass go? To Strategic and Concrete Recyclers that turn it into sand and other things. b. Tracy Grisman, Reclaim it presentation. In Oregon, two programs: artist in residence, and gleaners. They fix thing and then resell it in a retail store, “Crackedpots Reclaim It!” Reclaimitpdx.org. Reuse, rebuild it stores nearby c. Department of Ecology Presentation, “Recycling Market Development Center” Megan Davis • A four-person Ecology team and two people from Commerce, with each person having a different scope and role. • A partnership between Ecology and Commerce. • Core Pillars: Convening-bringing groups together, Innovation – developing new ideas, Assistance thru Commerce, Research – take data from Ecology to decide what materials to target. • Small piece in SWMP regarding end markets for recyclables. • Does scope include organics? No, but there is an organics team in Ecology. • Business engagement going outside the usual paths to be creative and innovative. • Do you partner with other agencies? Yes, working across sectors to be creative and to inspire and build a connection and support the work. • Do you have a lot of building materials? Yes, high on priority list. • Recycle Market Development works with everybody. Opportunities to engage via quarterly board meetings on Zoom. 2024 Pitch Showcase — NextCycle Washington • The Recycling Materials Stream Study came out today with lots of good data to use for planning purposes 2022-2023 Washington Statewide Recycling & Organics Characterization Study 8. Partner Updates a. City of Port Townsend – Steve King. Nothing really new. Met with Al and Joey about possible contract issues if the area goes with co-mingle. b. Waste Connections (Joey Deese) – No new updates, besides recycle stuff we talked about. c. Skookum Contract Services (Alysa Thomas) – Value of recyclable down slightly. New hook truck is on its way by September. Had to purchase a 53-foot dry trailer. That trailer hauls all of our commodities except glass. Highest revenue producing month in seven years. More stuff and better markets. Massive amount of OCC. d. Artist in Residency Program (Tracy Grisman) –Margie McDonald is the 2024 artist. She teaches cardboard creations and wearable art at Fort Worden. All about making art from what people throw away. https://aireatthetransferstation.com/ 9. Future Agenda Items -. Meeting adjourned at 4:31 PM Next Meeting Date: September 26, 2024. 2024 Regular Meetings January 25 March 28 May 23 July 2 5 September 26 December 5