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Solid Waste Committee for Trenton, Maine
Town of Trenton Solid Waste Committee
Agenda for August 6, 2008 meeting
1.
Attendees:
2.
Administrative:
-Vote to accept minutes from July 2,
2008 meeting
- is everyone sworn in?
3.
New Business: Structuring of
Committee Agenda and Actions:
Actions
of this Committee have so far addressed three areas:
-Separation
of recycling and other materials from MSW (to reduce weight and therefore
cost to town, although other benefits (i.e. environmental) from separation
may be realized)
-Bypassing
‘middleman’ (EMR) in MSW disposal as a way to reduce MSW costs
-Communication
with town residents (to encourage them to participate in these programs)
- additional
areas may be added to this list as they are identified
For
future meetings, it may be beneficial to repeatedly list items for each
area with progress notes. For the
remainder of this agenda, items will be placed in that format (mixing ‘old
business’ and ‘new business’).
4. Separation of waste materials:
Bulk of separables:
Cardboard – waiting for dumpster
(waiting for Bangor Hydro work to end)
Paper – waiting for dumpster
(waiting for Bangor Hydro work to end)
Plastic – discuss at this
meeting
Fruit/vegetable/plant composting
– discuss at this meeting
Minority:
Bulky
Construction Debris
Metal
Hazardous (batteries, mercury
bulbs, computers)
Glass (non-deposit)
Remaining MSW – more directly reward
those who recycle well? discuss at this meeting
5. Bypassing ‘middleman’
Possible curbside pickup and
take directly to PERC?
Possible central collection
dumpster to be taken directly to PERC?
We are looking for volunteers to
research this further.
6. Communication:
Website – waiting for action
from Janet Muise and James Curtis
Mailing – First draft done by
Peter Rees. Waiting for dumpsters
and website before polishing. Dotty
has mailing list?
Town TV – Dotty researching?
Radio Public Service
announcements – anyone researching?
Newspaper Public Service or town
section notice – anyone researching?
7. Other old or new business:
-year end solid waste numbers
for 2007-08 (handouts)
-status of Eastern Maine
Recycling (EMR) contract
-trial separation of home waste
by Committee members
-restrict recycling dumpsters to
residential use, or allow town businesses to use them as well (if they are
‘small’ producers)?
8. Discussion and Action Items:
9. Adjourn meeting
Next
meeting is Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 7PM in the town office.
Minutes for August 6, 2008 meeting
(as accepted September 3, 2008)
Attendees: Dotty
Young, Peter Rees, Tom Sproule, Bob Kates, Eric White
Administrative:
1. Dotty and Tom were the only members
present who were also at the last meeting.
They both approved the presented minutes from the July 2, 2008
meeting. Chuck had also been checked
by email and he approved the minutes as well.
2. Everyone present this evening has been
sworn in.
New and old
business:
1. Tom presented the agenda in a new format,
stating his intention that this format be used for future meetings as a
check list for the various items which need repeated attention from month
to month. The only suggested change
to the format so far is that plastic and non-deposit glass be combined as
‘containers’ under ‘Bulk of separables’, since they are currently permitted
to be combined for recycling, and we will hopefully be allowed to continue
that practice in the future.
2. Cardboard and paper recycling: Bangor Hydro is still using the Town
Office parking lot, and we do not have the dumpsters for recycling
yet. Action item: It was decided that Tom will speak to the
Selectmen at their next meeting (August 12) and ask that we be permitted to
order the dumpsters, even though Bangor Hydro is not done yet (when the
Selectmen first approved the dumpsters, Jim Cameron said he wanted to wait
to order them until Bangor Hydro was out of the way). Tom will also mention the need for tarps
to cover the dumpsters, rope to attach the tarps and signs to label the
dumpsters, and give the Selectmen the option of having Solid Waste
Committee members purchase these items (to be reimbursed by the Town). Action
item: Concerning signs, Peter
and Dotty are going to come up with some wording suggestions to be
presented at our next meeting. Other
Committee members are invited to present ideas as well.
3. Composting of plant/fruit/vegetable
waste: The merits of separating
vegetable waste from the MSW were discussed, as well as reasons why some
people are reluctant to compost. Action item: Bob will research compost barrels, such
as those sold each spring by the University of Maine cooperative extension.
4. ‘Remaining MSW’: We discussed (again) the idea of
expanding from two dumpsters (paper and cardboard) to four (to add
plastics/containers and regular trash (MSW)). Bob expressed concern that including a
dumpster for MSW would essentially make the dumpster site a ‘transfer
station’, exposing us to many regulations which we would be required to
follow. Bob recommended checking
with the State Planning Office, perhaps through their website, to see what
regulatory issues we would face.
5. Website:
Tom reported that the solid waste portion of the town website is
still not up and running. Other
members suggested that Tom bring the issue to the Selectmen at their next
meeting (August 12) to expedite getting the website on line. [Follow up note: Tom communicated with Janet Muise and
James Curtis by email on August 7-9, and the first rendition of the Solid
Waste web pages was on line by August 9, making the planned discussion with
the Selectmen unnecessary.]
6. Mailing:
Peter presented a second version of the planned first mailing for
comment. After a few suggestions
were made, it was decided that Peter would incorporate those changes and
then email a new version of the letter to committee members for further consideration
and comments. Tom reported that
Janet Muise has been presented with a second request for bulk mailing
recently from Judy Sproule concerning school district consolidation
progress, and that Janet expressed interest in mailing the school materials
and the solid waste materials together.
7. 2007-08 solid waste numbers: Tom presented some year end numbers
concerning our solid waste. Except
for a spike in 2006-07, our town seems to consistently average about 1600
tons of MSW, about 100 tons of other waste (bulky, metal, construction debris,
etc.) and about 100 tons of recycling.
It was also pointed out that waste from business sources may account
for ½ to ¾ of the total, indicating the importance of addressing businesses
in any attempts to reduce the quantity of MSW via recycling. Tom also pointed out that there is a gap
between reported solid waste expenses to EMR, PERC, EMDC and Pine Tree and
what appears in the town report, raising the possibility that there is a
component of the solid waste budget which we are unaware of and therefore
ignoring in our attempts to reduce costs.
Action item: Dotty will obtain copies of expenditure
documents from 2006-07 and Tom will analyze them in an attempt to reconcile
the costs which have been reported to our committee.
8. Status of EMR contract: we think the town
will be presented with a contract to consider by the end of August.
Meeting adjourned at
8:45. The next meeting is Wednesday,
September 3.
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