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Solid Waste Committee for Trenton, Maine
Town of Trenton Solid Waste
Committee
Agenda
for December 3, 2008 meeting
1.
Attendees:
2. Administrative:
-Vote to accept minutes from November
5, 2008 meeting
New and Old Business
by category:
3. Separation of waste materials
Bulk of separables:
Cardboard & Paper
dumpsters –
Tarps replaced?
‘No plastic bags’ sign was
posted <11/11/08.
Website and local cable station
reminders about ‘no plastic bags in paper bin’?
Suzanne Owen called Tom with
dumpster user feedback 11/24/08 – slots too small
Tom to present cardboard and
paper amounts for September and October
Containers (plastic, glass,
metal)
– action by Selectmen? Tom report on
last Selectmen meeting?
Fruit/vegetable/plant composting
– deferred until spring?
Minority: (nothing to
discuss)
Bulky
Construction Debris
Metal
Hazardous (batteries, mercury
bulbs, computers)
Remaining MSW – nothing
to discuss
4. Bypassing ‘middleman’
Possible curbside pickup and
take directly to PERC? On hold for
now?
5. Communication:
Website – Status quo. Nothing to discuss
Mailing – no current mailing
plans
Town TV – nothing to discuss
Radio Public Service
announcements – nothing to discuss
Newspaper Public Service or town
section notice – Peter?
Education (schools, etc.) –
Peter “trash fair” update?
6. Other old or new business:
-status of Eastern Maine
Recycling (EMR) contract & discussions with Ellsworth
7. Identified Action Items:
8. Adjourn meeting
Next
meeting is Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 7PM in the town office.
Town of Trenton Solid Waste
Committee
Meeting
minutes for December 3, 2008
Attendees: Dotty Young,
Peter Rees, Tom Sproule
Administrative:
-Voted to accept minutes from November
5, 2008 meeting - 3 Yes, 0 No
Cardboard
& Paper dumpsters –
1)
At the last meeting, Eric White was tasked with
researching and possibly purchasing heavier duty tarps and bungee cords to
cover the recycling dumpsters. Eric
is not here tonight and the tarps have not been replaced yet. Action
item: Tom will email Eric to determine the status of this project.
2)
At the last meeting we identified as a problem
some residents placing plastic bags into the recycling dumpsters. Bob Kates, Mike Gilmartin and Tom Sproule
were tasked with placing ‘No plastic bags’ notices on the dumpsters
themselves, on the town cable TV station and on the Solid Waste website
respectively. All of those tasks
have been accomplished.
3)
Tom reported that town resident Suzanne Owen
called him on 11/24/08 to give feedback concerning the recycling dumpsters.
In particular, she felt the slots in
the sides of the dumpsters were too small, making it difficult to use
them. The Committee decided to not
take any action at this time, but rather wait and see how many more
residents come forward saying they feel the slot size is a problem.
4)
Tom presented the Committee with recycling tonnage
information for September and October 2008.
We think we know the
tonnage of paper collected in the Town Office dumpster (.83 tons and 1.04
tons for the first two pickups – currently averaging one pickup per month),
because Gott’s is probably not combining our pickup with others. However, we can only estimate the tonnage
of cardboard collected at the Town Office because the truck from Gott’s
typically collects from several sites (all in Trenton) before going to EMR
to be weighed and emptied. The
current estimate is that ~0.6-0.9 tons of cardboard is collected each time
the dumpster is full (currently twice per month). In summary, when all recycling costs are
considered in comparison to the tonnage diverted from Municipal Solid
Waste, it appears that our total recycling program has saved the town
~$3,300 for the period from July through October 2008. Tom pointed out that we currently pay a
$860/month recycling access fee to EMR, but that Ellsworth does not charge
any recycling access fee to its users.
If we can eliminate that access fee, either through negotiations
with EMR or by transferring our recycling stream to Ellsworth, we can save
an additional $10,000/year. It does appear that the Town Office
recycling dumpsters are encouraging residents to recycle more, with
recycling accounting for 8.3% of town tonnage over the period July 2008
through October 2008, compared to 5.4% for the comparable period in each of
the last two years. We hope to do
better still, since we had previously been told that any town should
‘easily’ be able to recycle at least 20% of its waste stream.
5)
The Committee briefly discussed whether the
recycling dumpster pickup should become a scheduled event or remain ‘on call
as needed’. It had been decided
previously that the Solid Waste Committee and the Selectmen were all
comfortable with either scheduled or ‘as needed’ pickups – whichever worked
better for the persons involved. At
tonight’s meeting, the discussion did not result in any change in status or
recommendation. Follow up note: On
12/4/08, Tom discussed this issue with Janet Muise, and they decided
together to ask Gott’s to go to two scheduled cardboard pickups per month,
probably on the first and third Fridays of the month. This should simplify the process for
Janet, for Tom and for Gott’s. If
the dumpster is getting full well in advance of a scheduled pickup, Janet
will decide (possibly consulting with Tom or others) whether to request an
additional pickup.
Containers
dumpster
– at their 11/18/08 meeting, Selectmen Mike Hodgkins and Mike Swanson were
able to speak with Chadd Blanchard, who plows the Town Office parking lot,
and determined that the recycling dumpsters will not interfere with his plowing. At that time they gave the go-ahead to
obtain a third dumpster for recycling containers (plastic, glass and
metal). However, they did not instruct
Town Clerk Janet Muise to call Gott’s concerning that until ~12/1/08. We estimate that the appropriate dumpster
will be on site in about two weeks.
Curbside
pickup
- We briefly discussed the possibility of curbside pickup of regular
trash. As town residents recycle
more, they are finding that their regular trash disposal is greatly
diminished and the cost for at home pickup of that trash seems
unnecessarily high (i.e. paying $4/week for pickup of usually one bag per
week). Committee members, in
discussion, still felt that the obstacles to town-wide curbside pickup of
regular trash were significant, and unlikely to be overcome any time
soon. As an alternative, it was
pointed out that with its pay-per-bag fee ($2/bag?), Ellsworth is willing
to accept regular trash from anyone.
For Trenton residents who pass that way anyway, it may be more cost
effective to take their trash to Ellsworth than to pay for home pickup.
Communication:
Newspapers – Peter had
previously interviewed with the editor of the Ellsworth American, and
intends to contact him again after we have the third dumpster in place. The goal is to have articles published
concerning our program, thereby raising awareness among town residents and
increasing their use of the program.
Education
(schools, etc.)
– Peter is on the agenda to propose the ‘trash fair’ idea at the next
Acadia Disposal District meeting. He
hopes to get their endorsement of the project, possibly including a little
financial aid.
Status
of Solid Waste discussions with Ellsworth – On 11/13/08, Bob Kate,
Peter Rees and Mike Hodgkins met with representatives of City of Ellsworth
(Tammy Mote and Leann Beal) as a first formal meeting to consider if
Trenton can and should utilize the Ellsworth Transfer Station to meet our
Solid Waste needs (as a replacement for EMR). Tom reported tonight that he has been
brought into the discussion via email, and has provided Leann Beal with
some tonnages for the past three years to give them some idea of what they
are dealing with. We are now awaiting
further word from Ellsworth.
The
meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.
The
next meeting is Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 7PM in the town office.
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