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SSRC MSW Manager Breakfast Forum Minutes 6/15/2005, 9:00 am, Abington Town Hall Accepted 8/17/05 Present: Abington: Susan Brennan*, Michelle Roberts*; Cohasset: Merle Brown*, Arthur Lehr*; Hanover: Steve Herrmann*; Hingham: Helga Jorgensen*, Randy Sylvester; Hull: Nancy Kramer*; Marshfield: Bob Griffin*, Paul Tomkavage*, Debbie Sullivan; Norwell: Pattie Hainer*; Rosemary Nolan, DEP; Paul Curry, Bay State Textile Corp.; Claire Sullivan, SSRC Executive Director *appointed Board members Chairman Merle Brown called the meeting to order at 9:15. Paul Curry of Bay State Textile Corp. provides containers and collection services for discarded clothing, shoes and stuffed toys. BSTC pays $30/ton to the host municipality for material collected, and an additional $20/ton to a local youth program. They also offer a $1,000 payment up front for towns that take a container, and do not require that other donation boxes be removed. They expect a certain amount of unwanted materials to be deposited in the containers, and have an outthrow rate of 3%. He’s been operating for 7 years, and has worked with municipalities for 14 months; references have been provided to the Exec. Dir, and the program is supported with a grant from Mass. DEP. Materials are sorted at their 50K sf facility in New Bedford, and shipped worldwide. Unusable textiles are ground up and recycled. They can make donation receipts available on the boxes. Trailers are 20 feet long, hold 5,000 lbs, and are picked up with a day of being called. Minutes: Ms. Jorgensen moved that the 5/11/05 minutes be accepted as written, Mr. Herrmann seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Treasurer’s Report: The balance as of April was a healthy $44,542.29. Ms. Kramer moved to accept the treasurer’s report, Mr. Griffin seconded, passed unanimously. Update Plan: Board reviewed proposed FY06 Plan presented by Executive Director. Mr. Lehr moved that the Plan be approved as written, Mr. Tomkavage seconded, passed unanimously. Board will revisit three times/year. Staff Review: Since the Exec. Dir. will be responsible for her own health insurance beginning in October, the Eboard recommended that in lieu of a pay increase, the SSRC cover some of that expense. Mr. Brown suggested that she could be covered as a Cohasset employee. They will meet with the Cohasset Town manager, Bill Griffin this summer. Other suggestions were made, but Mr. Herrmann and Mr. Burnett, who are also well versed in government benefit plans, thought them to be less advantageous. Water Bottles: The Exec. Dir requested that we order more water bottles with our logo and DEP’s “Recycle: A little effort, a big difference” as a useful promotional item. We have about 40 left from our events recycling grant, which we will give to volunteers at the Marshfield Fair again. Ms. Kramer and Mr. Brown recommended that we get a price from Goodwin Graphics in Cohasset (they were made by AmeriMark Direct before). Board also suggested a larger size than the current 16 oz. Ms. Roberts moved that the SSRC spend $300 on this item, Mr. Griffin seconded, motion carried unanimously. Exec. Dir. was also asked to look into T-Shirt and pencil pricing. Sharps: Mr. Sylvester from Hingham reported that he discovered 3 barrels of sharps at the transfer station. The Exec. Dir. put him in touch with Medical Waste Disposal Co. in Natick, which had presented their program to the Board last fall. Cohasset BOH is also using their service. Exec. Dir. reminded towns of their program, handed out pricing and information sheets, and asked if the SSRC should coordinate sharps collections in conjunction with HHP days. Cost would run about $400/collection. No action was taken. Exec. Dir. had requested sponsorship from CVS, but was turned down. The Board requested that she ask Walgreen’s, and look into filing legislation that would require doctors offices or pharmacies to take used sharps. Legislation: A hearing is scheduled on five recycling bills of potential interest to our members on July 25 at 1 pm. Exec. Dir distributed list and text from most of the bills and asked if she should testify in favor of any or all. Board discussed merits of legislation to form a task force to set up a non-latex paint takeback system, had reservations about retailers taking back used paint thinner due to its dangers, and were concerned about impacts of certain takeback requirements on smaller retailers. Ms. Jorgensen moved that the SSRC support the following bills: S507, Return of Unused Non-latex Paint (Hedlund), S534, Recycling of Ink Cartridges (Resor), H1387, Green Dot labeling Program (Petersen), and H3237, require Cell Phone Recycling (Marzilli). Mr. lehr seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Exec. Dir. attended a strategy session with a group of updated bottle bill (UBB) supporters, including bill sponsor Rep. Petersen, staff of 2 other legislators, Sierra Club, MassPIRG, Mass. Audubon, Mass. Riverways and MassRecycle. There was much concern over a bill filed by Sen. O’Leary to replace the bottle bill with a marginal “litter tax” on litter producing products, to go to a “dedicated fund” for litter prevention and recycling. The Exec. Dir. was uncomfortable with the strategy of including every possible container regardless of its current ease of capture, with the intention of negotiating to fewer categories later. Mr. Brown concurred with the group’s strategy though. Exec. Dir. had recommended just going for water bottles; Board reminded her that ice tea is also a significant contaminant in the deposit stream, and directed her to oppose repeal of the bottle bill, increase deposit to 10c, support the updated bottle bill in principle, and find out when bills are fine tuned. Executive Director’s Report: Cohasset commendation- Mass. DEP commended Cohasset on its effective implementation of its Waste Ban Plan to keep banned recyclable materials out of the trash. Meeting with Sen. Murray staff- briefed Fay Boardman, Sen. Murray’s Ways and Means environmental policy analyst, on the state of trash and recycling in Mass. and the need for more support to municipalities and private infrastructure to improve the efficiency of waste management. She will post her two page primer on the website. Media Blitz- SSRC will be on WATD 95.9 fm 4 times every Friday through September. Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Griffin recorded 2-30 second ads last week, one on compost bin sales, the other on waste bans. Future ads will be on Marshfield Fair recycling and HHP collections. 2006 HHP dates, RFP- scheduling spring ’06 collections this summer; release RFP in Sept. for FY07. NRRA Conference- learned advantages of single stream collection (but no local processing facility yet), automated collection, utility of cash registers at RTFs, and strong state of recycling markets. Marshfield Fair seeks volunteers- orientation 8/17, 1 pm; our next Board mtg that morning, will host picnic at fairgrounds for SSRC volunteers in between. Call Ann McGovern 617-292-5834. New Business: Debbie Sullivan asked if anyone knew where she could get a recycled shed. Mr. Griffin knows someone local who could help. Next mtgs: August 17, Marshfield TH. Meeting adjourned at 10:55. Respectfully submitted,
Claire L. Sullivan, Executive Director Legend: RTF – recycling transfer station FY – fiscal year HHP – household hazardous product DEP – Dept. of Environmental Protection |