SalemRecycles committee meeting
Tuesday June 7, 2011
Present: Lynn Murray (chair), Jennifer Percy (secretary), Erin Huggard, Tony Keck, Brad Backer, Penny Neal, Susan Yochelson, Nancy Gilberg, Marcia Lambert
Guest: Robin Fauley
Absent: Julie Rose, Liz Vago, Katie Giddings
General Introduction, Lynn Murray, chair
Upcoming events:
Read Science Picnic June 25: Lynn reminds us we need volunteers for this; it is at Salem Willows. Marcia gives us a little background on this picnic. Jennifer and Marcia have volunteered to help Julie at this.
Farmers’ market table—begins June 16th and we need volunteers 4-7 pm on Thursdays 7/27 and 8/18. Susan can work the first hour on 6/16; Penny and Brad can help as well.
Past event debrief:
Clean Salem/Green Salem May 7th --Lynn provides a recap: Event went well and we had sufficient volunteers. Quite a bit of e-waste was collected, as well as usable household goods collected by Recycle for Hunger to sell at their thrift store benefiting the St. Joseph’s food pantry. Discussion of alternate ways to promote the event, to tie together the Clean Sweeps portion of the day along with the ending party at the common. As a side note, there used to be many more recycling receptacles at the common but a large percentage have been removed due to dog waste being deposited in them.
Green Fair May 21st --Was hugely successful; we will try to have better signage on the mall side of the building next time if possible. Marcia reports that the Beautification committee was happy as well. The placement of the e-waste collection could maybe be more separated from the plant sale next year. We have heard mixed reports on the human-powered music that was performed.
Saltonstall School Earth Day event May 4th --Julie is not here to report on that.
Green Salem website update—Website is continuing to be built by Salem Cyberspace with main input by Lynn. Once it goes live, Julie and Lynn will receive training on how to add new information to it. We are very impressed by the students’ work and are happy to be working with them. This website will be green resources for salem residents, businesses, and visitors.
SalemRecycles Facebook posting—someone has informed us of a pilot NYC program for textile recycling. It is a way to recycle clothing that is no longer usable, or old carpet, or other unwanted textiles. Lynn has a link to an article about this that she will send to all of us. We are very interested in finding a taker for this type of thing. Marcia reminds us that animal shelters will take rags in addition to blankets and other bedding; per Lynn they also take and need newspaper. For textile pickup, the city would arrange with a contractor such as Goodwill, for example, to be the designated pickup agent. Lynn will talk with Julie about the feasibility of this for Salem.
Book Swap:
September 10, 2011 at St. Anne’s with Got Books
March 10, 2012, possibly at Senior Center with Recycle for Hunger picking up?
We will discuss these swaps closer to each date.
Continuing Business:
Schools follow-up—Liz is not here today to present on our curriculum development
Gazette articles and press releases—we haven’t had one in a while. Discussion of a format we use for the Gazette; there is no set type of column. There is a designated size to not exceed, that none of us can recall right now. Nancy wonders about having a steady headline such as “SalemRecycles Green Tips” so people will learn to recognize our column. Brad wonders about the possibility of putting information out more digitally so as not to be creating more paper. Others feel that our audience still is quite paper-oriented; our society is in transition but hasn’t thoroughly embraced digital media.
Discussion ensues. We all agree that we need many different venues to get our word out. Salem Gazette is also online as well as print; we have presented to landlords’ association and have had mailers sent. At our last meeting we generated many ideas for Gazette articles, but did not schedule anything. A quick sign-up sheet is sent around the room for committee members to choose a time and topic they will write on. Consensus is that we will try to have an article once a month regularly, with additional items on the website as they come up more often.
Door Hanger project—Susan reminds us we need to get something designed quickly if we want to use the currently available budget monies from 2011. Some of our members have received hostile reactions when offering recycling tips at the curb to residents; we discuss whether a door hanger would be effective. Brad is willing to go door to door to engage residents in conversation about recycling. Penny has heard feedback suggesting that the schools are a fertile place for further recycling education. Our discussion turns more broadly to educating our “constituents” in general, as Marcia reminds us that school actions need to be reinforced from the top; superintendent to principals to teachers, all to reinforce to the kids that “this is
how we do things”. Kids will then take it home to their parents. Is there a way that we can suggest this issue as part of the interview process for the new superintendent? Can we get a school committee member on our committee? Someone from Salem State?
July, August meeting plans—July meeting is a cookout at Julie’s at our regular time. She needs a head count. Lynn takes a list of who will bring what type of dish. Our August meeting will be the 2nd .
Other Business:
SalemRecycles aprons—Julie has ordered these, according to Lynn. They are for our event volunteers to wear not only to identify us to the public but also to provide pockets to carry items we need.
Maritime Festival has asked us to participate and we discuss what this event is, and ways that we might contribute. The dates are August 6th and 7th, Sat/Sun, on Derby Wharf. Reportedly, they would like us to provide education. We didn’t participate last year because attendees come from such a broad area that our information would not be applicable to most. Susan notes that organizers handed out many bottles of water to vendors in past years; maybe we could be involved simply to help them use the canteens to hydrate exhibitors instead of using bottled water. Lynn will talk to Julie to discuss whether this event is appropriate for our committee. Trails and Sails might be a better venue, wonders Susan? But it is still a county-wide event.
Marcia will try to find info about who organizes the Cancer Walk so that we can potentially get their watering trash recycled—plastic bottles, plastic cups. Can recycling plans be made a requirement as part of the permitting process for this in the future, and for any city event?
Erin suggests that we think of doing something for America Recycles day in November—Susan suggests perhaps a textile recycling drive?
Susan reports that the Chamber of Commerce is putting together a welcome packet for new residents. This would be a good way for us to reach new residents with recycling education. Consensus is that our postcard would be ideal for this; and our website info once this is online. We need to discuss this with Julie.
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