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SALEM RECYCLES COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
February 5, 2013 MEETING
Attending: Erin Huggard, Julie Rose, Nancy Gilberg, Lynn Murray, Janis Breeze, Liz Vago, Tony Keck, Susan Yochelson, Robin Faulling.
City Councilor Bill Legault attended as a visitor.
7:00 pm meeting called to order by chair Erin Huggard.
Minutes for January 2013 meeting approved.
New Business:
- Julie and Erin provided a review of the Goodwill Annual Meeting they attended. They toured the facility in Roxbury and were impressed with the operation.
- A Facebook update was presented by Nancy. The committee Facebook page now shows 573 “Likes”. The pop quiz on the page received good traffic and generated great questions. A request for photos to post on the page was made. Photos can be sent to Nancy, as well as items that may be interest topically.
- Constant Contact was discussed briefly. Susan and Erin have agreed to work on developing something to launch in April. Liz suggested a section could be “What are people talking about in recycling”. Lynn offered some articles that can be used. Committee to be involved with contributions to post.
Old Business:
- February 9th volunteer event has been widely publicized. Julie will bring the grids for setup. Photos will be posted on them with flyers for volunteers to see. Suggested to set up the Recycling Game with items to determine if they can be reused or recycled. Susan suggested laying out the items in a way that stimulates questions about the ability to recycle the object. Julie will coordinate the set up. Nancy suggested listing the expected duties for various events on the display stations. This would provide an idea of what a volunteer would do at the various events. Lynn suggested including the time commitment for the events.
- Book Swap March 16th: Swap to be held at the Senior Center on Broad Street. Signup sheet to be distributed by Julie. Matt Caruso will partner with the committee again. Green Disk’s Technotrash Can will be provided/introduced for collection of VHS tapes, audio tapes, DVDs and CDs. Erin is planning a craft presentation for the Swap to show how to use/create things with old books, i.e. scrap books. Robin has a book on the subject and will share it with Erin for some ideas.
Susan inquired if Technotrash Cans could be placed around the city for residents to use. Julie has suggested that this could be implemented once locations have been determined and collection practices set in up. Some suggested locations were made: Library, Boys/Girls Club.
The Technotrash Can includes prepaid shipping, so a location “sponsor” could close the can and ship it when full.
- Clean Salem/Green Salem: The city-wide event is May 4th. The committee will be setting up on the Common. Nancy was able to book Green Infusion, who performed last year at the event. The clothing swap was successful and will be repeated this year. A reminder to take photos at the swap was made for purposes of posting on the committee media pages, with the possibility of have a vote for the best outfit on the Facebook page.
The discussion included working through the types of displays and what types of materials to be collected at the event. The Sorting Game was something that has generated interest among all ages. Plastic bag collection, rigid plastic collection, e-waste and metal collection were included in the discussion. Rigid plastics are collected at North Shore Recycled Fiber on Jefferson Avenue, presently. Julie said she would reach out to NSRF to ask if someone would like to attend. Julie was also checking about metal collection on the common during the event. Susan suggested asking volunteers to bring pickup trucks to transport items collection during the day.
- May 18 Living Green Fair: This event will be held in the area in the Old Town Hall, same as last year. Committee space is limited, so this is not an event that requires a multitude of volunteers but people are needed to staff the space and provide information to the public. The Green Business Challenge awards will be distributed during the event.
- MassRecycle Convention: Julie will be providing information about this event in the future.
- Solid Waste/Recycle Contract Update: Bidding for the contracts for disposal, collection and transportation are being completed by the city. The contract for recycling is in place. The results of the contract bidding process indicated that the dual stream recycle collection put the city in a favorable position financially with this contracting process. Once the contracts are set, the city council will then need to review and approve the contracts.
- Mandatory Enforcement Coordinator Update: The grant to the city requires enforcement of recycling and trash reduction. The city must have regulations in place to receive the grant funds. Participation in recycling and trash reduction would first need to be tracked and then the enforcement would be utilized. The enforcement could be accomplished by having the coordinator distribute something like the door hangers and take note of the compliance status while doing so. The door hangers would have to be altered to include whatever enforcement code language is set in place by the city to inform residents of their obligations and the likely penalties for failure to recycle or reduce the trash volume. An example could be: If you don’t have a recycle bin/container out with your trash, your
trash will not be picked up.
It was noted that Salem is one of only four municipalities the commonwealth that received this grant.
Other Business
- March 2013 is the 5th anniversary of the committee. It was suggested that the members have a gathering. Julie will circulate some dates to get together.
- March 16th at the Danvers Library, will present Greenscapes: Slow the Flow, which focuses on the slow of water runoff using green methods.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:19pm.
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