City of Salem
SalemRecycles Committee Meeting
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm.
Attendees: Tony Keck, Carol Hautau, Gerry Yuras,, Erin Huggard, Flora Tonthat, Susan Yochelson, Myrna Soper, Nancy Gilbert, John Roberts, Julie Rose, Lynn Murray and Invited speaker - Jason Silva, City of Salem Capital Projects Director
The meeting began with a discussion by Jason Silva in which he described his new position with the City and then moved on to a discussion of the pending changes to the trash and recycling contract. There was some additional discussion as to whether dual stream recycling would continue under a new contractor and the possible use of new toters and/or orange trash bags. The Committee extended a big thanks to him for his efforts in saving both the MREC position and the curbside compost program. Jason then thanked the Committee for all of their efforts over the past almost eight years and gave special recognition to the leadership of Julie Rose which has led to so many committee successes. Following that, Jason departed the meeting.
The minutes of the meeting of April 7 were approved.
Carol Hautau and Myrna Soper represented the Committee at the Reid Science Fair and while there signed up about 20 residents for the Composter program. There are now approximately 150 composters left to be distributed. Upcoming events such as the Swap and Drop on May 2nd, the event at the Carleton School, the May 9th Education Day, and the opening of the Farmers Market will offer opportunities to educate and sign up residents.
A continuing challenge to recycling efforts is the dual problem of tenant turnover and student move-outs at the end of the school year at Salem State University. There is concern over the volume of items that are left for trash pick-up instead of being directed to various recycling outlets. A subcommittee will meet on April 13th to discuss the issue and come up with possible solutions among which might be an information sheet for landlords and an outreach effort to Salem State University.
There was a brief discussion about the upcoming Swap and Drop on May 2nd. The time has been extended until 1:00 pm because of some confusion over when it will end. There are an ample number of volunteers for each shift. Recycle That will collect and take away all leftover items.
On May 9th, Salem Education Day will be held at Old Town Hall from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. The key sponsor is the Salem Education Foundation. Jeff Coehn will be on hand to answer questions. Julie asked for additional volunteers for this event.
There continues to be problems with the Cigarette Butt Recycling units. In some instances, some of the units are malfunctioning and in others, it is clear that they are being emptied on the ground by individuals looking for cigarettes to smoke.
There is a new banner up on the GreenSalem website. Thanks to Penny Neal for the design. The subcommittee that was formed to update the site will be meeting at some time in the near future. The site has grown so over the past few years, that there is a need to better organize the information to make it more accessible to visitors.
The Salem Arts Festival will be held the weekend of June 6th and 7th. Flora Tonthat is interested in having a table again at the Festival to promote recycling through an art project for children. She will send out an email to see who is interested in helping out on this project.
The SalemRecycles Facebook page now has 1125 likes. Nancy Gilbert has recently posted additional information about the problems caused by improper recycling/disposal of plastic bags. She has suggested “liking” the recycling pages in Stoneham, Melrose, and Newburyport to increase our outreach and attract people to our site.
Susan Yochelson, who is now producing the monthly Constant Contact newsletter for SalemRecycles, will call together a subcommittee meeting to discuss setting up a calendar of themes for the rest of the year.
The next SalemRecycles blog, written by Beth Mellilo, will focus on the theme of repair.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Murray
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