HomeMy Public PortalAboutRecycling Commission -- 2023-11-21 MinutesBrewster Recycling Commission
Meeting Minutes for November 21, 2023 -- - `--"
2198 Main Street, Conference Room A
In Attendance: Meg Morris (Chair), Pat Semple, Katie Scott, Griffin Ryder, Annie Dugan,
Commissioners and Donna Kalinick (Town Administration Liaison)
Excused: Peter Johnson, Sue Skidmore
1. Call to Order: Meeting called to order by Chair Morris at 2:02 PM.
2. A quorum was present.
3. Chair Morris reads aloud the Meeting Participation Statement.
4. Chair Morris reads aloud the Recording Statement.
5. Chair Morris sees no hands raised for Public Announcements and Comments.
6. Minutes from September 2023 are approved.
7. Solid Waste and Recycling Information, Griffin Ryder:
a. Textiles weights as reported by Bay State Textiles for September were 2,825 lbs.
(revenue $159.00) and in October 3.045 lbs. (revenue $182.79). The program
continues to work well, no issues.
b. Scout deposit container recycling continues to move along nicely.
c. There is a new employee serving as gatekeeper, Lynn.
d. Last summer the town received a state grant to build a new hazardous waste
shed to replace the old one. It is the holding area for specialty waste items like
lightbulbs, batteries, and paint.
i. Question: How is our mercury collection going? Answer: it appears to
have dropped off a bit, which may be a good sign because it means that
the public is no longer buying items with mercury in them.
e. Covered Load Issues: The Cape Cod Anti -Litter Coalition has offered to provide
signage regarding the transportation of debris in the open beds of trucks. Such
loads should be covered with a tarp or some sort of material that will contain the
load a prevent items from being blown out of the bed and onto the roadside.
Other recycling centers have received similar offers and letters, Mr. Ryder would
like to have a discussion about the scope of the problem and possible solutions.
i. Chair Morris reports that she is a member of the group that sent the
letter. She shared the group's findings that too often material from pickup
trucks ends up roadside. There is a state law that all loads should be
covered, but Chair Morris admits it is a little ambiguous. On our smaller
roads, especially those on the way to the dump, there is a lot of litter that
appears to have come out of pickup trucks. If the town were to post a
sign with some sort of gentle request, as in "Please Contain Your Load,"
that might be enough to remind people to secure their loads. It might
result in less litter and a more beautiful Brewster. Yarmouth has agreed to
accept the signage for some of the side streets that funnel into their
transfer station.
ii. Ms. Kalinick looked up state law and agrees that it is ambiguous. There
have been previous discussions about this matter in other venues. The
Town of Brewster does not have a specific bylaw or regulation about
truck -bed covers. If we were to have such a bylaw, she said it probably
would not be enforceable; it would merely be an encouragement as we
do not have the resources to enforce it.
iii. Mr. Ryder's concern is that such a policy would burden the DPW
employees who (logically) would get tasked with enforcing or intervening
with drivers who bring uncovered loads into the transfer station.
iv. Ms. Kalinick says we have received complaints about roadside litter in
different areas of the town, especially along Lower Road. The town does
not have the capacity to clean the roads any more frequently than they
already do. Traditionally, our focus on litter has been the public beaches.
Her short answer is that any sort of bylaw or policy addressing littering
would be unenforceable. She notes that she would need to do some
research and talk to other towns, perhaps Yarmouth first.
v. Chair Morris suggests that the next town to talk to would be Bourne, as
they have a littering law on the books and signage and penalties for
violators (up to $10K). She suggests that one alternative would be to try
and get a bylaw established through town meeting regarding litter in
general, not just trucks. Another avenue would be, as noted earlier,
signage that encourages compliance such as, "We appreciate you
covering your load." The Cape Cod Anti -Litter Coalition would be willing to
pay for such a sign if the town would put up the pole.
vi. Question: Is there a bylaw about yard waste, tree branches? Answer: No.
vii. Mr. Ryder reached out to other towns about anti -litter signs and learned
that Sandwich has a sign from the state on one of their roads similar to
the one in Brewster that is located at Exit 82 on Route 6.
viii. Discussion ensued about motives and intentions behind people who litter.
Why do people dump couches and mattresses? It's good that we've
started talking about it, it contributes to momentum.
ix. Ms. Kalinick stated that like anything the town considers, we have to
engage stakeholders and touch base with other towns to find out how
they are navigating it.
f. MRF Site Visit: Chair Morris suggests that we wait until after Christmas, maybe
mid-January. It would involve a half-day commitment as the facility is located in
Mansfield and is about a 90 -minute drive. The consensus is that 11:00 AM would
be a good time to have the tour.
8. Recycling Outreach Programs
a. Fix -It clinic is on the calendar for Saturday, February 24, at Brewster Ladies
Library.
b. Chair Morris is conferring with the Department of Natural Resources about the
recycling education program at Stony Brook Elementary. She notes that the
topics span quite a range, from the herring seasons to recycling.
c. Chair Morris and the DNR will also initiate talks with Brewster Ladies Library
about including a litter -pickup kit in their Library of Things. It would include the
picker, bags, and a safety vest. Chair Morris will need to meet with the library's
new director to see if such a kit could be added to their collection. The Falmouth
Libraries have kits already; in monitoring the returns, it appears to be real road-
side trash, not just household trash.
d There have also been discussions with DNR and Brewster Recycling Commission
about having a special litter -cleanup event on Slough Road, which seems to be
especially affected.
e. At Chair Morris's request, a Recycling Messaging Working Group was formed to
help the Commission come up with ideas about what and how to message the
Brewster community about recycling. General, specific, overall — get it whittled
down to bite -sized pieces. What kind of information do we need to get out
there? How do we get people to recycle more of what's on our list?
L Question for Mr. Ryder: How is the community been treating the mixed
container bin, i.e. do they understand what can and cannot go in there,
and maybe even the "why" behind those rules? Answer: He has not had
much feedback from workers about any persistent problems.
Furthermore, it seems to be the case that the workers have to pull fewer
items out of the mixed container. Chair Morris notes that we are
fortunate in that our MRF operator takes whatever we give him without
complaint. However, she raises the issue of plastic flowerpots in the
springtime as an example; can we get the local nurseries interested in
serving as collection point for reusing and or recycling the pots? This
could be one of the discussion points for the Recycling Messaging group.
f. Ms. Dugan and Ms. Semple volunteered. They will have something ready to share
by the January meeting.
9. Swap Shop, Ms. Kalinick:
a. Things are going really well this season. The last day will be Saturday, December
30. Until then, they are open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Both the Swap
Shop and the Recycling Center will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday,
and Christmas Eve.
b. This year there was a marked improvement in the curating of what items could
and could not be dropped off, and similarly the public seems to be accepting of
the limits the volunteers established.
c. Looking ahead, the staff would like to open earlier in 2024, maybe April. Ms.
Kalinick is thankful for Betty Wrightson, who does all of the scheduling, and also
Robin Zelnick. Even though there was some turnover in the ranks of volunteers,
new people have stepped in and stepped up.
i. Questions for Mr. Ryder: Will DPW be collecting used and broken
Christmas lights this year? Answer: Yes. There will be a designated bin and
they will be sent to Americorp. In addition, the town will also take
Christmas trees, as per usual.
10. Town Department Liaison Reports Relative to Recycling and Solid Waste:
a. The Nip Ban will go into effect on January 1, 2024. There will be no grace period.
The Town is at the point of issuing licenses for the year; a reminder about nips
ban has been sent out now and will again be sent when they receive their
licenses. It is Ms. Kalinick's experience that enforcement of this policy will be
crowd sourced as it has for other initiatives, i.e. townspeople calling the town
offices and reporting where they have seen violations. Chair Morris is happy to
see everything functioning as it should with regard to the ban.
13. Next meeting is December 19 at 2:0013M. We will need to talk about a potential increase
in the per item fee structure. By way of example Mr. Ryder notes that there has been an
increase in the cost of grinding brush.
14. Meeting Adjourned at 2:53 PM.
Minutes submitted by Pat Semple.