HomeMy Public PortalAboutComposting Personal Document.pdf Dear City Council Members and Staff,
As you fashion your Request for Proposals for your solid waste management program,
Women's Climate Action would like to request that you consider the following issues.
These issues are based on our commitment to diverting any solid waste we can from landfills,
and using whatever waste we can as a local resource, especially compostabiles. The 2018
McCall Comprehensive plan explicitly includes the importance of promoting environmental
sustainability and community health (p.32), a vision that can be furthered through this Request
for Proposal process.
1.) We hope the city will put high priority on a local compost program. Composting locally
generated organic waste reduces dangerous methane emissions from rotting organic garbage
in anaerobic landfills and can be used to improve and enrich our soil. All of this would be
contributing to making our community more resilient as we face an increasingly unpredictable
climate.
a. Implement a compost pilot now.
i. Women's Climate Action has requested for 2 years that the city support a
composting pilot program at the Riverfront site. This would be in
coordination with City Parks and Rec, allowing them to have another use
for all their chipped woody waste and for the public to have a place to
divert their food waste from the landfill and put it to beneficial use. The
compost could be then used by the city as fertilizer for their extensive
landscaping. This pilot program, if successful, could be expanded to
produce an even bigger reduction in the amount of solid waste going to
landfills as 30% of garbage is organic food waste or yard waste. Kurt
Wolff says that Parks and Rec have been preparing the site and it is
almost ready. They have drawn up a Surface Water Protection Plan for
that whole site. The scale of the project can change as the pilot program
advances and we all learn what is possible. The beginning strategy would
be to have a centrally located bin, provided by the trash company if
possible, that would be manned by volunteers and open just a few hours
a week for residents to bring their food waste or yard clippings to be used
in the pilot program. This same area could also potentially be used for
glass collection. This effort could also be coordinated with the McCall
Donnelly District Green Team to include food waste from the schools.
ii. We realize the City Staff is overstretched and dealing with a lot. We are
willing to help with the pilot compost program. One of our members has
already donated a front loader to use at the site. It may be necessary to
rely on volunteers as we go through this transition phase and we would
be available to work with you in running the program. Women's Climate
Action is willing to continue to help with public education efforts like we
have done at the Farmer's Market and other public events this last year.
iii. This compost pilot, if successful, could be scaled up to accommodate
curbside compost. Any RPF should prioritize local city supported
compost.
2.) Please prioritize diverting waste from landfills. Diverting compost, recycling, and
other materials mitigates public health and safety issues and is our environmental responsibility.
This is also a crucial strategy for lowering transport and landfill costs and extending the life of
any landfills we use. In the latest issue of the Star News, Elt Hasbrouck Is quoted saying, "..we
are shipping 4 to 5 semi-truck loads of trash a day and they're $1200 or$1300 for each truck, If
we can drop that down to one truck a day ...that's awesome."
3.) Any waste disposal fee system should be structured to divert landfill waste and reward those
customers who do. Many cities and towns charge consumers more if they only subscribe for
garbage pickup and charge less to those who subscribe to garbage, recycling, and compost
pickup. Reducing the weight and volume of waste going to a landfill saves funds. For example:
Boise Residential Rates.
4.) We recommend the City collect glass and keep it in the county to be used now and in the
future. Keeping glass as a valuable resource in Valley County would reduce waste transport
volume and weight, and therefore reduce cost. An inert glass depository on county land would
be ideal.
5.) Please consider the reliability, ethic, and integrity of the company when evaluating proposals.
a. Any waste management company you choose should have a good record of
environmental ethics such as fleet emission reductions. The care for the
environment and reduction of emissions is one of the City's top priorities and
environmental sustainability is an integral component of the McCall
Comprehensive plan.
b. Our present solid waste management program has been wracked by a lack of
transparency, thus compromising any possibility of accountability. We would
request that any agreement the City makes would be accompanied by a
requirement that the City or company publish in the newspaper or in flyers, a
semi-annual report that states the amount of solid waste generated for that
period, where it went, the cost of pick up and transport. Also include what
happened to any recycling, where it went, and the cost of that transport, or any
profit that was made.
6.) We would like to submit one of our member's proposals that the City consider a structured
plan for dealing with construction waste. In the same vein we also include another of our
member's proposals that city events are planned as low waste events. This practice could nip
some garbage in the bud, so to speak.
Thank you for considering our comments, and thank you for your work to revamp the City's
waste system, reduce associated environmental impacts, and improve our community's
resilience by diverting food and yard waste, recycling(when possible), and glass from the
landfill.
Sincerely,
Women's Climate Action, McCall