HomeMy Public PortalAboutRecycling Commission -- 2015-07-16 Minutes Recycling Commission
July 16, 2015
Present: Members: Chairman Meg Morris, John Cunningham, Bill Barnstead, Brenda Locke, Patrick
Ellis, Annie Dugan
Members Absent: Joe Prevost
Liaisons present: Jillian Douglass- Assistant Town Administrator, Donna Kalinick- Town Hall
Department of Public Work Staff: James Jones, James Dewitt, Karen Halloran
Citizens Present: None
Chairman Meg Morris called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm
1, Correspondence: Chairman Morris said there was nothing official received, but when she
was at Brewster Conservation Day, she was given a flyer about a new group on Cape Cod
working on litter issues. She passed out the flyer and will discuss it under item #5.
2. Approve Minutes of June 11, 2015: Annie Dugan moved to approve the minutes of
June 11, 2015, Bill Barnstead second. The Commission voted 6-Yes, 0-No.
3. PAYT Quarterly Update- End of Town Fiscal Year:
Chairman Morris explained that it is important to get the trash and recycling numbers
plugged in at the end of a quarter and get it to the Board of Selectmen within 15 days of
the end of the quarter. Chairman Morris spoke to Ms. Halloran about this, Mr. Ellis said
they should be able to accomplish this task. The same should be done for each quarter.
4. Brewster Beach Recycling & Waste Collection:
Recycling Commission members reported on the beaches they volunteered to check. Bill
Barnstead said he has not seen any overflow at Saints Landing. Brenda Locke said she
thinks they could remove one of the recycling toters at Drummer Boy as it has not been
full. Peter Johnson reported that Paines Creek has looked good every day. John
Cunningham said Ellis Landing has looked good. Mr. Cunningham also visited
Breakwater, Saints and Mants Landing over the weekend. He did not see any overflow
of containers, just a few items like beach chairs placed near the bins and lots of parking
issues. Mr. Johnson noted at this point he believes the new trash & recycling program
can be deemed an unqualified success. Mr. Johnson said there is a change in the
appearance of the beaches; the bins look better, trash is not piled up, Ms. Kallnick said
she has been checking Crosby Landing and has not found any issues there. Crosby is
being picked up 7 days a week. Chairman Morris is also checking Crosby and has found
household trash in the toters. There has not been any trash outside the cans, but she
has found the lids open. Crosby is the most challenging location, but overall it does
look good and the change sends a good message. It was suggested that we check in
with Nauset Disposal to find out if the bins on average are being picked up full or not.
Ms. Kalinick thanked the DPW staff for going out early on the Sunday after the 41" of
July to check the beaches. Mr. Jones reported that they removed a lot of debris from
the beaches, mostly firework related.
S, Capewide Litter Campaign; Chairman Morris explained this item refers back to the
correspondence she handed out earlier. The Campaign is being led by Peter Scheibel and
he is looking for a steering group. Chairman Morris and her husband have signed up to
help and if anyone else is interested, they should contact him. It will be a smaller group to
start. Mr. Johnson said if they get something rolling, we should support it as a Commission.
b. Liaison Updates if any (BOS,FC, TH, DPW)
Jillian Douglass reported that there has been no call back from the swap shop. No one
came to the scheduled meeting. Ms. Douglass asked if she should wait for them to set a
new date or set another meeting at the location. Chairman Morris asked how the waste
amount from the Swap Shop to the BRC has been. Mr. Dewitt said they emptied it on
Wednesday and it is full again. Mr. Johnson noted that there is usually only one volunteer
at the Swap Shop and that is not enough to handle the volume of users. Mr. Jones asked
how many volunteers they have. There are 10 to 12, about 8 that are active. Chairman
Morris asked if they keep the same schedule as the BRC. Mr. Dewitt said sometimes they
close at noon. Ms. Halloran said she takes numerous calls asking if they are open or not.
Mr. Jones said their hours can be hit or miss and that a lot of other swap shops are open
on weekends only and perhaps they should try that. Chairman Morris noted that the Swap
Shop is not under the Recycle Commission's purview but we hear about the problems
there. Ms. Douglass said there is a need to re-organize it and it has been on her mind
about how to deal with the issue. The Swap Shop is a town property and there is no
control; it needs resolution.
Mr. Ellis and Ms. Kalinick recently met with Waste Zero to talk about PAYT as they have a
number of other Cape towns interested. It looks like Dennis would be the most likely to
adopt. Chairman Morris said she did take some complaints about bag shortages at
Brewster Conservation Day. Annie Dugan noted that before the 4th, Stop & Shop in
Orleans was out. Ms. Kalinick said she has not received any calls at Town Hall about bags
not being in stores. She noted that Waste Zero called all the stores before the summer
season to talk about what their needs were, The only store that is no longer selling the
bags is Lukes Liquors.
Ms. Douglass told everyone that there will be an Open House at the Crosby Mansion in
honor of Mr. Sumner on September 27th. His last official day of work will be October 31St.
Patrick Ellis said that hauling the trash to Yarmouth has been working out well for the
DPW. Chairman Morris asked where the recyclables are going. The glass is going to
Strategic Materials in Franklin and all other recyclables are going to Weymouth. Chairman
Morris said that Bourne is taking some municipalities and Mr. Ellis should reach out to the
Bourne DPW. Mr. Jones noted that in the winter, it takes 3.5 hours to get to Weymouth
and back. Mr. Ellis said there is a need to look at the whole system. If they could
collaborate with other towns, haul somewhere closer and get another box that would help
with expenses. Mr. Ellis noted that the BRC is equipped very well for something they don't
do which is direct haul. He would like to reconfigure the set up at the Transfer Station,
perhaps to an all compactor system like Dennis has. Mr. Ellis will be working on plans to
sell some of the bigger equipment while it still has value and reconfigure the site with
Kleinfelder's assistance. Chairman Morris asked if Mr. Ellis had reviewed the drawings from
the county engineer. He did, but nothing was ever done with them because of the cost. Mr.
Ellis will bring more information forward as he works on this plan.