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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTrash & Recycling Comm. 03/09/2021Trash & Recycling Task Force Ad Hoc Committee I V E D March 9, 2021 0' r{CE MEETING MINUTES t,RIU A 9:50 �ull MEMBERS PRESENT it Steve Schoonveld, Select Board Member Lee Azinheira, DPW Director Mike Ahern, Public Buildings/Special Projects Manager Christina Collins, DPW Office Manager Neil Rhein, Select Board Member Jack Cooney, Finance Committee Kevin Dumas, Town Manager Graham Wilson, Board of Health MEMBERS NOT PRESENT: Amy Donovan Palmer, Health Agent SPECIAL GUEST: Jessica Wozniak Kathi Mirza, MassDEP Regional Municipal Assistance Coordinator 1. Call to Order — Reading of virtual meeting law — 2. Approval of Minutes — Tabled until next meeting as they were not circulated. 3. Resident Questions & Comments — None at this time. 4. Resident Trash & Recycling Survey Update and Discussion Discussion about results of the survey thus far begin. Discussion includes the rollout of the survey through social media, the Town's website and the school's newsletters. As of today, Lee dropped some off at the Council on Aging and they were going to help with getting the word out to the seniors in town. Christina also brought some to the ambassadors at the Town Hall. There are currently about 635 responses to the survey and about roughly 88.6% are satisfied or very satisfied with the Town's trash and recycling program. Steve goes through various questions and shows how the results can be broken down in multiple ways to get an overall picture of the current situation. Figures show about roughly 46% of those that took the survey put out a full trash barrel and about 68% a full recycle barrel; discussion continues about further ways to breakdown the numbers. Roughly 20% of the current survey takers were unaware of the pink bag curbside program that the Town currently uses. Kevin recommends that a campaign be done so that more people become aware of the pink bags. In addition to the pink bags, the Town does have two active bins at the Recycle Park for textiles. Since the Simply Recycling program began in June of 2019, there have been approximately 10,000 pounds per month collected in textiles. Of the current people surveyed about 22% or'/4 do not use the recycle park. Also, about 83% of people surveyed feel they have good knowledge and understanding of how to recycle. Better education is needed for recycle and Steve did state that a sticker for the recycle cart was one comment he saw with regard to many other comments. Another quick figure was that about 80% of the people surveyed would like to see the trash and recycling stay included in the taxes as it is now. Overall the survey is going well and will stay open for the next few weeks. Ways to get it out to more people are discussed including Instagram and Twitter. Steve is also going to forward to the Committee the comments that were included with the survey that people filled out for the Committee to review. Discussion about what the surrounding towns (Hockomock area towns) are doing with regard to trash and recycling. Christina and Lee will talk with Kathi to get the information on how these towns are handling trash and recycling and how their situation came to be. They gather some information before the next. 5. Discussion and development of recommendations to the Select Board Committee hopes to start making a list of recommendations for the Board at the next few meetings. 6. Items Not Known 48 hours prior to the Meeting None. 7. Committee Member Questions & Comments Neil does know that the major thing the committee was set-up for was to make recommendations to the board, however, would like to see some of the other goals talked about and decided upon also, such as more composting, more recycling grants, swap shop, etc. Will look back at Goals workshect and see what else can be accomplished. 8. Next Meeting March 23, 2021 at 6:00; tentatively. 9. Adjournment Lee makes motion to adjourn; Jack seconds motion to adjourn Roll call vote to adjourn meeting passes 7-0. Meeting Adjourned. Respectfully Submitted Christina Collins Signature of Commission Clerk Date of Acceptance -