BWRC Approved Minutes July 11 2019Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes —July 11, 2019
Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
MINUTES: Monthly Meeting, Thursday, July 11, 2019
7:00 PM, Beverly City Hall, Conference Room A
CALL TO ORDER: 7:00 pm
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Higgins (Chair), Sandy Burgess, Nancy Dillon, Toni
Musante, John Swain
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Joyce Hermon
INVITED PARTICIPANTS AND GUESTS: Kevin Harutunian, Stephanie Bilotti, Bruce Swanson
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the June 2019 meeting were presented for approval.
Burgess commented that for purpose of the minutes, details could be limited to summary of the
account balance and identification of expenditures and deposits. Dillon moved to approve the
minutes and Swain seconded the motion. The motion carried (5 -0).
Treasurer's Report
Burgess reported that approved expenditures for the month included a donation to the BHS football
team in the amount of $1,900 for their assistance during electronics collection. The current account
balance is $25,653.
Promoting and Expanding Curbside Composting
Kevin Harutunian and Stephanie Bilotti attended the meeting to talk about activities the Mayor's
Office has been pursuing for attracting both new residential and small commercial customers to the
program. They have been brainstorming ways to focus on this broader participation in the program.
Harutunian also had the opportunity to talk informally with Dillon and Swain ahead of the meeting
to share some ideas.
Swain shared information he received from citizens about their thoughts on the program, which
indicate people think it may be too difficult, and may not understand the benefits of participating.
They ask why should I do it? Kevin shared that the "why" can be financial, especially for
commercial establishments. Need to help them see the cost savings. Higgins commented that the
"why" could also be financial for residents if our program was a true PAYT program.
Higgins reported that she talked to Black Earth, including the possibility of doing an exit survey.
We discussed that despite the continued, steady number of new signups, our numbers are not
growing. In fact, we are now at less than 1,000 participants; Black Earth had a lot of "free loaders"
that were continuing to participate but were not paying their subscription fee. These customers
have all been dropped and will need to sign up again. Higgins reported that we are seeing them
coming back.
Musante shared information about having service problems. Pickups are being missed, and Black
Earth is not coming back until the next week. For most people, one week will fill a bin; waiting
until the next week is not an acceptable solution. We discussed reaching out to customers to
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Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes —July 11, 2019
determine if there are any common or persistent problems. And for those that love the program, to
get some testimonials to use in marketing. We discussed having Black Earth send out a survey, and
we also discussed having them request feedback with renewals. We also talked about doing our
own survey.
We talked about financial incentives that already exist (e.g., for referrals), and the possibility of
other incentives. We talked about whether we can give away more supplies, like liners. These
would be helpful to people starting the program.
Higgins talked about the upcoming MADEP MRC quarterly meetings scheduled for September and
December, which will be focused on municipal food waste composting, and recommended that the
City consider attending.
In wrapping up, Kevin Harutunian summarized some of their thoughts:
• Core objectives: increase residential participation and add more commercial businesses to
the program
• Educate about financial incentives, especially for businesses (do an analysis to show
potential cost savings)
• Educate about the referral fee; find ways to better promote this to encourage more
participation
• Market the program: door -to -door, events, BevCam, civic associations, realtors,
newspapers, website banners, backpack flyers to students
• Develop a half -day "boot camp" to train program advocates; give them more in -depth
knowledge to encourage and help them to more effectively promote the program (e.g.,
composting tour)
• Develop literature to support marketing the program
• Discuss logistics — how many bins are left, when to order them, where to store them, etc.
As an action item, we agreed to work on expanding ideas and beginning to answer some of the
questions that have come up and would need to be resolved. Dillon and Swain agreed to work
together to compile notes (including listing questions that need to be answered) and begin the
process of building on ideas discussed tonight. Higgins agreed to reach out to the newest compost
participants to see how the program is going for them, and to solicit their input. We won't do it as a
survey —just an email checking in and soliciting feedback.
Beverly Homecoming — Zero Waste Events
The Committee briefly discussed planning for Lobsterfest. Higgins will confirm logistics with City
staff and with Black Earth. We reviewed a few of the problems from last year and discussed steps
to coordinate better with Black Earth. Higgins will distribute a volunteer schedule. We discussed
making signs to educate about the zero waste aspects of the event, if time allows.
Burgess reported that senior day is also set. There's one more meeting coming up. It's expected
that there will be pop -up tents for the volunteers to work under. Burgess noted that the Waste
Reduction Committee is not listed as a sponsor in the Council on Aging's literature for the event,
even though we are donating money for supplies and providing volunteers.
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Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes —July 11, 2019
Styrofoam Collection Event
Higgins reported that the Beverly Rotary Club has agreed to sponsor the November 2, 2019,
Styrofoam collection event. They have sent a check for $600 to sponsor in full the cost of the event.
Musante moved to accept the donation from the Beverly Rotary Club; Burgess seconded. The
motion carried (5 -0). A formal thank you letter should be sent to the Rotary. The Committee talked
again about the importance of getting a flyer prepared and distributed. Higgins will reach out to
Mary Barthelmes to see if she can prepare a flyer.
Swain asked if we met with Hamilton about the event. Higgins provided an update on the meeting
she and Hermon had with representatives from the Hamilton Waste Reduction Committee. They
would like to participate and would be open to talking about shared responsibility moving forward.
The Committee discussed if we should make our event fully open or limited to Beverly residents
only. We talked about opening it up for just the end of the event. After much discussion, we agreed
to not limit it to Beverly only, but to also not advertise it as open to anyone. The concern is that we
will have too many people and will not be able to accommodate everyone.
Seaside Sustainability — Proposed Ordinance for Polystyrene and Straws
Higgins updated the Committee about a meeting she and Hermon had with Seaside Sustainability
about their interest in pursuing a polystyrene ordinance for Beverly. Seaside has been working on
this with the Brookwood School. Higgins also reached out to Councilors Rand and Flowers seeking
their input. The Committee expressed interest in pursuing this topic, including discussing the issue
with City Councilors and learning more about what has been done in other communities. Dillon
moved to prioritize exploring the possibility of a polystyrene ordinance for Beverly; Swain
seconded. The motion carried (5 -0).
Old Business and Other Updates
Due to the lack of time, there were no discussions on this agenda item.
Upcoming Events
Due to the lack of time, there were no discussions on this agenda item.
Other Updates and Discussion Items by Committee Members
Due to the lack of time, there were no discussions on this agenda item.
Adjournment
There being no further discussion this evening, the meeting was adjourned at 8:36 pm.
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