BWRC Approved Minutes Nov 7 2019Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes — November 7, 2019
Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
MINUTES: Monthly Meeting, Thursday, November 7, 2019
7:00 PM, Beverly City Hall, Conference Room A
CALL TO ORDER: 7:10 pm
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Higgins (Chair), Sandy Burgess, Nancy Dillon,
Joyce Hermon, Toni Musante, John Swain
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None
INVITED PARTICIPANTS AND GUESTS: Kevin Harutunian and Stephanie Bilotti (Mayor's
Office), Andrew Samperi (BHS DECA student), Mary Barthelmes, Lisa Willwerth, Bruce Swanson
Kevin Harutunian, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, announced that he is resigning from his position for
another opportunity. He thanked the Committee for all of the work it has done and the ongoing
collaboration with the Mayor's office and other City departments to address issues and accomplish
tasks. Dillon made a motion to formally thank Kevin for all of his hard work; seconded by Hermon.
The motion carried (5 -0; Swain not yet arrived to meeting).
Minutes
The minutes for the July, September and October 2019 meetings were presented for approval.
There was no meeting in August 2019. Dillon moved to approve all three sets of minutes and
Burgess seconded the motion. The motion carried (5 -0; Swain not yet arrived to meeting).
Treasurer's Report
Burgess reported that the current account balance is $25,420.54. There has been no activity in the
past month, and there are no issues or concerns.
Committee Administrative Business
The Committee discussed preferred days and times for routine meetings for calendar year 2020.
The meetings will remain as the first Thursday of each month with an adjusted start time of 6:30
PM, and with a request to use conference room A on the third floor of City Hall. Harutunian
advised the Committee that we should try to end the meetings at 7:30 PM when City Hall closes, or
else have a City employee present at our meetings to secure the building when we are done.
Higgins will submit a request to the City Clerk for the meeting dates and room locations. Dillon
requested that with that correspondence, we also ask for a recording secretary.
Higgins reminded the Committee that moving into the new year we still have three open positions.
Lisa Willwerth has requested the Mayor's consideration for an appointment. Higgins, Hermon and
Dillon all have expiring terms on March 31, 2020. Early next year we will have to request re-
appointments, as appropriate. Higgins advised the Committee that under the City Ordinance
(Article II Section 15- 17(C)) we are required to elect a Chairperson each January. This will be
added to the agenda for the January 2020 meeting.
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Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes — November 7, 2019
Review of Styrofoam Collection Event
Higgins thanked everyone for their participation in the successful Styrofoam collection event
(November 2nd). The event was held at the high school. The weather was good, which facilitated
the event. Dillon created a tracking form and logged the vehicles that participated. We had 82
vehicles; 67 from Beverly, 9 from Hamilton, 2 from Salem, and 1 each from Boxford, Peabody,
Manchester and Marblehead. The amount of material per car was variable, ranging from a few
items to a full car. A few people brought only food Styrofoam and had to be turned away.
Volunteers helped to remove Styrofoam from the cars, remove tape and labels when necessary, and
break the Styrofoam into smaller pieces to consolidate it for transportation. The company (Gold
Circuit) provided one worker (Dan). He was on time, polite, knowledgeable, and very helpful. At
our request, he stayed about 15 minutes past the end time to accommodate a late arrival.
We filled 31 large appliance boxes with broken up Styrofoam. Each box holds about 10 pounds of
Styrofoam, so we collected approximately 310 pounds of Styrofoam. At the Gold Circuit
processing facility, this Styrofoam will be melted into 6 blocks (18 inches square) weighing about
50 pounds each. When they have 40,000 pounds of Styrofoam (800 blocks) they ship it out to be
made into new Styrofoam and other products.
The Committee discussed requesting a quote from Gold Circuit to provide both electronics and
Styrofoam recycling in May 2020. If pricing is comparable with our current electronics service
provider, we can consider switching vendors to host both events simultaneously.
Grant Funding Awards and Opportunities
Stephanie Bilotti advised the Committee that the City is applying for a Municipal Vulnerability
Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant. Last year the City completed planning work, which resulted in
MVP certification; this allows the City to apply for the MVP Action Grant. The City is requesting
funding to put towards a climate action and resilience plan, including a greenhouse gas inventory.
Bilotti is requesting a letter of support for the grant application from the Waste Reduction
Committee. Higgins read the draft letter to the Committee. Committee members asked questions
about the proposed greenhouse gas inventory and climate action plan, what might come out of this
plan, and how it relates to other planning activities in the City. Higgins requested a motion to
endorse development of the plan and application for grant funding, with a letter of support from the
Committee. Motion so made by Dillon and seconded by Hermon. The motion carried (6 -0).
Higgins signed the letter of support and handed it over to the City.
Higgins provided an update on the City being awarded RDP grant funding in the amount of
$30,000. Higgins acknowledged the hard work that Kerin Cotter of the Engineering Department
did to apply for and secure this grant funding. Last year the Committee recommended that the City
hire an education and enforcement officer, which did not happen. Harutunian advised that the City
has not spent all of last year's funds, which remain available for use in the current year. There are
many allowable uses for the new grant funds and the remaining funds from last year. The
Committee discussed providing a recommendation again this year. We agreed to put this on the
agenda for the next meeting. Harutunian advised that the City would welcome our input, and it
would be helpful if we offered not just one use for the funds but a list of multiple options.
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Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
Meeting Minutes — November 7, 2019
Old Business and Other Updates
Andrew Samperi provided an update on the DECA project "Carbon Less Accomplish More," which
focuses on decreasing the carbon footprint of the high school. Andrew is working on this project in
collaboration with Sydney Anderson who was not able to attend tonight's meeting. They have sent
out a baseline survey on composting and recycling (200+ responses so far) and will analyze that
data as part of their project. They have gathered information on local businesses that compost, and
have started to visit those businesses to discuss the program. They are in the process of reaching
out to school principals to set up meetings at each of the schools to present information on recycling
and composting. Working with the Accomplish students, they have been making videos and signs
showing how to recycle /compost in the cafeteria. Mary Barthelmes has been working with them on
a press release. Moving forward, they will be focusing on students, small businesses, and
residential (in that order), in an effort to increase recycling and composting on a broad spectrum.
They may need to narrow their focus to stay on track with the project, given the strict deadlines.
The Committee offered to provided continued assistance, guidance, and /or information as needed.
Higgins advised the Committee that she invited Conor Miller of Black Earth Compost to attend one
of our meetings to discuss some changes to the program, including several reports of missed
pickups without satisfactory resolution and limiting participants to one bin (no overflow). Conor is
not able to make Thursday evening meetings, but would be happy to attend a meeting at another
time. He provided insight, via email, into some of the problems that have occurred and their efforts
to resolve those problems. Some of the changes include firing poor performing drivers (three in
Beverly), establishing a driver training program, a new office person dedicated to missed pickups,
and software changes to better track real -time data. They have had to limit customers to one bin
because many participants are signing up with neighbors (shared bin), but then repeatedly putting
out overflow material. Because Beverly was one of the first communities, we have had many
program benefits that are not working well with a larger program that covers many communities.
Two Committee members expressed frustration with the current program, including missed pickups
that are not resolved, and drivers leaving behind food waste stuck to the bottom of the bin. They
expressed concern that we are promoting a program they find problematic, including a reference to
negative Yelp reviews about poor customer service. Higgins suggested we re -visit the possibility of
conducting a survey to get feedback from Beverly participants, and then meet with Black Earth to
share that feedback and address issues, as appropriate. Dillon requested that we also look more
broadly at the issue, including increasing education about reducing and reusing above recycling and
composting.
Upcoming Events
No discussion
Other Updates and Discussion Items by Committee Members
No discussion.
Adjournment
There being no further discussion this evening, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm.
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