220804_Approved Minutes (BWRC) CITY OF BEVERLY
WASTE REDUCTION COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Beverly Public Library, Sohier Room
Call to order: 6:33 p.m.
Committee members present: Sandy Burgess, Bonnie Dean, Nancy Dillon,Amy Henderson,
Joyce Herman, John Swain (6:35), Lisa Willwerth, Susan Higgins (Chair)
Committee members absent: N/A
Invited participants and guests: N/A
Review minutes for July 7, 2022 meeting—VOTE to approve
Willwerth moved to approve the July minutes; Henderson seconded. Roll call vote: Burgess-yes,
Dean-abstain, Dillon-abstain, Henderson-yes, Herman-yes, Willwerth-yes, Higgins-yes. The
motion carried (5-0-2), Dean and Dillon abstained.
Committee business
• Treasurer report/reimbursements: completing the reimbursement to Green Beverly.
Next reimbursement will be to Higgins for the TerraCycle box.
• Review and confirm (or adjust) September meeting date (9/1/2022): Henderson
moved to reschedule the September meeting to September 8t'; Burgess seconded. Roll
call vote: Burgess-yes, Dean-yes, Dillon-yes, Henderson-yes, Herman-yes, Swain-yes,
Willwerth-yes, Higgins-yes. The motion carried (8-0). Gerard Rathe, Beverly
Trash/Recycling and Technical Compliance Officer, plans to attend the September
meeting.
Debrief on Homecoming
• LobsterFest: The City delivered five recycling totes and one trash barrel for BWRC's
use and B1ackEarth delivered twelve composting totes for $900 ($600 charged to
Homecoming Cmte. and $300 sponsor credit). B1ackEarth compost collections:
• 2:30pm: eight full totes
• 5pm: three full totes
• 8pm (next morning): ten full totes plus one tote of tablecloths, with label attached
for B1ackEarth to determine whether compostable (said"biodegradable")
Collection Totals:
o Composting: 22 totes
o Recycling:
• Three 96-gallon totes of cardboard
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• Two 96-gallon totes of bottles/cans, plus '/z tote of returnables
• One 45-gallon bag of film plastic
• Medium TerraCycle box maybe 3/4 full
o Trash: one 55-gallon bag
o By Volume: 69% composting, 28-29%recycling, 2-3%trash
Feedback for Next Year:
o DeSilva is sending a letter to the Homecoming Committee and City of Beverly to
help make the event holistically zero waste, including providing guidance to
on-site vendors. Vendor swag, plastic containers, and dirty diapers are found in
the waste stream.
o Early coordination with the Homecoming Committee re: beer garden, vendors,
advertising, educational table displays, etc. Higgins will email Medley Long and
invite the Homecoming Committee to attend BWRC meetings leading up to the
event. Formerly, an event planner would coordinate LobsterFest with more
communication with BWRC.
o Advance coordination with the caterer, through Homecoming Committee, on
streamlining their process and ensuring it's convenient(height for containers,
limiting public access, etc.).
o Higgins will follow-up with B1ackEarth to find out whether the tablecloths were
composted or trashed. Higgins will follow-up with Republic about whether the
small plastic cups were recycled as well. BWRC to determine whether clean
lobster bibs are still recyclable as film plastic.
o Suggest vendors provide raffles, rather than giving away swag.
o BWRC will order signage (banners-for BWRC and for zero waste events,
possibly aprons)before Pumpkin Smash.
0 4-6 volunteers continue to work well, 4 at the tent sorting station, and 1-2 to help
with the caterer and beer garden as needed.
• Senior Day in the Park: Henderson, Keefe and DeSilva staffed the sorting station, while
the high school boys' soccer team and high school girls'basketball team served the food
and cleared the tables.
Collection Totals:
o Composting: two totes (box of ice cream sandwich paper bags on top for
B1ackEarth to determine whether compostable—unsure how waxy they were)
o Recycling:
• One 96-gallon bag of flattened cardboard
• One 96-gallon bag of plastic water bottles'
• TerraCycle: continued filling the box, still space inside
• One clear stream bag of film plastic
o Garbage: '/z bag with some contaminated items (gloves, candy wrappers, Slushie
cups & straws)
' Due to extreme heat,last-minute decision to provide plastic water bottles in addition to the compostable
cups with water, lemonade and iced tea pitchers.
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Feedback for Next Year:
o Very little uncooked food leftover, some uneaten sides (fully compostable)
o Pop-up tent covering their station really helped with the extreme heat
o Educating the volunteers more before the event would help— some people
received multiple meals, it may help to understand the sorting process
o Ice cream sandwiches lead to less waste than sundaes (syrup jugs, whipped cream
cans, etc.)
Review status of recycling research /discuss information compilation
Relating to the spreadsheet for Green Beverly, Higgins will recirculate the list of topics to the
group soon, and will resend the link to the Google Form for easy access to enter data. Then,
BWRC can revisit it at the September meeting.
Old business and miscellaneous items
Henderson spoke with Berg about building a working relationship between the two
organizations, and he is willing to come to a BWRC meeting to discuss Green Beverly's
initiatives every quarter or so. September is busy, so aiming for an October visit.
Higgins spoke with Keefe in the June meeting about asking Republic Services to send someone
to the BWRC meetings per the City's contract, and Higgins hopes to have a guest from Republic
for the October meeting as well.
Upcoming events
• Pumpkin Smash (likely Sunday, November 6t')
Other updates and discussion items by Committee members
Henderson mentioned that Green Beverly is looking for volunteers to help build a catapult to use
at the event—Essex Tech and Eagle Scouts were suggested.
Dean started gathering BWRC's monthly data, and asked for questions members would like to
see the data answer—numbers, trends, etc. Higgins requested the percentages
(trash/recycling/composting), and if the data includes contamination (percentages of
contamination). Then, are there trends developing following Rathe's work— does recycling
increase/ does contamination decrease? Dean confirmed she receives the textile data, and
Higgins suggested following-up with Milo for the monthly City data as needed. Higgins
suggested asking Rathe as well if he has specific data points/trends or questions he'd like the
data to answer.
Adjourn: Swain moved to adjourn; Dillon seconded. The motion carried (8-0) at 7:42 p.m.
NEXT MEETING:
September 8, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Location: Beverly Public Library, Sohier Room
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