220930_Approved Minutes (BWRC) CITY OF BEVERLY
WASTE REDUCTION COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Beverly Public Library, Sohier Room
Call to order: 6:31 p.m.
Committee members present: Sandy Burgess, Bonnie Dean, Nancy Dillon,Amy Henderson
(virtually joined at 6:36pm), John Swain (joined at 6:38), Lisa Willwerth (left at 7:20pm),
Susan Higgins (Chair)
Committee members absent: Joyce Herman
Invited participants and guests: Erina Keefe
Review minutes for August 4, 2022 meeting—VOTE to approve
Willwerth moved to approve the August 2022 minutes; Dillon seconded. The motion carried
(5-0).
Waste and recycling compliance (Gerry Rathe, invited)
Rathe had a scheduling conflict, and he will present at the October meeting.
City updates (Erina Keefe)
• Recycling collection protocols: Beverly has historically been a dual-stream recycling
community. Republic Services prefers single-stream recycling, and most of their customers are
single-stream communities, so Beverly will roll out messaging to the public that it will now be
okay to combine recycling materials. Messaging will note containers are restricted to weighing
40 pounds, and residents should be mindful of the barrel size and weight. City plans to use a
water bill insert to address the recycling change and upcoming statewide waste bans. Republic
Services' outreach/education person is another available resource, and Higgins requested she join
BWRC meetings a few times a year.
• Harbor Fest (with input from Joyce, Sue): Harbor Fest will be at Lynch Park this
Sunday, September 1lt', with similar style as Earth Fest(booths, beer garden, food trucks, etc.)
hosted by Harbor Management Authority and the City of Beverly. Higgins declined to take on
another event on short notice, and HMA Chair Earl reached out to Bootstrap Composting (still
does not handle event composting) and Black Earth(offers event composting only if hosts can
ensure the composting is not contaminated). Discussed looking into composting and moving
towards a low-waste/no-waste event for next year.
• Other/Materials Ban: Statewide mattress ban takes effect in November. All cities and
towns are currently negotiating individual solutions, mattress recycling processors need to
process a mattress at the price set by state contract, but the other logistics are left to local
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municipalities. Potential legislation on mattress take-backs was discussed, and raised as a
question to ask Republic Services'representative at the October meeting.
• Costume Drive: Beverly Recreation Dept. will start collecting old Halloween costumes
at the library, City Hall, and Lynch Park on Monday and would like help spreading the word.
The costumes will be sold to the community for $1-10 each on October 8'
• Haulers Ordinance: Will require private haulers to collect both trash and recycling. It is
drafted, and City is now doing due diligence for a baseline assessment of what customers are
doing now and how the new policy would affect them.
• State Plastic Recycling Guidelines: Higgins confirmed State guidelines focus on the
item's shape rather than the Chasing Arrows symbol number, where accepted shapes are bottle,
jar,jug or tub for plastics. Members discussed updating the City recycling page. Higgins also
confirmed Black Earth could not accept the tablecloths from Earth Fest for composting.
"Compostable" label without a certification is not accepted, and people can direct specific
requests before events as needed. Higgins recommended raising similar questions re: recycling
guidelines with Republic Services in the October meeting.
Pumpkin Smash (Amy Henderson)
• WRC role: Henderson shared that Green Beverly is hosting Pumpkin Smash again this
year. Last year, GB borrowed Newton's catapult and spike boards, and that option is available
again or GB interns may build a new one. GB's Julia Long requested BWRC play a greater
education role this year, emphasizing composting in the community. Higgins confirmed waste
collection was not a big lift last year(pumpkins in New Entry's compost pile, some food scraps,
and New Entry handles recycling/trash on site). Dillon asked whether they anticipate more food
vendors and if that would impact the volume to sort/collect, but the event is limited by parking
capacity, not during meal times, and organizers will speak with vendors to help it be a zero-low
waste event as well. For education, GB interns from Endicott College are helping design small
signs to line the walkway from the parking area to the event with fun facts about composting.
BWRC can help with the facts and Henderson will meet with the intern next week— aiming to
use signs that can be reused for more events with helpful information. Henderson aims to have
visitors answer a few questions about peoples'barriers to composting before handing out free
raffle tickets. Newton has an app for waste reduction, as another topic to look into. Keefe will
look into collecting costumes again, and suggested a possible Waste Race—where kids run relay
races sorting items into proper recycling/trash/ compost bins as an educational activity.
• Banner/Signage (VOTE to purchase): Members discussed event displays and
promotional materials BWRC could use. Dillon moved to spend up to $2,000 initially to buy a
BWRC banner, table runner, educational signage and miscellaneous promotional materials;
Willwerth seconded. Roll call vote: Dean-yes, Swain-yes, Burgess-yes, Dillon-yes,
Willwerth-yes, Henderson-yes, Higgins-yes. The motion carried (7-0). Dillon will research
vendors and options for these materials.
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Old business and miscellaneous items
• Recycling research: ongoing, please continue sharing information as it's gathered
through the Google Form
• Request Republic Services to attend October meeting: October meeting will have
Rathe visiting as well as two people from Republic Services, and Berg from Green Beverly.
Upcoming events
• Pumpkin Smash (likely Sunday, November 6tn)
Other updates and discussion items by Committee members
• BWRC Data: Dean compiled data for the trash/recycling which shows it has decreased
fairly steadily over time. Contaminated recycling fluctuated between 25-30%, and that is the
percentage of items found in recycling that are actually trash. During the audit, Higgins
confirmed they pulled—200 pounds of trash from an 800-pound load of recycling. Annual
recycling collection was only tracked to 2020, Keefe can share 2021-2022 data for Dean to
incorporate. "Rebate by Year" is textile recycling, showing dollars on the left. The graph can
display how much trash is saved as well as how much money the schools earn ($100 = one ton).
Black Earth does not provide composting data, but estimates they receive 11 pounds per
household/customer; Black Earth does not weigh pickups. Members suggested labeling the axes
for the graphs, and appreciated the visualized data.
• Lobster Fest: Burgess confirmed that BWRC collected $11.15 in returnables from
Lobster Fest, which will be donated. Higgins will email to confirm that Green Beverly received
the reimbursement check for the raffle, and Burgess will work with Higgins to submit her
reimbursement for the TerraCycle box as well.
Adjourn: Dillon moved to adjourn; Swain seconded. The motion carried (5-0) at 8:09 p.m.
NEXT MEETING:
October 6, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Location: Beverly Public Library, Sohier Room
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