02 2017 BWRC Minutes 2-2-17Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
MINUTES: Monthly meeting, Thursday, February 2, 2017
6:00 PM, Beverly City Hall, Conference Room A
CALL TO ORDER: 6:00 pm
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT. Jim Bauer, Sandy Burgess, Rebecca Dupont -
Coutu, Connie Krueger, Toni Musante, Charlie Perlo, Maureen Cronin
OTHERS PRESENT: Nancy Dillon, Susan Higgins, Jeff Cohen
Minutes of January meeting approved by unanimous vote.
A) NOMINATIONS FOR BWRC REPRESENTATIVES FOR BWRC /CITY COUCNIL AD
HOC COMMITTEE ON MADATORY RECYCLING
Motion was made to have Rebecca Dupont - Coutu and Susan Higgins represent BWRC
on Ad Hoc Committee. Motion approved by unanimous vote.
B) GUEST SPEAKER: JEFF COHEN, FORMER SALEM RECYCLING COMPLIANCE
COORDINATOR
Jeff Cohen, former Recycling Compliance Coordinator in Salem, discussed his long
history in waste reduction and shared his experiences.
• Advocated for Mandatory Recycling, emphasizing that enforcement was most
important, therefore a full -time coordinator was crucial. Cited Danvers ordinance
where if location does not have recycling along with trash, trash will not be picked
up, and the recent Salem ordinance which lowered the trash barrel size and gave
residents a 3 -month grace period before mandatory recycling enforcement rules
were enacted.
• Salem chain of recycling enforcement:
First violation - door hanger
Second violation - try to verbally contact address owner
Third violation - written letter to address owner
Fourth violation - written 1S warning to address owner
Fifth violation - written 2nd warning to address owner
Sixth violation - try to verbally contact owner
Seventh violation - fine
(At any point, once address complies, the chain starts over.)
• Education was extremely necessary. Get the word out through Coordinator
working with condo associations, neighborhood associations and local cable channel
TV programs.
• As Recycling Compliance Coordinator he also walked the entire city (12,874
addresses) in three months, keeping ahead of the recycling trucks to pinpoint
problem neighborhoods. Discovered lower income neighborhoods tended to have
less recycling than more affluent neighborhoods. Handed out 15,000 door hangers
in 3 years.
• Hauler makes a huge difference. Praised Waste Management as an excellent hauler
- friendly, trained, with automated pickup. Although recycling is now single stream
(used to be dual stream), pickup is 3x faster.
• Noted that people were upset with changes at first, but after 1 year there are fewer
complaints and more recycling.
• Discussed what Salem might have done better -
- Instead of fines, better to simply not have trash picked up if no recycling with it
(Danvers model)
- Pay As You Throw (PAYT) (Gloucester model) is best
- $2.50 35- gallon overflow bags which Salem offers are too small
• Composting: In Salem was free for the first 2 years, now $49/6 months
• Concluded - Enforcement, Education are effective. Public events, schools, talking to
like - minded people; talking to and enforcing with not like - minded people. Door
hangers are a big deal.
C) REVIEW & DISCUSSION OF BWRC PRESENTION AT 1/23/17 CITY COUNCIL
MEETING
General consensus was the presentation was positively received by the Council, and
Connie and Charlie did a great job. Main takeaway points were the Council's
enthusiasm, the good press support BWRC received (front page Salem News story the
next day), the success in conveying the inequality of the trash fee, and the resulting
Council's request for an Ad Hoc Committee for mandatory recycling for which Council
President, Mr. Guanci, wants to move quickly.
D) NEXT STEPS FOR BWRC AND AD HOC MEMBERS
BWRC should investigate further and talk with Gloucester about their PAYT program,
recycling policies, etc.
Discussion surrounded past meeting minutes that reflect BWRC's position that PAYT is
the best option for City of Beverly.
Motion was made to authorize BWRC's Ad Hoc Members to represent to the Committee
BWRC's unanimous position of full PAYT option, along with making composing part of
the discussion and emphasizing that Education is a critical component to a successful
program. Motion approved by unanimous vote.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: 7:20 pm