11 2017 BWRC Minutes November 2 2017Beverly Waste Reduction Committee
MINUTES: Monthly meeting, Thursday, November 2, 2017
6:00 PM, Beverly City Hall, Conference Room A
CALL TO ORDER: 6:05 pm
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT. Jim Bauer, Sandy Burgess, Maureen Cronan,
Nancy Dillon, Rebecca Dupont - Coutu, Connie Krueger, Charlie Perlo, Joyce Herman,
Susan Higgins
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT. Toni Musante
INVITED PARTICIPANTS: none
1) MINUTES
Motion to approve October minutes.
Motion approved by unanimous vote.
2) REPORTS
a) BWRC Facebook Page - A Thank You was extended to Susan for the great work she
has been doing with the BWRC Facebook page. Susan reported it was going well, and
was planning on trying to publish more "tip of the day" posts. She does get feedback
from the posts, so monitors the responses and tries to address all questions.
b) BWRC Minutes - A Thank You was extended to Nancy for continuing to take the
meeting minutes. Nancy reported she had been in contact with the City Clerk to let him
know there were past approved minutes she needed to submit to the City. Going
forward, approved meeting notes will be submitted to the City more promptly.
c) Curbside Compost Program — Jim extended a Thank You to all the volunteers who
helped roll out this year's program, and reported the program's administration has been
handed over to Black Earth. 900 households enrolled with only 40 not yet paid. BWRC
will continue to promote the program through its Facebook page and other means, with a
goal to surpass 1000 households.
Charlie reported the MacDonald's building on Water Street is going to be torn down,
and the City is looking for a new site to store the blue recycling bins, the 200 curbside
compost bins, and hundreds of countertop bins currently being stored there.
Discussion ensued about what to do once the inventory of 200 bins were distributed -
whether BWRC should purchase more, the costs, where would they be stored, and /or if
would it be a time for the Committee approach the City to handle the bins as an
extension of the recycling program. It was agreed the discussion should be continued
and options further investigated.
d) Planning Board Meeting - Jim was invited to give a presentation to the Planning Board
on Tuesday November 21 at 7:OOPM regarding recycling in multi -unit buildings. He is
going to discuss the existing State and City recycling ordinances. Jim pointed out it has
been Massachusetts law since the 1990's that no recyclable materials may go into
incinerators or landfills. The City has a recycling ordinance, but it does not cover private
trash pick up which many multi -unit buildings and businesses use. Many on the
Committee voiced their hopes this is the start of the City looking into creating and
enforcing laws for recycling in multi -unit buildings, given the recent extreme rapid growth
of them in the downtown areas.
e) Colorado Conference — Jim was to report, however in the interest of time, he
requested this be tabled to another meeting.
f) Greenbeverly.com — Jim reported he purchased this URL and created a Beta website
modeled after websites in Salem and Newton. It needs to be built out, but will hopefully
be a portal for "green" resources in the City, and potentially the website for BWRC.
Discussion followed about finding someone who could help design and build the
website, perhaps a Beverly High student, and the general desire to have someone on, or
affiliated with, the Committee who could do more Social Media such as admin the
website and do Instagram and Twitter.
g) Zero -Waste Challenge — Jim proposed to the Committee a contest with local
businesses to see if they can produce Zero - Waste, i.e. everything into the compost. He
cited DownRiver Ice Cream as an example of a business with zero waste.
BWRC would extend an invitation to businesses, choose 5 and support their efforts
through helping them figure out costs and suppliers, and perhaps assist with some
costs.
The Committee brainstormed some details, such as creating a design for waste stations
for consistency, to consider trying to have different businesses participate — such as a
food truck, a restaurant, a coffee shop, etc. to produce different business models for
businesses going forward, and to have input from Sharon Kashida /MA DEP & Change Is
Simple.
h) BevCam video — Charlie reported they recorded a segment for the program "Living;
the Good Life" on October 14, however due to a technical difficulty there was only audio,
no video. They are scheduled to do a retake on November 14, and Charlie was hoping
Conor Miller and Sharon Kashida could do the segment.
i) CIS Invoice — Connie requested this be tabled as there was some confusion over the
matter.
3) BWRC PRIORITIES
Connie shared the results of the poll taken by Committee members as to what priorities
should be for the coming year. It was agreed that all the items listed were very important
to the Committee - PAYT (aka Save Money And Reduce Trash (SMART)), Public School
Outreach, Pursuing State Grants, Plastic Bag Ban, Styrofoam Ban, Pursuing City
Council Ordinances, CHARM facility, Public Education. The poll revealed the top two
priorities agreed upon by the Committee by wide margins were SMART /PAYT and
lobbying the Council and Mayor for better recycling ordinances.
4) PLASTIC BAG BAN PROPOSAL
The Committee discussed the educational proposals brought to them at the last
meeting by Salem Sound Coastwatch - a screening of "Bag It" at Cabot Cinema and the
public arts program "Tidal Shift ". Discussion revolved around the timing of the film's
influence, citizens' awareness of plastic bags' environmental impact due to publicity from
other bag bans across the state, the concern the Tidal Shift "jellyfish" could break free
and blow away, and the point that both the film and the "Tidal Shift" installation have
already been done in Salem. Committee agreed they will promote and support these
efforts, however there was reluctance as to how much funding the Committee would
commit.
Motion was made and approved to table voting the funding as requested, and Rebecca
will talk with Emily Flaherty further.
The committee then explored ideas for other possible educational /awareness
measures, mostly focusing on getting reusable bags to the public. Ideas included
spending funds to help smaller businesses transition with reusable bags, assisting with
the bag share - program idea by Kevin MacDonald that he discussed in his presentation
to the Council for the plastic bag ban, and to have a city -wide school art contest for the
best designs to be printed on reusable grocery and /or produce bags.
6) OTHER BUSINESS
Susan mentioned Salem is having their 2nd repair cafe and suggested BWRC should
keep an eye on its success and perhaps consider having one as well.
Rebecca extended an invitation to a Salem Sound Coastwatch event on November 12.
Maureen announced her term on the Committee will be up at the end of March 2018
and will not be rejoining the Committee as she is moving out of state.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: 7:15 pm