City of Lawrence

Recycling and Resource Conservation Advisory Board

April 11^th, 2007 (5:30 PM) Meeting Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	John Craft, Dickie Heckler, Sarah Hill-Nelson , Daniel Poull, Laura Routh, Marie Stockett, Cindy Strecker
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Jae Chang, Chris Cobb, Brent Swain
STAFF PRESENT:	Tammy Bennett, Kathy Richardson
GUESTS PRESENT:
PUBLIC PRESENT:

Approval of meeting Minutes

Motion and second to approve the March 12th minutes as amended (Heckler / Routh).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Motion and second to approve the March 15th minutes as amended (Routh / Hill-Nelson).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Discuss changes to RRCAB’s Bylaws and name

□ ACTION ITEM: Tammy Bennett will request placing the RRCAB changes to Bylaws and name on the Regular Agenda at the City Commission meeting on April 17^th , 2007.

Daniel Poull stated that he would give a short presentation to the City Commission. Poull asked that all RRCAB members attend if they can. Bob Yoos, Solid Waste Manager and Kathy Richardson, WRR Supervisor will attend as well.

Downtown Recycling

Daniel Poull tabled this topic for future discussion.

Sustainability Town Hall Meeting – Sarah Hill-Nelson

Sarah Hill-Nelson mentioned that she has been working with the organizers of the Wakarusa Music Festival who are planning to sponsor a Sustainability Symposium during their music festival in June. The Wakarusa Music Festival also thought up the idea of sponsoring a Sustainability Town Hall meeting held at Liberty Hall on Monday, May 21^st, 2007. Hill-Nelson contacted Dave Corliss, City Manager, and City Commissioners. City staff from different departments will attend as well as city commissioners.

Hill-Nelson asked if RRCAB would like to be a sponsor of the Sustainability Town Hall Meeting. There was discussion on:

- Why is the panel made up of only city staff and city commissioners? Why not NGOs? (Routh)

- Why not have “round tables” which are more interactive and each could specialize on a different topic? (Routh)

- Is Liberty Hall the appropriate place for a Town Hall meeting? Why not City Hall or the Lawrence Public Library? (Craft)

- Would the people that attend be a good representation of Lawrence residents? Or will they all be environmentalist? (Craft)

Motion and second to have Daniel Poull sit on the panel representing RRCAB (Routh / Heckler).

Vote: Motion passed, 5-0, with 2 abstaining.

Land Preservation – John Craft

John Craft shared two references with RRCAB:

Soil Survey of Douglas County, Kansas. US Department of Agriculture. Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Iskikawa, Murray Silverstein with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel.

Craft commented that Lawrence has the best soils in Kansas and wants RRCAB to discuss soil conservation (development guidelines and land use planning). It was suggested that Craft present this topic at the Sustainability Town Hall Meeting. Poull suggested forming a committee.

There was discussion about forming committees vs. subcommittees. Poull tabled this topic for future discussion.

State of Progress of Increasing Recycling in Lawrence

Richardson announced that Bob Yoos, Solid Waste Manager, would attend the next board meeting to answer RRCAB’s questions regarding recycling in Lawrence.

RRCAB seems to have two different goals when it comes to increasing recycling in Lawrence. Tammy Bennett mentioned that city staff discussed budgeting for a “Recycling Survey” contracted out to a third party. The survey would ask Lawrence residents if they would support curbside recycling at a cost. RRCAB discussed the possibility of having a question regarding Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT). Staff will submit the request for the survey with the 2008 budget submittal. The consensus of the board was to defer further action on the purchase of uniform containers for use by curbside recyclers until the survey is completed and results have been reviewed.

□ ACTION ITEM: Bennett will e-mail RRCAB the PAYT study (10 years old).

Motion and second to support the survey effort and encourage that the survey include a PAYT question (Routh / Heckler).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Yardwaste Collection – Laura Routh

Laura Routh informed RRCAB that she rented a city cart for setting out her yard waste but when she set out it out on Monday morning it was picked up as trash and not composted.

□ ACTION ITEM: Richardson to follow up and find out what happened.

Budget Presentation

Laura Routh asked if the board will see the detailed budget submittals for the division. Tammy Bennett reviewed the process. The department will submit preliminary budget information to the City Manager’s Office. Detailed budget information is posted on the City’s website when submitted to the City Commissioners for their review. All board members will be able to review once it has been reviewed by the City Manager. No further action was requested on this item.

Earth Day Participation and Assignments

□ ACTION ITEM: Celeste Fish will e-mail RRCAB their assignments prior to the Earth Day Parade and Celebration in the Park.

Waste Reduction and Recycling Report – Staff

Printed copy of monthly updates provided to RRCAB.

Miscellaneous and Guest Comments

There was discussion regarding an e-mail RRCAB received from Bob Yoos regarding the accuracy of statements made on public internet forum. Daniel Poull reiterated the importance of being clear and accurate in statements. The board, however, does not control the statements made by board members when not speaking on behalf of the board (e.g., as citizens in their personal roles in the community). Some members of the board were unclear about the initial issue that generated the e-mail and felt it would have been more appropriately addressed to specific members rather than the full board. No further action on this issue.

Agenda items:

Next meeting: May 9, 2007

Kevin Doyle update on FCIP, Cool Cities, LEED, EPA Green Power Community Campaign
Bob Yoos answers to SAB questions on Recycling

Meeting adjourned 7:39 p.m.

Attachments:

Waste Reduction and Recycling Division report

Waste Reduction & Recycling Division - Update for March 2007

Waste Reduction and Recycling Division Update

The City of Lawrence held interviews for the WRR Supervisor position on March 2^nd and 5^th. Kathy Richardson was selected. Kathy has worked for the City of Lawrence as a WRR Specialist since August 2002. Kathy has a B.S. in Biology (Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology). Kathy’s start date was March 12^th, 2007.

WRR staff attended the KDHE WORKS conference on recycling, composting and household hazardous waste held in Hutchinson, KS on March 27^th through the 29^th. Kathy gave two presentations at this conference: Mercury Training and Cans for the Community, a Success Story.

WRR Supervisor held WRR Intern interviews in March and hired Erin Flynn, a KU student who is working on a double major (Environmental Studies and Economics). Erin’s start date was April 2^nd, 2007.

Fibers Report

Old Corrugated Containers (OCC)

Cardboard Tons Revenue

Current YTD 260.03 $28,571.25

Prior YTD 211.04 $12,960.50

Avg. Price/ton thru Mar. 2007: $109.88 Avg. Price/ton thru Mar 2006: $61.41

Old Newspapers (ONP)

Newspaper Tons Revenue

Current YTD 233.77 $22,371.85

Prior YTD 213.81 $16,330.75

Avg. Price/ton thru Mar. 2007: $95.70 Avg. Price/ton thru Mar 2006: $ 76.38

Office Waste Paper (SOP)

Sorted Office Paper Tons Revenue

Current YTD none $ n/a

Prior YTD 6.00 $ 367.32

Avg. Price/ton thru Mar. 2007: $ Avg. Price/ton thru Mar 2006: $ 61.22

(we are holding for full load)

Old Magazines (OMG)

Magazines Tons Revenue

Current YTD .63 $40.63

Prior YTD 0 $0

Avg. Price/ton thru Mar. 2007: $ Avg. Price/ton thru Mar 2006: $

TOTAL ytd tons Revenue

494.43 $50,983.73

Will be piloting new Mixed Waste Paper bin- 2 Bins are built and still need to be stenciled. We have permission to place one in location at HyVee on 6^th (2^nd bin will be a replacement bin).

Yard Trimmings Collection & Compost Program Report

Regular residential yard trimmings collection began March 5^th and will continue through mid-December.

The Community Compost Giveaway was held on March 22^nd through the 24^th. The compost given away was a mix of May/June ‘06 and September ’06 composted yard trimmings. Additional compost was on site, but was not intended for distribution (July/Aug ’06). A total of 1,141 vehicles entered our facility over the three-day period. At the end of the third day, we had 60 cubic yards or 39 tons of the giveaway compost pile leftover. We gave away 1,870 cubic yards of the 1,930 cubic yards of compost we had ready to give away. This translates to about 1,216 tons of compost distributed to the community over the three-day period.

The Parks & Recreation Department will use more than 30 cubic yards or 20 tons of the City’s compost at the DeVictor Park project, located on George Williams Way across the street from Langston Hughes Elementary School.

Yard Trimmings collection: Year to date

	January	February	March
Total Tons collected curbside	21.45	NA	1114.98
Commercial YW received	2.00	1.80	29.00
Other YW received	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total tons this month	23.45	1.80	1143.98
Average Preferred Container Compliance	100%	NA	98%

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Program Report