City of Lawrence

Solid Waste Task Force

August 11, 2011 (6:00 PM) Meeting Minutes

City Commission Room, City Hall

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Mayor Aron Cromwell, Suzi Cammon, Joe Harkins, Daniel Poull, Ralph Reed, Charlie Sedlock, Jeff Severin, Christine Tomlin, Dan Wethington
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Billy Beeson, Sam Porritt
STAFF PRESENT:	Tammy Bennett, Michael Eglinski, Eileen Horn, Craig Pruett, Kathy Richardson
GUESTS PRESENT:
PUBLIC PRESENT:	Brennan Fagan, Jim Mullens, Laura Routh

CALL MEETING TO ORDER - Mayor Aron Cromwell

REVIEW AND APPROVE MEETING MINUTES

Motion and second to approve the July 14, 2011 meeting minutes (Poull/Reed).

Vote was passed unanimously.

CONTAINERIZATION DISCUSSION

The task force members received a copy of a staff memo outlining the city staff recommendation on implementation of standard 65-gallon wheeled trash containers for all residential units not served by shared containers for a fee of $0.75 per month.

After discussion of the pros and cons of containerization, there was group consensus to move towards containerization for residential trash customers.

The task force members debated on what the right size container should be. Tammy Bennett suggested a two stage decision process for this containerization topic:

First decide to containerize (yes/no).
Later make a decision about the right size of container, once the task force has a chance to discuss and decide on other components such as curbside recycling and variable rate pricing.

The task force members raised a concern on what would happen to all the current trash cans and expressed interest in getting these recycled instead of landfilled.

Jim Mullens asked the Mayor and task force if they had already decided to keep solid waste service as an in-house operation instead of out-sourcing. The Mayor answered indicating there was consensus among the task force members to keep solid waste services in-house but they were still entertaining proposals.

GRAPHIC “THOUGHT-TREE” FOR CURBSIDE RECYCLING

A graphic “thought-tree” for curbside recycling was handed out to task force members to use in proceeding through considerations on curbside recycling. It is a representation of some of the major elements of curbside recycling to be considered.

The task force commented that this graphic would prove to be very helpful when they begin discussing curbside recycling.

A task force member asked for an update on the glass recycling program. The Mayor informed the group that funding within the 2012 Solid Waste Division budget for a glass recycling program was approved by the City Commission and the next step is for a Request for Proposals (RFP) to be sent out to interested glass recyclers. The Mayor also mentioned that Ripple Glass is very interested in recycling the glass collected in Lawrence and has invited a representative from Ripple Glass to speak at the next SWTF meeting.

OPEN DISCUSSION FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Tour. The task force agreed that at this time they would like to visit only one MRF and they picked to visit the Deffenbaugh Industries MRF.

PLANNING FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

Date	Topics
August 25, 2011	Bucket List Item Discussion and Presentations: Curbside Recycling Waste Connections, 30 minutes Deffenbaugh Industries, 30 minutes Ripple Glass, 10 minutes Q&A
September 12, 2011	Bucket List Item Discussion and Presentations: Curbside Recycling Honey Creek Disposal, 20 minutes Hamm Waste Services, 15 minutes Q&A Open discussion on curbside recycling
Saturday, September 24, 2011 or October 1, 2011	Focus: Material Recycling Facility (MRF) Deffenbaugh MRF in Edwardsville, KS
September 28, 2011	TBD
October 13, 2011	TBD
October 24, 2011	TBD
	Future meeting topics: · Input from stakeholders (Deffenbaugh, other recyclers, etc.) · Second public listening session

Adjourned at 7:45 p.m.