City of Lawrence                                        

Solid Waste Task Force

September 12, 2011 (6:00 PM) Meeting Minutes

Jayhawk Room, Fire-Medical Administration Building, 1911 Stewart Avenue

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mayor Aron Cromwell, Joe Harkins, Daniel Poull, Charlie Sedlock, Jeff Severin, Christine Tomlin

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Billy Beeson, Suzi Cammon, Sam Porritt, Ralph Reed, Dan Wethington

 

STAFF PRESENT:

Dave Corliss, Tammy Bennett, Michael Eglinski, Eileen Horn, Craig Pruett, Kathy Richardson

 

GUESTS PRESENT:

Kevin Weldon, Randy Weldon, Carrie Spencer

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Tom Coffman, Paul Davis, Kris Hicks, Chad Lawhorn, Laura Routh

 

 

CALL MEETING TO ORDER - Mayor Aron Cromwell

 

REVIEW AND APPROVE MEETING MINUTES

 

Motion and second to approve the August 25, 2011 meeting minutes (Sedlock/Poull).

Vote was passed unanimously.

 

PRESENTATIONS ON AREA ACTIVITIES REGARDING MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES

 

A presentation by Kevin Weldon, CEO, and Randy Weldon, COO, with Honey Creek Disposal highlighted their family company history and plans to open a Material Recover Facility in January 2012. The location of the MRF is at the junction of Kansas Highway 32 and U.S. Highway 24-40 just east of the Lawrence Municipal Airport.

 

Charlie Sedlock, Manager of Hamm Waste Services, focused his presentation on future options for waste diversion at the Hamm landfill in Perry. Future operations include areas for metals collection, BioGas processing, construction/demolition material processing, and green waste/compost processing, as well as a Material Recovery Facility.

 

The last presentation was by Carrie Spencer, Waste Management’s Municipal, Community and Public Relations Manager. Topics covered were curbside recycling collection and recent trends, effective education and messaging, and a proposed Material Recovery Facility in Shawnee County. Waste Management is one of four companies that responded to a Request for Proposals to build and operate a Material Recovery Facility in Shawnee County. A decision regarding the proposals has not been made yet.

 

DISCUSSION ON CURBSIDE RECYCLING

 

The task force referred to the curbside recycling thought-tree for discussion and started with the question of whether Lawrence would be better suited with a subscription based curbside recycling service (voluntary pay and participation) or mandatory program (everyone pays for the service via their monthly utility bill from the City of Lawrence). Although the task force did not reach consensus, there was good discussion on all factors that need to be considered including the financial impact to households with varying income levels if the program becomes mandatory. 

 

There was discussion of weekly versus bi-weekly collection for curbside recycling. Many task force members agreed that weekly curbside recycling collection would be a better option for Lawrence. Currently 4,000+ households are receiving weekly curbside recycling service through private recycling haulers. It is what they are used to. Changing the service to bi-weekly may seem like a decrease in service. Also noted was that bi-weekly collection may lead to some confusion for customers regarding which week is their set out week.  

 

A vision for Lawrence could be city-wide weekly pick up for trash and weekly pick up for single-stream recyclables. Once the tonnage of trash is significantly reduced, trash could be picked up every other week.

 

Yard trimmings collection was also discussed. At least one task force member would like to see Lawrence have city-wide mandatory curbside recycling more than yard trimmings collection. Other comments made were about the frequency of collection and possible fees that could be implemented for this service. Staff reminded the task force of the importance of collecting yard trimmings separate from trash in order to keep the diversion rate higher.

 

Throughout the curbside recycling discussion the task force reiterated that it is important to keep in mind the cost of providing this service.

 

FUTURE MEETINGS

 

At the next meeting, the task force will continue to discuss elements of a possible curbside recycling program for Lawrence, receive information from staff on existing recycling services, and begin to decide on the Solid Waste Task Force recommendations for the City Commission.

 

Mayor Aron Cromwell stated that he would like staff to work on a draft of the recommendations based on the direction received from the task force. The City Manager mentioned it would be helpful to include possible options that are not being pursued by the task force and reasons why.

 

Date

Topics

Saturday,

September 24,2011

10:00 a.m. Tour of the Deffenbaugh Industries Material Recovery Facility

Wednesday,

September 28, 2011

Location: Jayhawk Room, Fire-Medical building, 1911 Stewart Avenue

Topic: Discussion on recommendations / develop specifics on possible recommendations to provide staff direction for report draft

CANCELLED

October 13, 2011

CANCELLED

NEW DATE:

Wednesday,

October 26, 2011

Location: TBD

Topic: Discussion on recommendations

·         POSSIBLE review of an early draft

Wednesday,

November 16, 2011

Location: TBD

Meeting if needed

Monday,

December 12, 2011

Location: TBD

Meeting if needed

 

Future meeting topics:

·         Input from stakeholders involved in recycling in Lawrence

·         Second public listening session

 

Adjourned at 8:05 p.m.