Curbside Collection Advisory Committee minutes 10/29/19
Curbside Collection Advisory Committee
October 29, 2019
Members present: Sophie Robinson, Tim Copeland, Rachel Jefferson,
Absent: Frank Swift, Karen Fuller and June Sawyer.
Town staff: Town Administrator David Moore and Director of Public Works Nate Mears
Meeting opened at 6:00 p.m.
The group reviewed the meeting summary from July 30, 2019. In particular, the group reviewed the various questions and concerns about the automated curbside collection proposal that the group wanted to return to. The group also reviewed an updated description of the proposed project, which was produced for the previous meeting and was amended to reflect the discussion and provide clarifications.
If new hours are going to be added what is the cost?
Since we do not current accept trash at the Transfer Station, what added costs would there be to introduce that service?
What size bins are to be offered given options for 96, and 64 gallon containers?
What are the final approaches for the two homeowners associations whose site layouts are not set up to accommodate this collection method.
What are the organizational impacts and responsibilities for replacing carts and stockpiling replacements and administering “switch-outs”.
After reviewing these and other issues, the Committee moved to a discussion of the big picture and the goal of the Town in pursuing this change. The group discussed the benefits and impetus for researching this option. Planning for the financial impact of changes in the recycling markets was chief among the reasons; through automation savings in labor would be able to offset increases in recycling disposal coming down the pike. Aesthetic impacts as well as environmental stewardship (by limiting blow away trash and recyclable materials along roadways) were other factors. In addition, the current trash collection contract will be expiring at the end of the year. Mr. Moore reminded the Committee that due to the lead time necessary to introduce an automated system, the earliest a new program would be deployed would be in the spring of 2020. As a result, the staff has been preparing a contract extension with the current vendor for one-year.
The Committee discussed the issues raised and indicated many questions remained that need further deliberation prior to recommending moving forward with the automation program. Noting the significance of the challenges, both to administer as well as implement the group felt more information is needed.
The discussion about the cost of recycling led to a discussion about the community’s values as they relate to waste generation and environmental stewardship. Since the community pays more to dispose of recycling than trash, there is a basic question to be answered about how much additional cost for recycling the community wants to pay and what alternative recycling options might be available that the community is interested in. As a result, the group discussed introducing a survey tool to help understand the community’s values and preferences recycling, interest in exploring other models, as well as to test some of the program details about an automated program.
The Committee decided to meet in one week to continue the discussion. The next meeting was set for Nov. 5th or 6th with Mr. Moore circulating a final date based on the availability of other members.