1/6/2015 WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Minutes

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Goats and Obiectives Discussion conti ued Comments/suggestions: • Town of Barnstable transfer station considering pay-as-you-throw. They do not levy tax to support transfer station. They went through same process as Mashpee and ABC seemed to be good option. • Disposal costs went from $37/ton to $55/ton—so how can we reduce tonnage. In future costs expected to escalate drastically. • Take best practices of all towns doing pay-as-you-throw. In one town residents pay sticker fee, get 50 bags, and then have to pay for additional bags over the 50 given. • Educate public to ensure they know what is considered"trash". If people informed then trash disposal could be reduced by about 80%. Therefore, first decide what"trash" is. • State of Massachusetts is very specific about what constitutes"trash". • When there is an incentive,public will think more about recycling. • In addition to educating public,there has to be a way to enforce adherence. • Water and electricity paid based on usage—trash should be charged based on usage. Pay-as-you-throw public meeting held was very frustrating. It would have been more effective if recycling members were there to answer questions as they were raised. • If we do a pay-as-you-throw, don't use plastic bags. If possible,use clear bags. This would enable transfer station workers to educate in nice way public recyclables vs.trash—Example: that egg carton is recyclable. Questions: • Any grant money available for transfer station? Catherine Laurent said there are some DEP grants, but no incentive program grants. She said we have a DEP grant to start composting. • Do we make money recycling? Catherine responded we do not make a profit,but the cost is less by recycling. Catherine said she would look at detailing recycling and get information back to the Committee. • Why haven't we worked with other towns and combined with other towns? Catherine said we did operate a regional station and then went to Semass,but could not be competitive because haulers went to Bourne. • What do we do with food waste? Richard Elrick said composting could get 18- 22%reduction in quantity. He said Rochester has a facility that does composting and he went on a field trip to see it. It is quite impressive. • Long term--could transfer station be self-sustaining? Catherine said she is looking at cost of that now for the Board of Selectmen. • If transfer station stopped taking trash, would private haulers be used? John Cahalane said when this was done in another town, every business in that town put chains around their dumpsters. 2