Recycling and Renewable Energy Committee
Minutes from 8 August 07, Town Hall,
Attending: Mike Leger, Jim Denietolis, Brian Carlson, Ghee Patrick, Amy Germain, Lee Bartell, and Conny Hatch.
Preceding Minutes: Approved as amended
Integrated Paper Recycling (
Clear Plastic Bags: Lee
wondered if it wouldn't work here, as it has elsewhere. When residents
put out their trash, if anything recyclable showed through, then the trash
wouldn't be accepted. Very quickly, folks really started recycling.
Seems as it's worth a try. Maybe we could get
support for the effort from the
Grant Writing Workshop:
Both Jim and Mike attended this
Board of Health: Brian said that he's received
a few positive comments to the business community letter that he sent out, re:
recycling. Both the
Banned Stuff: How do we get rid of
it? If we know that we can't "throw it away", how can we
dispose of it, correctly? It's so confusing to folks, what do we
do with old batteries, for instance, plus it's expensive for some, as
there are fees to get rid of a refrigerator, TV, tires, etc. Ghee suggested
that we have an Amnesty Day, as the town used to have (both spring
and fall). We had a lively discussion about it, and all agreed that we
need to make recycling as easy, fun, simple, and cheap for folks, as is
possible. We agreed to send a letter to the
Horse Manure: Brian said that there
a few stables in town that need to get rid of horse manure, perhaps on a
weekly schedule. One thought was bring it to the compost heap at the
Transfer Station, but we were told by Jim that the compost heap is not in
regulation, as it's too large, and there's stuff in it which isn't good for
compost for our gardens. It needs a sifter and other equipment to turn
it, for starters. Another suggestion is that if there were a loader
there, it could load woodchips into one's pickup, or load manure, too.
Ghee pointed out that any gardener would be happy to have it. Lee
suggested that an ad in the paper would probably solve the problem.
Town Open Meeting Law:
Mike handed out copies received from Doug Johnstone, Town Clerk, of
"E-mails and the Open Meeting Law & Public Records Law" for us to
read.
Budget: We, the previous
Recycling Committee, used to have a few thousand dollars each annual budget,
but it got absorbed by the
Whale Watching Boats:
Lee reported that the Portuguese Princess is recycling in their galley.
Amy reported that the Dolphin Fleet isn't doing that yet, but that she's
working on them. She still wants to talk with their Education
person.
Licensing Haulers: Brian reported that he
and Jane, Health Agent, had discussed possibly waiving the license fee if the
haulers will recycle. These are the "out-of-town" haulers, who
pick up here, but take the trash and recyclables elsewhere. The problem
is that we've seen them toss recyclables right into the trash hopper.
Acknowledgements: Amy created a
"Certificate of Excellence" to present to those whom we believe are doing
a great job recycling, such as DeVita and Roderick
haulers. We look forward to the day when we can thank Allied/BFI and
Going Paperless: Amy will meet with
Sharon Lynn to discuss this idea for Town Hall. This needs to be on next
meeting's agenda.
Ongoing Goal: What are the priorities
of our committee? We need to define them, and then meet with the Selectboard. This can be part of our discussion each
meeting.
Promised Land TV: We need to discuss
Catherine's ideas presented last meeting. She'll help us promote our
ideas, help educate, so we can't drop the ball on this.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, 22 August 07,
minutes
submitted by Lee Bartell
Lee Bartell
9
508-487-8838
cell 508-237-6111
capewoman@cape.com