February 8, 2006 Solid Waste & Recycling Committee
Meeting Minutes
People present: Pete Thoits, Randy Cookson, John Welch
1. Review of monthly Transfer Station data: Information of note is that January 2006 RWS figure (214.67 tons) is 25.9 tons above last years total for January (188.77). Randy can think of no factors that would contribute to such a large jump in waste tonnage. It is the highest of any of the previously reported years. There was no corresponding drop in the tonnage of other commodities. The only circumstance of note is that the weather in January has been extraordinarily mild. This has possibly allowed early spring cleaning to commence. Hopefully this is a one time occurrence.
2. Illegal Dumping Incident, Location 1: There were two incidents of illegal dumping on Libby Hill. A trashed car and a scrap ATV were abandoned on Libby Hill Rd. above the Middle School.
3. llegal Dumping Incident, Location 2: Randy received a report from a resident who lives on Ramsdell Rd. The resident reported that two refrigerators had been abandoned on the unpaved portion of Ramsdell Rd. near Little Sebago Lake. The resident brought the refrigerators to the Transfer Station. He said that illegal dumping occurs on the far end of Ramsdell Rd. quite often. This site will be added to our data map. We need to consider periodic monitoring of this site.
4. Illegal Dumping Incident, Location 3: Randy reported that two different loads of waste were brought to the Gray Transfer Station and dumped when the Transfer Station was closed. Several other departments and agencies in town have a key to the Transfer Station gate. One load of trash contained a 5-gallon container of chlordane, a banned pesticide. The other load consisted, in part, of asbestos panels that Randy retrieved from one of the roll-offs. This is the first incident reported to this committee where hazardous waste was included.
* Randy asked that the committee co-authorize the changing of the Transfer Station gate lock to reign in off-hours access and dumping.
* Finding: The rules governing the operation of a transfer station have become rigid and potentially costly. The Gray Transfer Station is not authorized or equipped to accept or store hazardous waste. Transfer station personnel were put at potential risk by these incidents. The illegal dumping of hazardous and/or banned substances at the Gray Transfer Station could have triggered a DEP investigation along with costly remedial action. Had the asbestos panels not been found and retrieved by Randy, their delivery to our vendor could have triggered an investigation of past and future loads from Gray jeopardizing a business relationship. An important part of the duties of the staff of the Gray Transfer Station is to monitor the waste delivered to and shipped from Gray. Therefore, regaining control of access to the transfer
station and educating and monitoring those with access is imperative.
*Having consulted with the other members of the committee prior to the meeting and acting on behalf of the committee, I co-signed the notice authorizing Randy to change the gate lock.
5. Recycling / Cost Saving Project - Recycling Ordinance (continued) : We discussed the two basic questions regarding a mandatory recycling ordinance (MRO). First, would a MRO result in a measurable increase in the recycling rate in Gray? Second, Should the committee undertake a re-write of the current solid waste ordinance to include MRO components? A review of two samples of MRO's from other towns illuminated the following things:
* Gray's current solid waste ordinance was written in 1992 and amended in 1993. Mandatory recycling is not specifically included in the ordinance.
* Definitions of acceptable wastes need to be reviewed.
* Recyclable materials need to be reviewed.
* Provisions for composting need review.
* Violations and penalties need review.
* If adopted, a measure to determine if a MRO increased the recycling rate will need to be developed.
* Decision of the committee required: Should the committee undertake a review of the current ordinance and develop a proposal for changes to present to the town council? If we decide to take this on, we should try to have a bullet point presentation ready by one of the March council meetings.
6. Open season! Randy had one Open Season topic. Randy proposed that the date of the "Spring Green-Up be changed from around Memorial Day to Earth Day. This would mean that instead of being held May 26th-28th it would be held April 21st thru April 23rd. Some points to ponder:
* Holding collection in April would separate the clean-up days by a month making the spring event more geared to year round residents and still having an event available for summer residents in late summer.
* In previous years, the spring events were well attended while the late summer events had lower turnout. Randy believes this is due to them being so close together.
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