Shaftsbury Solid Waste Committee
Minutes of November 29, 2005
Cole Hall, Shaftsbury
Members Present: Bill Pennebaker, Karen Mellinger, Forrest Snyder, Trevor Mance
Absent: Michael Biddy
Bill opened the meeting at 7:45 p.m. The main topic of discussion was the upcoming town informational meeting regarding future solid waste disposal options (to be held on Monday, December 5, 2005). Forrest noted that it should be emphasized that the committee is recommending some form of pay as you throw system. Members acknowledged that there is some concern regarding the political reception this concept may have.
Forrest added that the focus of the meeting should be somewhat narrow; i.e., here is what the costs are, here is what a pay as you throw system might impact those costs.
There was discussion about including in the presentation the fee schedules presently used by the surrounding towns. Bill suggested that a matrix could be used to show the fees charged for msw, stickers, etc. We should also have the budget figures for the Shaftsbury system.
The group talked about how to handle the bags. Do we have bags printed up and sold in local stores and Cole Hall? This would eliminate having to handle cash at the transfer station for the municipal solid waste. Forrest will try to get figures from one of his sources for the cost of producing bags of different sizes. Any printing costs would, of course, have to be considered in the payt fee. Bill will try to put together a Power Point presentation.
Bill and Karen discussed their site visit to the Sunderland transfer station. Bill provided the committee with a written summary of the visit. He noted that one of the issues which was raised during the visit was the leachate discharge from packer trucks. This, apparently, is due to the lack of durability in the rubber seals on the trucks. He also noted that Casella does not compact plastics on site – Dale Baker (the manager of the Sunderland site) advised that they do not feel it is a good idea. Apparently, the problem is due to the fact that there is residuals in the containers which can cause a problem – such as bleach, muriatic acid, ammonia. Trevor commented that he believes the reason Casella does not compact is because they can make more money hauling the container away to compact it off-site.
The minutes of November 15, 2005 were not approved, due to the lack of a quorum of members present at that meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Submitted by Karen Mellinger