The Town of Northwood, New Hampshire

The October 7th meeting minutes were amended to correct spelling and Margaret Walked moved to approve, Ken Curley seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.

Jim Vaillancourt reported he went to Staples to research cash registers for the transfer station. The $70 model only had 4 departments that could be programmed, and would only print either a receipt or a tape, not both. For about $200 there is a model that can have 99 departments, and has a memory card that can be removed and connected to a computer to download the information. Steve Preston is working on ordering the more advanced model to keep track of the fees received for different types of items.

The main issue of the meeting was the collapse in prices for recyclables. There is still a market of sorts for aluminum cans, but most other commodities no longer will be paid for, so the town must absorb the whole cost, without getting any revenue. Steve Preston will be attending a meeting at NRRA next week where he will get updates and ideas on how towns can best handle the situation.

Mr. Preston told the committee that we can no longer co-mingle the plastic, glass, and tin cans, because we will be paying for hauling but getting nothing for the product. He suggested that we use one of the compactor containers to compact the plastic, hoping to reduce the haulage cost substantially. Right now the plastic will have to go to the landfill, since there is no market for it. But the committee and Mr. Preston agreed that we do not want to go backwards in our recycling efforts, the market will come back, and we don't want to have to re-educate the public. The tin cans will have to go back to the tin can container, and the glass to the glass pit for now.

Mr. Preston will print out a handout designed by Mr. Vaillancourt to pass out at the transfer station, at the polls on election day, and the notice will be in The Forum, and the Sun. It will also be posted on the website. The new process will start on Nov. 15th.

The Swap Shop is very crowded and needs culling. Margaret Walker told the group that the library has some shelving from the children's room that they are trying to get rid of. Mr. Chamberlin and Ms. Walker will collect the shelves and bring them to the transfer station. That will give us more storage space and allow more organization in the Swap Shop. The length of time that items should remain in the shop was discussed, it was agreed 90 days was a reasonable time. Items that are in demand go very quickly, usually within a week, but some of the stuff just sits.

The need for some volunteer help at the Swap Shop was discussed. It was suggested that maybe we could recruit some help from the Village at Mead Field over 55 condos and the elderly housing on Bow Street. A few people to tag the items with a date, and keep things organized would help a lot. The committee decided to wait until after the holidays to look into this.

Steve Preston told the committee he still has all the old signs so changing the signage at the transfer station for the new process will not be difficult.

Ms. Walker made a motion to adjourn and Lucy Edwards seconded, motion passes unanimously

Meeting adjourned at 8:52 pm.

The next meeting will be Monday, December 1st at 7 pm at the Town Hall.

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