Minutes 12/01/08

Approved 01/08/09

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.  Jim Vaillancourt, Ken Curley, Ben Edwards, Lucy Edwards, and Steve Preston were present.  Doug Chamberlin and Margaret Walker were unable to attend due to other commitments.

The minutes of the Nov. meeting were approved as presented, Mr.  Curley motioning, Ms. Edwards seconding.  It was noted that the minutes for the committee were not on the website.  A link needs to  be added to the website for the Recycling Committee.  Mr. Curley will ask Pete Jones, the webmaster, to do that.  Then Mr. Curley will post the minutes.

Mr. Vaillancourt, as chair, asked for ideas on what should be in the report the committee submits for the Town Report.  It was agreed that Mr. Preston will submit a separate report on the activity at the transfer station, and that the recycling committee report should include the reinstatement of the committee, what recommendations we had made to the selectmen, and any other initiatives of the committee in 2008.

Mr. Vaillancourt requested help from the selectmen's representative, Mr. Curley, in getting access to the invoices and other financial information about the recyclables so that he can compare how things are going this year compared to last, and how much the town has saved or improved performance since Mr. Preston became a full time employee.  Mr. Curley noted that this was public information subject to request, but that he would speak to the town and finance administrators to expedite.

The flow at the transfer station since the change to putting plastics in one compactor container and wet garbage in the other was discussed.  Mr. Preston reports he is still sending out the household trash once a week, and the he has 4 weeks worth of plastic in the other container and it is not full yet.  Once that one is full and pulled we will have more information as to how much it will cost the town to dispose of plastic during this time when there is no market for the commodity.

Mr. Curley noted that right now we have moved from making a profit to concentrating on controlling the cost.  We discussed what having a baler and the equipment to make use of it would be like.  We agreed that in January we hope to be able to discuss the income we had this year from the recyclables and begin to make the case for the town investing in a baler.  Mr. Preston will get cost figures for the equipment we would need.

Mr. Preston reports a problem with people leaving air conditioners, TVs, etc. (things for which a fee is charged to leave at the transfer station) in the swap shop.  There is no one to monitor the swap shop right now.  Mr. Vaillancourt had heard from people in Deerfield that this is why they shut down their swap shop.  Deerfield reopened it only on condition that a volunteer be present when it is open. The committee agreed that Mr. Preston should report to the selectmen on the extent of the problem so that they could decide how to handle the situation.

Mr. Edwards moved to adjourn at 8:20.  Mr. Curley seconded.  The committee will meet again on January 8th, since there is a budget committee work session on the regular meeting night which Mr. Curley and Mrs. Edwards must attend.