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2017-05-15 Regular Meeting SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES May 15, 2017@ 5:15 PM Kodiak Island Borough Conference Room Call to Order Chair Szabo called to order the Regular Meeting of the Solid Waste Advisory Board at 5:17 p.m. on May 15, 2017 at the Kodiak Island Borough Conference Room. Rall Call J. Clay conducted a roll call and a quorum was established.The following members were present; Chair Nick Szabo, Jeff Stewart, Steven Neff and Scott Arndt. Absent was Jennifer Culbertson. Nathan Svoboda arrived at 5:20. Also in attendance was Bob Tucker of the Kodiak Island Borough, Ex-Officio member Robert Gray of USCG, Stephanie Mason of Threshold, Mike Shrewsbury of Alaska Waste and Matt Van Dale of Kodiak Island Borough Assembly. Approval of Agenda ARNDT moved to approve the agenda. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Approval of Minutes ARNDT moved to approve the minutes of April 17, 2017 VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Visitor Comments: Marissa Koller- runs a community wellness program called Healthy Tomorrows which was grant funded through Providence. She wanted to speak in favor of banning plastic bags. She and Stephanie Mason of Threshold have been visiting schools and worked with them on a reusable bag project made out of old T-shirts. She has spoken with Safeway about a reusable bag exchange program where there would be a bin outside of Safeway.This would help if you forgot your bags and they would be available for you to use, take home,wash and return to the bin. Safeway was in favor of having the bin as long as an organization or person was there to monitor it so it doesn't fill up with garbage or bags that are moldy. They were waiting to hear back from the Women's Bay Council to see if they were interested in taking it over. She thanked SWAB for considering this ordinance and would help in any way she could. 1 Mary Ruskovich —We have the opportunity to become good stewards of our environment and to lead the way with the rest of Alaska to show that we care about our natural resources and our community. Chasity at Discover Kodiak has done a really nice job of getting the tourism summit to come here in October. We can do our part to make it as beautiful as we can and get people to enjoy the environment for generations to come. She appreciated SWAB looking into this and hoped it passed. Don Roberts—Has been in Kodiak about 20 years. He knows SWAB wants to maximize the recycling effort. He thought about why people recycle or don't recycle. He would like SWAB to consider a survey to find out people's needs such as do they have space to recycle, do they own or rent, or have disabilities. All these factors can come into play whether a person recycles or not. When he did not have a vehicle he could not recycle. He also lives in a small apartment and the sorting process becomes burdensome as there was no place to put it. He thinks a lot of people would like to recycle if it were less inconvenient. People have no money to pay to recycle metals and it goes into the dumpster. He suggested coupons that could be purchased toward such recycling. Jennifer Newby—is a biologist with NOAA. She Knew a plastic ban was up for consideration and wanted to thank the Board for taking the time to consider it. It's an important and crucial opportunity and she loved the comments that she walked in on. This island is windy. Having worked in the Dominican Republic she saw similar issues dealing with wind and how far trash carries. She really liked the idea of a ban and wanted to say convenience does play a role. If we put a price tag on the cost of plastic bags people will use that as a convenience. She doesn't think that will remedy our issues with plastic bags on the island. The only way was to get rid of them. Ron Jackson—He came to vocalize his support for the plastic bag ban. He lives in Bells Fiats where there are bags in the trees on his street. They just take off on people and they are too easy to cut loose and people are too carefree with them. He has had the thought about putting a price on the bags but he does not think that will change anything. He believes people will adapt very quickly to the ban. Other communities have done it like Cordova and Hawaii. He heard it was relatively fast.There will be grumbling but people will get used to it. In Amsterdam they had a ban and he didn't realize it. He had to juggle his items out of the store and never forgot his backpack after that. Myra Scholze—Was here in support of the bag ban. As an island community and a fishing community we all know the importance of keeping our oceans clean. When these bags blow away they inevitably end up in the ocean. , Mary Forbes—She was in support of banning plastic bags or at a minimum charging for them. It was happening all around the country. People don't think twice about buying their bags if they have to and it's made a huge difference. In Maui there are no plastic trash bags anywhere. She was also in favor of recycling glass. Stephanie Love—She agrees with everything that was said by Mary Forbes. Discussion/Action Items a. Plastic Bag Discussion Board member Nate Svoboda stated the committee met last week to talk about various options and what has occurred in other communities. Matt Van Daele drafted an ordinance for the board to consider. He received e-mails from Old Harbor which showed their support of banning plastic bags and the impacts it had on their community. They banned plastic bags and plastic bottles in their community a few years ago which had a positive impact. They planned on writing letters and calling the assembly in support of this issue. Chair Szabo expressed concern over the legality of this ban and requested the Borough Manager obtain a legal opinion to ensure there was authority for the Assembly to ban plastic bags and if it would apply to city limits. He would like to collaborate with the city on this. Board discussion ensued. SVOBODA MOVED to draft an ordinance to present to the Borough Assembly that bans plastic bags in the Kodiak Island Borough. ROLL CALL VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED 5 TO 0. Handouts were presented to the board to discuss exact wording to use in drafting the ordinance to the Assembly. Thickness of the bags and exemptions to the ban were also discussed. The Plastic Bag Committee will write the ordinance and return to SWAB at the next regular meeting. They would like representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, City of Kodiak, Safeway and Walmart to attend a SWAB meeting. b. Recycling Glass Bob Tucker reiterated from the last meeting that the Borough wanted to recycle glass but it would cost between $50,000-$70,000 to purchase a unit big enough to take care of Kodiak. Also to be considered was a place to put it and staff to run it.There also was no money in the budget for this. He said without a grant or finding a delicately used machine that we were stuck. Board discussion ensued. Chair Szabo asked board member Jeff Stewart and Stephanie Mason of Threshold to search for a grant and a machine and come back to SWAB. 3 c. Clean Up Day Review Due to bad weather,the turn out for the clean-up day was low. Only about 30 people came to pick up bags and those were for groups which planned to clean-up areas at another time. Threshold took away about 200-300 lbs. of electronics dropped off. Board discussion ensued. Visitor Comments: None. Board Member Comments: Nathan Svoboda—He took five bags of garbage to the dumpster at Bayside Fire Department and wanted to commend Alaska Waste as the area was clean and the dumpsters were not over flowing.There was no garbage on the ground area. The dumpster at Sunset was also very clean. He wanted to thank them. Mike Shrewsbury—He thanked Svoboda for the compliment. He thanked Tucker for explaining the connection of services between recycle, disposal rates and the garbage bill. It was well put and very clear how everything was connected. Nick Szabo—He wished he could say the same thing that Svoboda did as the dumpster next to his house was overflowing on Saturday. He would like to see specific signs put around the dumpsters that inform the public. Both he and his wife tell people all the time not to leave garbage next to the dumpster. Bob Tucker—The Borough was in the process of putting up signs and stickers on all dumpsters. Hopefully that will help. Meeting Schedule The next regular meeting was scheduled for June 19, 2017. Adjournment ARNDT moved to adjourn meeting. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. 4 SUBMITTED BY: Date: JJe ,y Clay,LSe�e4etar�y KIB Engineering/Facilities Department APPROVED BY: Date: NA Sz;bo, Chair Solid Waste Advisory Board