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08/28/2017 Regular MeetingSOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES August 28, 2017@ 5:15 PM Kodiak Fisheries Research Center Call to Order OCT 12 2017 r Chair Szabo called to order the Regular Meeting of the Solid Waste Advisory Board at 5:15 p.m. on August 28, 2017 at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center. Roll Call J. Clay conducted a roll call and a quorum was established. The following members were present; Chair Nick Szabo, Jeff Stewart, Scott Arndt, Nathan Svoboda and Steven Neff. Jennifer Culbertson was absent. Bob Tucker of the Kodiak Island Borough, Engineering & Facilities Department was not present. Also in attendance was Dennis Symmons, Kodiak Island Borough Assembly liaison. 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 June 26, 2017 VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Presentation: Mike Murray, manager of Safeway, in Kodiak, was against the plastic bag ban due to inefficiency issues. Safeway does everything it can behind the walls to reclaim and repurpose all plastic and cardboard that they have control of. All plastic bags people bring back to Safeway are bagged amounting to about a %-container [40' standard intermodal container] a week and sent off island to recycle and turn back into plastic bags. In addition, all shrink wrap, plastic, cardboard and packaging is also sent off island to be repurposed. Safeway brings 13-15 containers of retail goods to the island each week. It's up to the public to decide what they are going to do with their refuse. On the issue of plastic bags at the check-out, there has been a dramatic increase in people bringing in their own bags which Safeway will not discourage, but they do believe the plastic bag was more efficient for the store. They are set up for it. The reusable bag was a challenge because they are not uniform in size; there was no universal mechanism that allowed the bag to be held in place so it was efficient to get the customer out the door. SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES August 28, 2017@ 5:15 PM Kodiak Fisheries Research Center It has taken a very important process to a one -handed slow operation. He foresaw check-out lines backing up even further and frustrating customers. For that reason, it was a huge impact. He believed people would ask for boxes and bags which cost Safeway more. Boxes are about 69 cents per box and paper bags about 3 cents per bag. Safeway has never charged the consumer for this in the past. He talked about trying to change the mindset of the people to not throw their garbage out the windows, and to recycle. He believed most of the garbage was not plastic bags but was other types of garbage such as beer cans and cigarette butts etc. Safeway does encourage bringing plastic bags back to the store and they will ship them off island. Banning plastic bags would be an unfair burden on the retailer. He thought that a netting system of some sort could be used at the landfill and would prevent bags from blowing around. He suggested letting the consumers decide if they want to continue plastic bags by a vote. Marissa Kohler Williams of Healthy Tomorrows spoke for banning plastic bags. Plastic bags are an issue. They are in the water, trees and in the yards. She has picked up plastic bags at the landfill. Banning the plastic bags was just the start to make people aware of where their plastic goes. As a consumer to wait in line for a couple of minutes so we can use our own bags was not a huge deal. If the community wants this ban then it would be Safeway's duty to adapt to that change. Healthy Tomorrows will provide some funding of $3,000 to buy reusable bags to the community. She will distribute the bags to Stephanie Mason at Threshold and she will help with the distribution of them. Discussion/Action Items a. Plastic Bag Ban Update Chair Szabo updated the board regarding City Council action on August 8, 2017. Szabo and Stephanie Mason gave a presentation to the City Council and encouraged them to adopt an ordinance banning plastic bags. They decided they wanted to get more outreach to the retailers. That was why Chair Szabo contacted Mike Murray from Safeway who was very gracious walking him though the store. He tried to contact Walmart manager but he was new and has not arrived in Kodiak yet. He did try and contact AI Large at Cost Savers but he was out of town. The City Council will have a work session on September 12, 2017 where they will take up the issue again. Board discussion ensued. b. Ad Campaign Nathan Svoboda would like to assist Kodiak Island Borough Engineering and Facilities and SWAB in preparing bear ads so as not to duplicate what Fish & Game is doing and to provide the proper and consistent message that Fish & Game was projecting. Board discussion ensued. SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES August 28, 2017@ 5:15 PM Kodiak Fisheries Research Center c. Update on Solid Waste Contract Bob Tucker Engineering/Facilities Director sent an e-mail to Chair Szabo updating him on the Solid Waste Contract. He explained Alaska Waste was sent an "intent to award" letter by the Borough Attorney, and they are negotiating the exceptions within the agreement. Tucker will keep the board updated on their progress. Visitor Comments: Marissa Kohler Williams spoke about working on a community owned grocery store project. A market study was conducted on how many groceries are sold every year in this community. The national average is $75 per week per person while Kodiak is $150 per week per person. In Kodiak, there was approximately $85 million dollars sold every year. Safeway has about 90% of that market and that was roughly $76'/: million dollars per year which $6.9 million dollars was profit. The cost of boxes and bags cannot offset 76'/: million dollars. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Board discussion ensued. Board Member Comments: The Solid Waste Advisory Board expressed their appreciation to Jenny Clay for her many years of service to the Kodiak Island Borough and wished her well for her retirement. Nathan Svoboda — Whoever meets with the City on September 121h, he would like to remind them to look out for their constituents and not so much for the corporations that are in the community. They need to take into consideration what the community wants more so then what the stores want, they might need to be reminded of that. Steven Neff — He thought it would alleviate concern if the plastic bag ban actually got put on the ballot, then it wouldn't be up to the City or the Borough, it would be up to all of us. That is the way to make the decision. Dennis Symmons — He admired the way the SWAB Board dealt with Safeway manager Mike and he thinks we should be investigating a lot deeper into what's going on with the current negotiations with the contract. We should nurture it to the end. Jeff Stewart —The banning of plastic bags was good but he doesn't feel we have the total package on how this would all work together and would be sellable. He was still trying to work it out in his own mind. SOLID WASTE ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES August 28, 2017@ 5:15 PM Kodiak Fisheries Research Center Scott Arndt — No Comment. Nick Szabo — He would like to thank the staff again. Meeting Schedule The next regular meeting was scheduled for October 9, 2017. Adjournment ARNDT moved to adjourn meeting. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: Jenny Clay, Secretary KIB Engineering/Facilities Department APPROVED BY: NierSzabo, Chair Solid Waste Advisory Board LI Date: ! v Date: