2021-09-22 Minutes
Solid Waste Advisory Commission Meeting – Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Page 1 of 5
All Materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING
City Council Chambers, 33 East Broadway Avenue Meridian, Idaho
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 4:00 PM
All materials presented at public meetings become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for
disabilities should contact the City Clerk's Office at 208-888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Meeting Minutes
YouTube Meeting Link
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmnjqk3JeRM
ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE
__X__ Mark Nelson __X__ Megan (Meg) Larsen
_X___ Steve Cory __X__ Taryn Richmond
__X__ Scott Walters __X__ Rand Spiwak
____ Shawn Keating __X__ Tom Otte
_X___ Rachele Klein, Republic Services Ex-Officio __X__ Liz Strader, City Council Ex-Officio
ADOPTION OF AGENDA- Approved with no comments
APPROVAL OF MINUTES [ACTION ITEM]
1. August 25th Minutes- Approved with no comments
COMMUNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT- No acknowledgments
PROGRAM REPORT
2. Republic Services Quarterly Report (Staff- Joanna)
Staff Joanna Hopson presented on April, May, and June 2021 residential trash and
recycling data via a PowerPoint presentation. The Meridian population for 2021 is
estimated at 117,635 and the number of single-family homes for 2021 is at 38,750.
In looking at residential trash tons per year, Joanna compared June’s tonnage for
2019, 2020, and 2021 and saw that in 2020 there was a spike in tonnage from
5,026 tons in 2019 to 6,728 tons in 2020 and then a sharp decline to 3,257 tons in
2021. Joanna asked Rachele Klein from Republic Services if she had thoughts as to
why there were difference between the years. Rachele believes that due to COVID
and people working from home there was an increase in residential trash tonnage
in June 2020 but Rachele was not sure why such a decline in June 2021.
Commissioner Tom Otte commented that he has seen an increase in trash tonnage
at the Ada County Landfill where he works. Rachele and Tom will be looking at the
data in the near future to try and understand the June 2021 numbers.
Solid Waste Advisory Commission Meeting – Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Page 2 of 5
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In looking at residential recycling trends, there has been a slight increase in the
month of June over the years. In June 2019, the average residential pounds per
household was 23 pounds. In June 2021, the average was 27 pounds.
In comparing the monthly pounds of trash and recyclables that are produced by
residential households from July 2018 to July 2021, Joanna found that the volume
of trash produced each month is dynamic whereas the monthly production of
household recyclables is very constant.
In looking at Republic Services’ miss pickups for residential trash and recycling,
there was a significant jump in the frequency of misses in June and July of 2021.
Joanna commented that this was due to Republic Services having a driver shortage.
And in July Republic was able to higher more drivers and miss pickups have since
declined. Commissioner Rand Spiwak commented that one reason for miss
pickups might be that residents are use to getting their carts dumped at a certain
time of day and if Republic Services changes that time without notifying residents,
the residents won’t know when to place their cart outside. Commissioner Taryn
Richmond commented that the informational sheet explaining the trash and
recycling pickup schedule is only sent to residents once per year, residents might
forget that during holidays their pickup day is moved up one day. Staff Sayard
Schultz commented that perhaps with more outreach throughout the year,
confusion as to when to put out the carts can be reduced.
Since 2019, there has been an increase in residential subscriptions for grass
collection carts. Looking at June 2019, there was 292 subscriptions and in June
2021 there were 514 subscriptions. In addition, glass subscription has also
increased over the years from 292 accounts in June 2019 to 514 accounts in June
2021.
City Councilwomen, Liz Strader commented that since there is an increase interest
in grass recycling that there may be increase in general composting as well. She
recommends that composting should be a topic discussed in future SWAC
meetings.
3. Republic FY 22 Rate Update (Staff- Sayard)
Staff Sayard Schultz discussed the one-time labor adjustment fee that the City
Council approved for fiscal year 2022. She explained that the fee will be an
additional $.11 that will show up on the residential trash/recycling cart monthly
rate. This fee will not be added to the fiscal year 2023 until reviewed at the end of
calendar 2022 by the City to determine if this cost is to be absorbed into the base
rate of service or sunsetted.
OLD BUSINESS [ACTION ITEMS]
4. CRF Grant Planning (Staff- Sayard)
Staff Sayard Schultz discussed the grant portion that comes out of the City’s
community recycle fund (CRF). Sayard suggested that SWAC members hold off on
promoting and giving out these funds until fiscal year 2022. The reasoning behind
this is that the window for businesses receiving these grant funds to complete
Solid Waste Advisory Commission Meeting – Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Page 3 of 5
All Materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian
their projects is October to October. Since it is coming up on October and SWAC
has not started any community outreach, grant applicants would not have a full
year to complete their project. In addition, delaying this program until next year
will give SWAC members and staff time to develop and promote the grant program
to the community and allow more time for application submissions. SWAC and
staff will also have more time to streamline the application process and better
define the parameters of the grant program.
SWAC members supported postponing the CRF program until fiscal year 2022.
Commissioner Meg Larsen asked when Staff would be able to bring suggested CRF
updates to future SWAC meetings for Commissioners to review. Sayard said that
updates could be presented at either the January or February 2022 SWAC
meetings. Meg also commented that we should have a better idea on how much of
the CRF should be available for the grants and how much each individual grant
should be. Republic Services Rachele raised the question if SWAC would like only
governmental entities to be able to apply for the grant or can anyone apply. Staff
Joanna suggested that SWAC should decide what the objected is for these CRF
grants and then that will help determine who is eligible to apply. Commissioner
Taryn Richmond suggested that there could be categories for different types of
applicants and there would be a specific amount of CRF funds given to each
category.
Staff would like SWAC members to develop an overarching idea of what the CRF
will be used for and then staff can work on the details.
Councilwomen Liz Strader asked if the CRF can only be used for recycling projects
or can it be used for reduction initiatives as well. SWAC Chair Steve Cory
commented that in the past the CRF was used to showcase how to use recyclable
materials but thinks that the CRF could also be used for other forms of waste
reduction purposes.
5. CRF Options Discussion (Staff- Sayard)
Staff Sayard Schultz discussed other recycling initiative ideas that SWAC could use
the CRF for. Idea 1: story stroll project where a message about recycling is
displayed on posters that would be placed in a public location such as a park. Idea
2: Outreach campaign to reduce contamination in recycling carts. The outreach
would comprise identifying key contaminates, such as plastic bags or scrap metal,
and developing flyers, signs, website post, and other educational materials to
inform the public. Idea 3: Mailing out an annual recycling/trash guide to all
residents including multi-unit residents. This guide would explain all the different
options available to Meridian residents. Idea 4: Container lending program. SWAC
would purchase recycling and trash containers called ClearStreams and have them
on loan for the public to use during their events. This program would help event
organizers better capture recyclable materials. Idea 5: Reducing contamination in
the downtown Meridian recycling bins. This can be done by fitting the opening of
the bins with baffles so it’s harder to throw large types of non-recyclables inside.
In addition, perhaps updating the signage to only take bottles and cans. Republic
Solid Waste Advisory Commission Meeting – Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Page 4 of 5
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Services Rachele commented that the City owns the bins, Republic empties the
bins as part of their donated services agreement, and the Mayor's Youth Advisory
Council (MYAC) developed the signage for the bins. Idea 6: Adopt-a-container. This
idea is for a business owner to watch over a pair of downtown trash and recycling
bins to make sure they are in good working order. In addition, the business’ logo
could be placed on the bins to recognize their help within the community. Idea 7:
Plastic film recycling. This program idea would center around creating awareness
of how to recycle plastic bags and where to bring them. Idea 8: Multi-family
dwelling (MUDs) recycling. This idea helps improve recycling opportunities at
MUDs. Items that can be developed would be a MUD annual guide, posters to place
in common areas of the building, and outdoor signage near waste stations. Idea 9:
Business recycling resources. Create posters, stickers, and other materials that
businesses can have to help increase their recycling rate and reduce
contamination. Idea 10: Recycling holiday lights and Police partnership in
recycling cardboard. These two campaigns would center around capturing high
volumes of lights and cardboard during their peak use and diverting them from the
landfill.
Commissioner Meg Larsen would be interested to know the cost of each of these
ideas. Both Meg and Councilwomen Liz Strader are very interested in the MUD
recycling program idea and believe there is a need for more resources for MUDs.
Staff Sayard will work on creating a general list of how much it would cost to
create posters, an annual guide, and purchasing the in-unit blue recycling totes for
MUDs. Sayard will also work on gathering cost quotes for the other ideas.
NEW BUSINESS [ACTION ITEMS]
6. Water Bottle Bin Pilot Program Report (RS- Konrad)
Konrad McDannel from Republic Services presented on the status of the water
bottle bin pilot program and outlined how the program did for the fiscal year 2021.
His presentation outlined the background of the program, tonnage collected,
contamination issues, comments given about the program, outreach actions, and
total cost of the program. Konrad explained that the sole purpose of the program
was to collect squishy type water bottles at the Meridian Transfer Station to be
recycled at the Western Recycling MRF. Because the bottles are not included in the
curbside recycling program, there was no other alternative to recycle these bottles
before this piolet program. In looking at the tonnage collected, Konrad explained
that the roll-off was hauled 5 times. 2 out of the 5 times the roll-off was very
contaminated and had to be tipped as trash. The other 3 times, Republic Services
hauled the bottles to Western Recycling. At the end of the program there was a
total of .89 tons of collected material and .51 tons of that total was sent to Western
Recycling. In March of 2021, new signage went up at the transfer station; which
significantly reduced contamination. Konrad also noted that customers still think
all plastics are okay to place in the squishy water bottle roll-off, Republic staff are
not able to monitor the drop-off recycling area during all hours, and there needs to
be better communication between MRF and Republic about the logistics of
Solid Waste Advisory Commission Meeting – Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Page 5 of 5
All Materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian
dropping off the squishy water bottles. Konrad outlined the different outreach
strategies that went into effect for this pilot program. There were signage updates
on 3/25/2021, direct education between transfer station staff and public,
information posted in the utility billing newsletter, and on the City’s Facebook
group Trash Talk Tom. Konrad concluded his presentation with the cost of the
program. Each haul cost $141.39 and the 10-yd roll-off container rental was
$926.52 for a grand total of $1,633.47 (time period 10/1/2020 to 9/30/2021).
The City paid for the hauling and container rental through the CRF. Republic
Services paid for the new signage.
Commission voted all in favor to approve extending the water bottle bin pilot
program for fiscal year 2022 with a budge recommendation of $2,000.
NEXT MEETING - October 27, 2021
ADJOURNMENT- 5:45pm