The 178^th meeting of the Recycling Committee was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Present: Carol Rubenstein (chair), Andrea Brennan, Karl Ludwig, Jack Mulhall, and Ron Buckler

Not Present: Ardys Flavell, Susan Higley, Jack Kutner, Susan Peirce, Karen Masterson and Peggy Weber

I. The Minutes of the November meeting were approved.

II. Thank you’s:

Andrea for writing the October minutes

Andrea for a wonderful season at the Swap Shop

Jack K. for his help with the new recycling contract terms

Andrea and Peggy for their ongoing work with the welcome bins

Jack M. for going with Carol to the video premier of "Recycle. A Little Effort, a Big Difference – Recycling in Massachusetts"

 

III .Announcements, Old and New Business

Carol noted that we now have a new contract with North Shore/Newark Group. After a competing offer from FCR, Newark offered an improved contract that has now been signed by the Selectmen.

Carol announced that our first load of scrap metal (7.6 tons) had gone to American Waste Brokers, earning $125.00 for the town. Ron reports that the container for scrap metal is so tall that some of the heavier items cannot be easily lifted into the bin without the use of a CM&D loader.

Carol discussed the recycling video that she had seen with Jack M. Copies are available for use on the Sherborn local cable channel. Discussions ensued about small differences between what is portrayed in the video and what requirements are for the Sherborn program. It was agreed that an ideal solution would be to run ticker tape along the bottom of the video presentation noting the differences here in Sherborn.

Karl volunteered to write the 2004 Annual Report.

The Committee discussed the possibility of installing a composting toilet for public use in town because Carol had won a discount on the construction of one. Among the concerns voiced about such a project were the cost of construction, cost of maintenance, and difficulty of maintenance. No strong candidate sites were identified.

The Committee discussed recycling at Sherborn businesses and churches. A number of businesses in town could benefit from the use of "toter" containers for recycling if they don’t produce enough recycling to justify a full size dedicated dumpster. Ron noted that, in order to justify his construction of a rig to allow the assisted dumping of recycling toters into his truck, there would need to be a significant number of toters in use among town businesses. The town is currently waiting to hear from DEP about the status of some toters that we would like to get from Franklin.

The Committee discussed the recycling of used cell phones. Ron will investigate the possibility of making charitable donations with them.

Andrea confirmed that the Swap Shop is now closed for the season. The possibility was raised of asking the girl scouts if they would like to help run the Shop during next season.

 

 

 

Recycling Center statistics for November 2004:

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Karl Ludwig – Secretary for December 2004