02/28/2012 Environmental Board Minutes

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ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD MEETING February 28, 2012 DRAFT MINUTES 3 Mr. Asleson stated he and Mike Grochala, Community Development Director, met with all of the Lino Lakes waste haulers. One hauler stated in organized cities, such as Lino Lakes, they were able to jump into single sort sooner than other cities. Mr. Asleson stated the amount of recycling since single sort has been implemented has gone up. Ms. Bor questioned percentages of recycling. Mr. Asleson stated he was not sure what the totals are. All the garbage haulers are unanimously for a single hauler. Problem is all the haulers want to be the single hauler. Haulers stated they would be willing to run lighter trucks on bad roads. Mr. Asleson stated that the City engineer had a map of the really bad roads. Ms. O’Dea questioned what a lighter truck is. Mr. Asleson stated a truck that is only half full. Recycling haulers stated they would pass along recycle information on how to minimize garbage to residents in their newsletters. Ms. O’Dea also questioned if the haulers had numbers of their percentages of recycling. Mr. Asleson stated no. Ms. O’Dea questioned if he could get the numbers. He stated he would try. Amy Ulbricht was present from Anoka County who is a Commercial Waste Management Specialist. Mr. Asleson has been giving updates on the City’s Solid Waste Master Plan process to the County. Ms. Ulbricht stated when board members question the numbers for residential v. commercial recycling it is a hard number to get at. The County sends out recycling survey requests to businesses each year. The survey covers such things as how recycle containers are emptied, how big are containers, what type of product is being recycled, etc. She stated there are four haulers in Lino Lakes that she requests recycling information from. Ms. O’Dea questioned if haulers are required to give recycle information to the County. She stated no. She reviewed the Solid Waste Management fee that is a charge from the County and informed the board of the incentive program for businesses based on a recycling credit they can get. She stated there is a Solid Waste Management charge assessed on all properties that have improvements. The charge assessed is based on the value of a building. Businesses are eligible for a recycle credit by recycling 15% of their waste. Schools and municipalities receive a different type of credit. Schools do their best to recycle 50% as well as purchase environmentally friendly products. Schools and businesses are different. There are provisions for non generating waste facilities such as water towers, etc. They are not required to pay the Solid Waste fee. Ms. Ulbricht presented a copy of the County’s survey to board members. She would like to send out a recycle survey to all business in the City using Surveymonkey.com. Ms. O’Dea stated the need here is to focus to increase recycling. Mr. Asleson stated Mary Divine, Economic Development, was thinking about getting North Area Chamber of Commerce involved. Ms. Bor stated we need to identify what we are trying to do. It was stated to increase the number of people/businesses who recycle would be