06/20/2012 Environmental Board Minutes

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ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD MEETING June 20, 2012 DRAFT MINUTES 4 desires are. He stated his role in leading the solid waste cause is to make sure resources are available. We are helping him meet his objectives by focusing on businesses. It was stated a survey of 10 businesses should be done to see what businesses want. He stated when the City is applying for a recycling grant from the County, the City will need to outline what we would like to do in the grant. The application then goes through the County Board for grant and approval. Ms. Bor stated we have not been able to articulate where to start. She stated when she looked at the Anoka County questionnaire it was very long. People do not have time today or are unable to articulate. We really need to understand what commercial business want to do and are willing to do. We need to start with generic little things and go from there. She stated our commitment has been here but we are not sure how to move forward. Ms. O’Dea stated the first thing the County could do for us is to provide an intern to help us determine what we can do. Without the data from businesses, we cannot put together a plan at this time. Mr. Kordiak stated many businesses have not been pushed to move into the right direction on recycling. He stated that we will find the right people who will want to do the responsible thing. He stated information is the key to getting in the door. Certainly some businesses are doing the right thing. Mr. Asleson stated we need to make businesses feel like they are part of this group. Ms. O’Dea stated the Solid Waste Management credit might not be enough of an incentive for businesses. Auditing businesses on recycling would be a good step for an intern to do as well as letting the business know other benefits they could receive by recycling. Ms. Bor questioned contacting Wastewise. Ms. Ulbricht stated we could try and contact them through the Chamber of Commerce as they have a connection with them. Ms. Ulbricht handed out a letter from the recycle coordinator of Coon Rapids regarding improving recycling. A similar letter could be written for Lino Lakes as well. Anoka County printed the letter, paid for the postage and put the letters in City envelopes. Ms. Ulbricht stated if we had an intern who could make initial contact with businesses and send out the letter, it would be helpful. The intern could possibly get an email address to email the information and save on postage. Ms. Bor stated if the Environmental Board only meets once a month, we need a committed group to form a task force.