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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGreenleaf Commission 2019-03-20 th MINUTES OF THE 12 REGULAR MEETING OF GREENLEAF COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABILITY On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, the above meeting for the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability of the City of Livonia was held in the West Conference Room of the Livonia Department of Public Works,12973 Farmington Road, Building 12, Livonia. Chairperson James Baringhaus opened the meeting at 7:02 p.m. Members present: James Baringhaus Elizabeth Calhoun Terry Cullum John Grzebik Nicole Mehelich Paul Sgriccia Michael Shesterkin Members absent: None Also present: Jacob Rushlow, Superintendent of DPW Victoria Krause, Secretary I at DPW Sonny Wilkins, Simple Recycling 1. Welcome New Members. Two new members had been sworn in since the January meeting to replace the two outgoing members. Terry Cullum, who was present and introduced at the January meeting, and Nicole Mehelich. Commissioner Mehelich has lived in Livonia most of her life and currently resides with her husband and two kids. She is a photographer and is also currently working with Hoover Elementary on their Eco-School initiative. 2. Simple Recycling. Sonny Wilkins, VP of Municipal Relations for Simple Recycling appeared before the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability to present the Simple Recycling program. Simple Recycling is a free clothing and home goods curbside recycling program and is a family owned business. They have been in the Detroit market for 35 years collecting textiles for charities such as Purple Heart. The amount of textiles collected has been dropping as it is harder to reach people and with trends changing quicker there is an increase in waste as well. Simple Recycling is free to both residents and municipalities. The program creates revenue for municipalities in that they may save money if they are charged tipping fees when items are taken to the landfill as they will reduce the amount of waste. In addition, Simple Recycling pays the municipalities $20 per ton collected each month. Simple Recycling is currently working in 26 municipalities in southeastern Michigan. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 85% of textiles end up incinerated or in landfills and 15% get donated or recycled. Simple Recycling utilizes curbside Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability th 12 Regular Meeting of March 20, 2019 Page 2 pickup, which has been proven successful with other types of recycling. This allows residents to recycle textiles and home goods while changing as little behavior as possible. Simple Recycling provides residents with bags that they fill and place at the curb on their regular trash day. There is no minimum or maximum number of bags and the bags are replaced by the driver when they collect the filled bags. The driver has a roll of bags and will tie the same number of bags used to the closest place to the street. Commissioner Calhoun was concerned with preventing Greener for Life (GFL) from picking up the Simple Recycling bags. Mr. Wilkins explained that they ask the city to reach out to their trash collection service before they begin working in the city. He stated that this is usually not much of an issue as the items they are collecting are not wanted by the trash services. In addition to the phone call to the trash service company, Simple Recycling would deliver a flyer explaining the program and items collect along with 2 bags to each home. As new residents move in to the city, Simple Recycling requires a list so that they can be including in the program. The city must sign off on the flyer and it is delivered a week before Simple Recycling begins pickup. Once the bags are collected, 10-20% of the items are purchased by second hand stores with 25-35% being exported. 30% is converted into rags while 20% is used to make insulation, carpet padding, and raw material for the automotive industry with 5% ending up as waste. Simple Recycling’s goal is not to take away form donations to charitable organizations but to stop textiles and home goods from ending up in landfills. At this point, the Commission began discussing the Simple Recycling Program. Chairman Baringhaus asked Jacob Rushlow, Superintendent of DPW, for his thoughts on the program. Mr. Rushlow said that he could see issues with the launch and GFL and that the City of Livonia legal department would need to review a contract. The Chairman then asked Mr. Rushlow what the next steps would be to proceed. Mr. Rushlow stated that if the commission approved a recommendation for the program then the Mayor’s office and legal would need to look at the contract before it could be brought before council by the department. Commissioner Sgriccia suggested reaching out to local cities that are currently using Simple Recycling and finding out how the program is going and how they proceeded with the contract. He then asked Mr. Rushlow how the City of Livonia pays GFL: by household or tonnage. Mr. Rushlow stated that he began working for the city after the GFL contract was produced but he would research it. Commission Shesterkin indicated that this would be an up-tic in revenue and Commissioner Calhoun asked Mr. Wilkins what communities typically get. Mr. Wilkins stated that demographics mattered, and 2.9 million pounds was collected in all southeastern Michigan last year. Mr. Rushlow used the numbers provided in Mr. Wilkins presentation to figure out that as a straight average across all communities, they got in return approximately $1,100 over the last two years. Commissioner Shesterkin reminded the commission that each household received $5 back in order to not go with the roll off bins and that the purpose is not money but to lessen our impact. Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability th 12 Regular Meeting of March 20, 2019 Page 3 Commissioner Sgriccia stated that the amount being diverted from the landfill that Simple Recycling would report, would help the city with their recycling goals and diversion rate. The Chairman then asked the commission if this is a proposal that they would like to move forward with. Upon a motion made by Sgriccia, seconded by Calhoun, it was: #2-19 RESOLVED, that the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability does hereby agree to ask Mr. Rushlow to provide them with a path forward in order to recommend Simple Recycling. A roll call vote was taken on the foregoing resolution with the following result: AYES: Baringhaus, Calhoun, Cullum, Grzebik, Mehelich, Sgriccia, and Shesterkin. NAYS: None. 3. Greenleaf Commission Logo Update. Chairman Baringhaus presented two styles of an updated logo to the commission. Commissioner Shesterkin declared them to be boring and Commissioner Calhoun stated that they were mediocre. The Chairman reminded them that the initial design was selected by the commission as one of the two or three top logos created by Madonna University students. Commissioner Calhoun indicated that it was better than nothing, but it would be better if everything was centered. The Chairman asked Commissioner Mehelich what her thoughts were on the logo. The Commissioner stated that it was simple which is good, but it is plain. She stated that “Sustainability” does need to be included and the leaf was a good choice for this commission. Additionally, she thought that they needed to work on the spacing, font and blending. Commissioner Shesterkin indicated that he would like Commissioner Mehelich to take over the logo and tweak it or were Madonna students still working on the logo? The Chairman said that he would give feedback to Nancy Grandillo from Madonna University for the students to work on contrast, font choice, and spacing. 4. 2019 Greenleaf Award Recap. Chairman Baringhaus informed the commission that the award was presented in late February and that Mike Bassirpour, CEO of Great Lakes Recycling (GLR) accepted the award and gave a speech. The award itself was created by last year’s recipient, End Grain Woodworking Company, using wood recovered from an old farmhouse being torn down in Livonia. Commissioner Sgriccia asked if they charged the commission and the Chairman stated that they did, and it was a couple of dollars more than the previous award. Commissioner Sgriccia asked if they would continue to have End Grain Woodworking Company create the award and the Chairman replied that they would. 5. Livonia Recycling Ordinance. Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability th 12 Regular Meeting of March 20, 2019 Page 4 Chairman Baringhaus informed the commission that he had examined event recycling ordinances in other states. He found that some of them were driven by the state recycling law. He also related that they would need to consider enforcement, education, containers and resources. It appeared that successful programs started with a small event pilot program. Commissioner Sgriccia asked if GFL could help with supplying containers. The Chairman replied that having containers was an issue in some of the communities he researched. These communities ended up having to loan out containers. Commissioner Mehelich wanted to know if there was recycling at the Spree. The Chairman told her that there wasn’t, but they did have it at smaller events like Music Under the Stars and Passport to Safety. Commissioner Grzebik informed the commission that they were trying to add recycling at Spree this year. Commissioner Mehelich then questioned if forcing vendors to provide recycling could stop them from coming to events in the city and if the responsibility should be placed on the event organizer. Chairman Baringhaus agreed that they would need to consider who would be held accountable. Commissioner Shesterkin wanted to know when they expected to go to council for the ordinance and if they were working on drafting an ordinance. Chairman Baringhaus stated that there were other things to consider. At Mr. Rushlow’s recommendation, they needed to contact the planning commission first. Then they could work on drafting an ordinance and they needed to consider what supporting materials would be required. Commissioner Calhoun questioned if it was possible when doing an ordinance, to do it over time. The Chairman responded that they could have an initial ordinance and then amend it over time. Commissioner Shesterkin volunteered to contact Ian Wilshaw from the Planning Commission and set up a meeting with him and Chairman Baringhaus to discuss an event recycling ordinance along with the concern of Commissioner Calhoun on the roll-out of the ordinance. Commissioner Grzebik warned that they needed to be very careful how they go about this so that they draft something that is doable so that it does not get dropped. 6. New Business. Earth Day Activity The commission was contacted by Wyland Foundation Projects to encourage conservation by asking the City of Livonia to take part in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. Chairman Baringhaus informed the commission that this would be an ideal project for an Earth Day activity. Commissioner Sgriccia asked if there was a way to have a dashboard so that they could keep track of how many residents were signing up. Chairman Baringhaus responded that they should be able to connect with Wyland Foundation for a tracking system. Upon a motion made by Cullum seconded by Shesterkin, it was: Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability th 12 Regular Meeting of March 20, 2019 Page 5 #3-19 RESOLVED, that the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability does hereby agree to advise the Mayor’s office that they would like to have the City of Livonia participate in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. A roll call vote was taken on the foregoing resolution with the following result: AYES: Baringhaus, Calhoun, Cullum, Grzebik, Mehelich, Sgriccia, and Shesterkin. NAYS: None. Commissioner Grzebik apprised the commission that he had researched grants for obtaining trees for an Earth Day activity but that it too late to proceed for this year. He stated that he would now focus on procuring a grant for next year. Sustainability Leaders Chairman Baringhaus informed the commission that he would like to launch the Sustainability Leaders Award in 2019. He reminded the commission that Commissioner Shesterkin had suggested using the STAR matrix to judge award nominees. He tested it with GLR, the Greenleaf Award recipient, and believed that it was workable with refinement to match the City of Livonia. Once the matrix is revised then they could launce the new award. Commissioner Shesterkin wondered if a matrix would be necessary due to a lack of candidates for the current award. The Chairman stated that they were working on spreading knowledge of the award online and through facebook and seemed to be seeing more interest. Commissioner Sgriccia wanted to know if the winners of the award were Chamber of Commerce members since the award was given in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce. He thought that they could suggest the Chamber donate a one-year membership to award recipients and encourage winners to attend meetings and renew their membership. Commissioner Cullum proposed having past award recipients be on a voting board for the next award recipient. Chairman Baringhaus also plans on having a section on the redesigned webpage attributed to award recipients and information on them and their company. Lastly, Commissioner Shesterkin requested that they begin advertising the new award now to let people know they are looking to expand the award. Upcoming Events Commissioner Cullum reminded the other commissioners about the tour of the Mill on April 9, 2019. Asked about the purpose of the tour, Chairman Baringhaus stated that it was to collect background information in case the needed to share information regarding the future of the Mills arises. Commissioner Mehelich invited the members of the commission to the Eco-Schools award presentation at Hoover Elementary on May 10, 2019 from 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm. Drug Take Back Box Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability th 12 Regular Meeting of March 20, 2019 Page 6 Commissioner Grzebik informed the commission that as part of the Save Our Youth Coalition, he had a schedule of days that the Livonia Police Department would be participating in a prescription drug take back program. He stated that he would share the information so that the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability could promote the program as well. Electric Vehicle Chargers Commissioner Calhoun wanted to know if the city would be interested in an electric vehicle charger if they could get one donated. She stated that there were charging stations in the City of Livonia at Laurel Park Mall, Consumer’s Energy, etc. The Commissioner believes that possibly Ford would donate one and wanted to know who they should speak to in the city about it. Chairman Baringhaus said that the person to talk to in the city would be Todd Zilincik, the Head Engineer. He also suggested looking for a grant and speaking to Laurel Park about their electric vehicle charging station. Hoover Eco-School Update Commissioner Mehelich gave a brief update on the progression of Hoover Elementary’s Eco-School Program. By utilizing a share table, the students were able to obtain a net-zero food waste every day except pizza day. On pizza day carrots are served and the students are not eating all of them. They are looking into switch to apples or donating any uneaten carrots to Real Life Daycamp and Farm for the animals. Communication None. 1. Approval of Minutes. On a motion by Calhoun, seconded by Grzebik, the Minutes of the January 16, 2019 meeting was approved. On a motion by Sgriccia, seconded by Shesterkin, and unanimously adopted, the meeting of March 20, 2019, was adjourned at 8:54 p.m. Next Meeting – May 15, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. West Conference Room, DPW Administration Office JAMES BARINGHAUS, CHAIRPERSON GREENLEAF COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABILITY