Palmer Township Environmental Steering Committee

      Palmer Municipal Building

   Meeting Minutes:                    February 17, 2005

                                                                                                 

Attendees:    L. Bonner, T. Dittmar, T. Ganssle, N. Nicholas, J. Olock, R. Reese, D. Veres

 

Guests: Waste Management of PA:  Bill Buskirk (Front Load Supervisor),

        Easton High School Environmental Science students:  Brian Spangler, Laura White

 

 Meeting opened at 7:10 PM

 

1. Minutes Approval:

        Minutes from ESC meetings of January approved (L. Bonner, 2nd- T. Dittmar)

 

2. High School Recycling Program Update: B. Spangler and L. White updated the committee on the ongoing progress on the

         recycling efforts at the high school.  Some highlights:  White paper has been picked up by Riley Inc. 3 times to a total of 1.5 tons.

         Brian shared the recent article written in the Express Times and stated that one would appear in the Morning Call soon.  The

         students’ next project is to set up an informative web page at the high school.

        - T. Ganssle announced that the letter to inform Mr. Riker, Superintendent of Easton Schools, of the success of the program and

                         the PESC support of it was written and forwarded to him.

 

3. Single Hauler Issues:

        - Bill Buskirk announced that the WM of PA yearly calendar of events was sent to the printer and would be sent to the residents

                         soon.  He stated that resident complaints were rather quiet since last meeting.

                        - B. Buskirk responded to an earlier ESC meeting’s request for prices and information regarding the “pay per bag” concept with

                                        both waste and recycling collection.  Bill assumed ESC was inquiring only of recyclables and stated that WM of PA does not

                                        have the program locally but knew of one in Lehigh county years ago.  Bill committed to researching it outside the area.

                                        T. Dittmar added that programs he knew of in NJ have all been discontinued because of resident abuse and it became cost

                                        prohibitive.

                        - B. Buskirk also discussed a new waste hauling program that WM of PA is interested in initiating in Palmer.  Namely, each

                                         resident would purchase a specific sized toter (one for waste and one for recycling) for their needs and WM would convert

                                         trucks to be toter useful to service all Palmer residents.   There would obviously be a limit to resident’s waste restricted by

                                         the size of the toter.  This would save the township money on the next contract because WM’s overhead costs would be

                                         reduced and residents would be encouraged to  recycle more or pay higher waste removal costs individually.  Bill mentioned           

                                         that this particular system is workable only in a few areas like Palmer because of its lack of street parking.

 

 

4. Old Business

        - The final draft for the YPA for 2005 was presented by R. Reese and reviewed by the committee.

                        L. Bonner & J. Olock both volunteered for initiatives (see attached YPA list).

                        - T. Ganssle raised motion to accept the YPA for the year 2005, seconded by T. Dittmar, vote by ESC was unanimous for

                                         acceptance.

        - New ESC Members – R. Reese encouraged ESC members to seek new members to enrich current ideas/projects.

        - EAC Conference – R. Reese encouraged ESC members to attend the March 12th meeting if possible.

 

                       

 

5. New Business

        - Greenway Plan – has been adopted by most of the 36 municipalities in Northampton County.  Our area TRACC will adopt

                         soon.  The plan concentrates on area greenways especially watersheds.  Rob also indicated that many smaller municipalities

                         (Bushkill Stream Conservancy, Nazareth COG) are adopting EACs to contribute to greenway planning and other environmental

                         issues.

        - T. Ganssle initiated discussion on the proposed e-cycling event ESC is planning for a future date.  An article on e-cycling

                         submitted to the Palmer Newsletter written by D. Veres was passed around for committee review.

                        T. Ganssle discussed telephone conversation with Bethlehem’s Tom Marshall concerning the e-cycling event he ran for

                                        Bethlehem months ago.  Specifics and successes of the collection were discussed.  T. Marshall is planning a second one

                                        this May.  Also submitted were two papers (an event timeline and responses to questioning of Bonnie Swavely of AERC)

                                        drafted by D. Halasz.  During the discussion of the timeline, some specifics of PESC’s e-cycling event were decided:  Event

                                        to be held at Palmer’s Hartley Avenue site and held an early weekend in October.  AERC to be collection hauler since they

                                        are the only local service and the choice of T. Marshall.  Residents to be charged per item priced by AERC and committee

                                        undecided about charging an additional $1.00 for administrative/advertising expenses.

                                        T. Dittmar will check NJ e-cycling collection services for comparison.

                                        - Items to concentrate on at next meeting will be:  Draft proposal to be sent to PBOS from Ganssle/Reese, advertising

                                         campaign, and final date/time/details for event.

                                       

        Motion to adjourn: 8:30 PM    (T. Ganssle, D. Veres)

 

 

   Submitted by: T. Ganssle

 

 

TDG/tg