Palmer Township – EAC

Environmental Steering Committee            Minutes                         February 21, 2008             

 

Attendees: Rob Reese, Tom Ganssle, Nancy Nicholas, Tom Dittmar, Andy Yost, Ron Kantor, Denise Veres, 

 

Meeting opened at:  7:05 PM

 

Guests: 

Steve Tomsic  - J.P. Mascaro, Palmer Township Route Supervisor

 

Terry Cooper – Ms. Cooper is a Palmer resident and is interested in joining Palmer ESC. 

 

Reorganization:

Election of officers for 2008 did not take place due to Bob Lammi’s absence.

 

Hauler Report:

Mr. Tomsic distributed tonnage reports for January 2008.

 

There were 14 complaint calls to Mascaro in January.  All were resolved.

 

Two hundred and thirty-five (235) Christmas trees were picked up and taken to the Berk St. facility to be chipped.

 

Recycling Coordinator Report:

Tom G. presented this report in Cindy Oatis’ absence.

 

Expansion of Plastics Recycling:

Mascaro as verbally agreed to expansion of plastics recycling pick-up to include plastics #1- #7.  A formal agreement needs to be put into writing before residents are informed.  There was discussion about the most appropriate way to inform residents, including local newspapers and postcard mass mailing.

 

Single-stream recycling:

Single-stream recycling means that all plastics #1-#7, newspaper, office paper, cardboard, cans and bottles can be co-mingled in one container at curbside, which would undoubtedly mean a large increase in recycling in Palmer Township.  Cindy O. met with Mascaro to explore the feasibility of bringing single-stream recycling to Palmer.  Unfortunately, because of the small size of the current Palmer recycling containers, the larger recycling amounts anticipated could not be contained without the use of toters.  In addition, Mascaro does not at this time, have the capability to pickup recyclables with a toter system.    

 

E-cycling

Cindy O. has contacted all of the Two Rivers municipalities and all are in agreement about publicizing the May 3rd e-cycling event for their respective areas.  Time will be scheduled at next month’s ESC meeting to concentrate on the logistics of this event

 

Nancy N. mentioned that Bethlehem Twsp. sponsored an e-cycling drop-off at AERC for residents after Christmas and asked if Palmer could do the same thing.  D. Veres explained that at any time of the year residents could drop off unwanted electronics at AERC on Fridays.  For this to be free for residents, Palmer would have to foot the bill for the drop-off. 

 

Clarification of Freon Removal:

Tom G. explained that freon removal by Mascaro does not appear in the final contract, although it did in drafts.  This means that residents are responsible for removal of freon from refrigeration units.  Tom mentioned that as an alternative, residents making new purchases could have the white goods retailer remove the old unit at no cost.  Other alternatives: Shaeffer’s Appliances in Easton will accept white goods drop-off and will remove freon for $35.00.  Shaeffer’s will also pick-up white goods for $55 to $100.

 

Cardboard container at Hartley Center:

Ron K. asked if a larger cardboard container could be placed at the Hartley Recycling center.  

 

Old Business:

Bike Path Map Update:

Tom Adams is in the process of updating the bike path map.

 

Bushkill Stream Conservancy:

The stream-keepers are notifying residents of contamination hazards of dumping in storm drains.  They are targeting the Village at Mill Race and Tatamy Hunt developments (350 homes) by hanging informational packets on doorknobs.  The plan is to do this throughout the watershed area.

 

Nancy N. said that a local Girl Scout troop was interested in gluing medallions on storm drains as a community service project.  A representative of the troop may attend the next ESC meeting.

 

Palmer Park Mall ESC Exhibit – Adventures in Agriculture:

On Feb 15-17, 2008, Palmer ESC participated in the Penn State Coop Extension “Adventures in Agriculture” event for the first time.  The table included information about the upcoming e-cycling event and educational materials from the Palmer Community Days booth.  All agreed it was a good outreach/educational event and we should plan on participating next year.  Denise V. mentioned that Collette, the Palmer Mall manager, approached her about Palmer ESC participating in a 2009 Earth Day celebration at the mall.  The committee will keep this in mind as an initiative in 2009.  Denise thanked all who helped at this event.

 

PEC/EAC Meeting:

Rob R. and Denise V. attended the PEC/EAC meeting in Bethlehem on February 16, 2008 and reported on the valuable information that was presented.  They encouraged all Palmer ESC members to attend next year.  Based on the information gathered at this meeting, Denise will add some initiatives to the YPA ’08 list.

 

New Business:

 

New Members:

Terry Cooper attended this meeting and expressed interest in joining the ESC.  Denise V. will draft a letter of recommendation to the BOS.

 

YPA 2008:

D. Veres will compile a list of possible initiatives for Palmer ESC including some with a Green Palmer focus.  Rob. R. explained that what is hoped is that each member will take one of these initiatives to explore.

 

PA Great Clean-up:

The date for this year’s clean up is April 19, 2008.

 

 

  Southeastern PA Regional Conference EAC:

This meeting will be held at Villanova Univ. on March 8, 2008.

 

Next Meeting:

The next meeting is scheduled for March 20th, 7:00 PM, at Palmer Municipal Building.

 

Adjourn:  8:20PM

 

Minutes submitted by D. Veres