INC-URSC Minutes 2-27-2019

Daniels Fund Building

People present: Jasmin Barco, Parry Burnap, CM Jolon Clark, Ernie Diedrich (Chair), Janet Manning, Lauren Mattingly, Steve Nissen, Charlotte Pitt, Pamela Quigley, Jeff Reeser, Sarah Shaffer, Jim Slotta, Debbie Welles (others that didn’t sign in ?)

Meeting came to order at 6:35pm.

Charlotte Pitt, Public Works

Charlotte’s primary responsibility is to manage waste in Denver. “We do a really good job considering we do a bad job” which meant that Denver manages well with its resources but doesn’t do as well as other cities. Waste management has not been a high priority since there’s lots of land, it’s cheap, and there’s never been a crisis. It’s not an environmental policy driver. At current disposal rates, Denver has 100 years of life left so city leaders aren’t pressured to change. Other matters have been a higher priority. Despite that, waste reduction provides a quick greenhouse gas reducing win. It is gaining some traction…other cities or states have different drivers (declining landfill space, incineration, landfill closures) that we don’t have here. In 2008, Denver recognized we needed to do better. City has 80% participation rate in recycling and a pretty high capture rate (how much are you recycling given what you could recycle)…so we’re doing well regardless of low statistics compared to other cities. Of course, we don’t affect buildings 7 units and larger (they do voluntary recycling and the city will provide them a bin if they ask).

By looking at the waste stream, we see that 25% is recyclable, about 50% is organic and compostable, and the remaining 25% is capturable, but it’s difficult to do so. The city’s goal is 35% (national average) by 2020…but at 2018, we’ll be at about 32% so maybe we’ll make the 2020 goal. Policies needed to improve construction waste (household and commercial), a utility style pricing (pay as you throw). Other places have done better so we can pick and choose policies (e.g. San Francisco, and Portland) and not reinvent the wheel. Recycling is also a job creator…we process our own glass, composting stays here, steel stays here.

Ernie described what INC is and introduced the speakers. We then set the next meeting (March 27^th) date and decided on the next meeting focus. We decided on food and food policy. He reviewed the committee’s process (site visits, celebrate neighborhood examples, and examine resource categories (e.g., waste)) and indicated that we’d do a site visit of the GrowHaus on Saturday, May 4^th at 10:00am.

Jasmin Barco, Eco-Cycle

Boulder-based Eco-Cycle has been around 40 years and Jasmin saw that the diversion (recycled) rate is 22-23% from an 18% rate a few years ago. The goal is 34% by next year. Key goal is to increase composting. 50% of what went to the land fill could have been compostable. Tara Toll (Congress Park eco team) organizing a composting challenge to increase composting subscriptions ($9.70/month). Eco-Cycle’s program is called Zero-Waste and is focused on promoting a pay as you throw policy (volume-based pricing). Problem is that waste is considered free since people with 7 units or less pay a flat rate for their trash. About $30 million is taken from the general fund to pay for waste services so we need to incentivize reducing trash and incentivizing recycling.

Pay-as-you-throw seems the best way to manage waste. The cart system seems the way to go. Vulnerable communities will be targeted by Eco-Cycle so this sort of program doesn’t unduly burden the poor. Q-Are there cities that give vulnerable communities a break? A-Charlotte said most cities pay as they go and only three good-sized cities have flat rates: Washington DC, San Diego and Denver. No one gives free trash to low income folks, but there are programs that reduce the burden. Q-Lids are hard to replace and open—could break fingers A- Charlotte will look into it. Q-Problem: plastic bags contaminate trash and it is a major contaminant. 9% contamination…eliminates 9% of recyclables. —things that should never be put in recycling (hoses, etc.). Green bio-bags don’t completely degrade. Seattle get warnings and fines for “bad dumping”. But Denver’s not there…need to deal with incentivizing recycling and disincentivizing trash.

Jeff Reeser noted that we should look to Boulder as our model rather than some of the cities we mentioned such as San Francisco (80% recycling rate but has different circumstances than Denver).

Ernie then had everyone introduce themselves (so CM Clark knows who’s in the room), give their neighborhood affiliation, and how they got interested in the waste issue.

CM Jolon Clark

Talked about how he grew up in Denver, talked about his environmental bona-fides, and his concern with waste. After talking about a recent visit to a recycling facility, he noted Loveland CO is at 63%.

We have to set an example with city haulers so that the rules are the same for everyone. Charlotte was in office when the dumpsters were taken away!! There’s a disconnect between our policies and our wish to make progress. Great progress has been, but the system is backward, because we’re sending the wrong signals…by pricing trash as free, people respond by throwing more away. The truth is that we might be able to eke out average, unless we flip the switch and adopt “pay as you throw”. Recycling and composting ought to be free and trach should be paid for (more for more trash). Experience at other cities indicates that the cities with the best diversion rates charge the most for trash hauling (and go down from there for smaller containers). Clark says it’s getting better,10 years ago it would have gotten more blowback. Plus, folks complain that this policy is the harbinger of gentrification.

Big middle group with very vocal people on the extremes. The loud voices can sway the less vocal middle group. Clark urged us and others to voice support. Q—can we prove that it works here A- hard to pilot this (massive fee) so you can just show folks it works in other cities. Our tax issue ….giving people free stuff to pilot a system simply bakes in the notion that free is the default—can’t then just flip the switch and charge people. Composting was piloted and when the city charged for it, the City lost 50% of subscribers.

Charlotte talked about a phone survey and one result is that people don’t know what services they’re getting. 48% people in a survey said they’d pay more to get a higher recycling rate. Clark said the right way to do this is to treat waste as a utility and the City Council would

Denver promoted a plastic bag fee and it was quashed in exchange for funding carts. Plastic bags can’t be banned according to state law (1973 or 74) so this would require a change in legislation. Steve Nissen said we ought to collect ideas such as sharing a composting container. Clark suggested presenting to the city council to argue for Pay as You Throw. The bottom line is that you can’t tell other haulers to do something the city isn’t willing to do in order to increase the diversion rate. There must be a change in policy since we can’t depend on voluntary efforts.

What can we do for businesses? Until three years ago haulers didn’t even need a license. Once

Solutions?

Eco-Cycle has a petition that encourages their Zero Waste Program…need to give political support for this waste reducing effort. CM Clark suggested that we speak out to the City Council or encourage INC to sponsor a resolution to encourage waste reduction policies or encourage the state legislature to repeal the law against banning plastic. Charlotte Pitt will invite INC leadership (and later, whoever wants to come along) to visit a waste processing or recycling facility.

We may all practice waste reduction in our own lives, but ultimately it will take collective action to enact policy that will “flip the switch” and change our throwaway culture and behavior. INC must be part of the solution!

Here are some web resources our guests provided:

Charlotte Pitt

Attached are links to our annual report and current SW Master Plan exec. Summary.   https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/709/documents/master-plan/DR_AnnualReport_2017.pdf

https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/709/documents/master-plan/master_plan_exec_summary.pdf

Jasmin Barco

The Zero Waste Climate Solution (7 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2u_LbboKE  

An inside view into Boulder County’s recycling facility (15 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YaTpL8nl7c

I’ll send a PDF file that Charlotte sent shortly.

Respectfully submitted (2-7-2019),

Ernie Diedrich

Chair/INC-URSC