09/24/2024 TSC Minutes

The meeting began at 6:02PM.  Present were Paul Karpawich, Chris Jensen, Nancy Strand, and Barry Zitser, joined by Julie Seely within a few minutes. Andrea Bryant attended remotely via telephone. A member of the public, Allegra Wright, was present. Another member of the public, John Miller, arrived at 6:13PM. Mr. Miller left at 7PM, commenting that it looked like the Committee was doing a good job.

The Committee commenced its meeting with our guest speakers, Rusty Scott, Manager of the Lancaster Transfer Station (TS), and Tim Blake, Manager of the Tri-Town TS. Nancy briefly explained the current plans of the Town for its new solid waste management system following the closure of the landfill, and then turned the meeting over to our guest speakers.

Tim and Rusty indicated that without curbside pick-up, we should anticipate that there may be a number of persons (perhaps 10-15%) who will hire their own waste contractor for pick-up of their municipal solid waste (MSW).  Tim stated that he uses Normandeau as a hauler to take MSW to the landfill. Rusty was highly relieved that we have a commitment by Mt. Carberry for use of its landfill.

Tim asked whether we are going to take money at the future TS.  We responded in the affirmative.  It was strongly recommended that we have pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bags at the TS for sale. Rusty says that Lancaster distributes PAYT bags through Shaw’s and other local vendors. Lancaster orders and delivers PAYT bags to Shaw’s and provides the vendor with a $5 discount on $500 worth of bags. Tri-Town has a similar arrangement with the vendors it uses for distribution of PAYT bags. However, some people still want to bring MSW to the Lancaster TS in their own bags, and elect to pay for a PAYT bag at the TS.

Rusty stated that Lancaster doesn’t compost food waste. Tim says that his TS now has composting at its site since Meadowstone Farm no longer picks up food waste. However, his TS just keeps turning the compost, and residents have yet to use any. Paul noted that he met today with Mr. Wennrich, the major operator and owner of Meadowstone Farm. Mr. Wennrich indicated that he might charge a small amount for the delivery of food waste to his Farm by TSs in order to cover some of his costs. Lancaster composts only brush, and has a contractor who picks it up.  Rusty offered to provide Tim with the name of that contractor.

The guest speakers stated that cardboard should always be stored under shelter.  The Lancaster TS compiles a full trailer of cardboard about every two to three weeks.

The Tri-Town facility is open from 9AM-5PM five days per week. Tri-Town has three full-time employees. Lancaster has two full-time and four part-time employees (paid at $17 to $18 per hour). The guest speakers believe our proposed one 8-hour and 2 four-hour days open to the public are too little.

Lancaster has some curbside pick-up but not for all of its residents.  The town spends $54,000 per year on the curbside contractor.

Rusty stated that our TS absolutely needs a building. He thinks that we could start with a smaller building, and then have additions. Lancaster heats its building with waste oil.  Both guest speakers recommend having heating for more than just the office. Tri-Town also uses waste oil for heating. Both managers recommend that we consider collecting and using waste oil for heating.

Tim and Rusty think we need three-phase electric power. Both guest speakers do not believe that a used compactor truck, in lieu of a compactor and roll-off container, is a good idea due to potential maintenance problems.

Rusty stated that the Lancaster TS compiles about 520 tons of MSW per year.  Rusty is going to stop recycling mixed paper, because the market is so poor that it is less costly to dispose of mixed paper as MSW.

Rusty indicated that while a restore operation for certain waste at the future transfer station is a good idea, it would require a lot of effort. He believes that we will have too much on our plate to have a restoring operation at the beginning. He also cautioned that a lot of the stuff brought to a swap shop may later have to be dumped – which means a loss of revenue from effective free dumping. So a swap shop at the beginning may not be a good idea, and Rusty does not believe that Bethlehem could attract sufficient volunteers to oversee the swap shop.

Rusty indicated that we should only need one loading dock, but that the TS should have two balers. He also believes that a skid steer is better than a forklift. He recommended that in lieu of storage trailers we have at least 5 or 6 Conex boxes. However, Conex boxes cannot be used for appliances or construction debris (C&D. The future TS will need a pad for appliances with refrigerants. Conex boxes cost about $3,500 per container.

Rusty also stated we would need more labor to do the baling. Tim suggests that we could put our metal containers with the other metals. The TS will need a scale for bales. Rusty tries to broker as many recyclables as he can outside of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), because he gets a 20% better price.  However, we will have to use NRRA for tires.

Rusty recommends two full-time and two part-time employees for a future TS. He emphasized that even the part-time employees need to be certified in solid waste management.  Certification, however, is not expensive, and consists of an 8-hour course.

Lancaster’s operating budget is approximately $460,000. Franconia charges $5 per bag for the large PAYT large bags. Lancaster PAYT bags are $2.50 per bag, which is sufficient to cover transportation, tipping fees, and the $54,000 curbside pickup.

Due to the time spent with our guest speakers and the late hour, Barry made a motion to set aside the rest of the agenda for our next meeting.  The motion was seconded and unanimously adopted.

The next meeting date was set for October 15^th.  The meeting adjourned at approximately 8PM.