2020-02-26 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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takes this personally, as Chair Bennett told her at the last meeting that they were looking for recommendations and so forth. Testimony is good, and people take time to write things down and testify. She has never heard any offensive testimony at the EMC meetings she has attended. Putting qualifications on testimony is chilling for people, and the qualifying paragraph should be removed. Do not make her take this further, as it is not legal. Jennifer Navarro: She is with Zero Waste Big Island and would reiterate Cory Harden’s comments about the number of hours recycling centers are open. They should have the same hours as the transfer stations. Regarding the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, there is a lot of discussion about removing organic waste from the waste stream. It is concerning that the county does not have a plan in place on how to get the waste to the facility. She hopes the commission will start having discussions on this and also provide recommendations to the Solid Waste Division on a better structure to divert organic waste from the landfill. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Continued discussion on waste-to-energy proposals or alternative uses for waste, including Vice Chair Olson’s and Commissioner Adams’ ideas on plastic waste reduction. Vice Chair Olson said that in order to manage anything effectively, you have to be able to define the value of what you’re dealing with. We don’t have a good idea of what is heading in our direction in terms of what could end up in the waste stream. We have no idea of the volume sitting at the docks that will end up in our waste handling facility at its terminus. A method is needed to track the volume and collect money to accommodate whatever it will cost to dispose of the waste. The funding needs to be removed from the property tax roll. Commissioner Adams said there are ways to access data on the volume hitting the island. A funding mechanism to recover it and not have it turned into waste is a separate issue. Commissioner Gaffney said the state collects the general excise tax, so there must be data compiled at the state level. We need to ask our legislators to request specific answers on the data from the DCCA and Department of Taxation. Further discussion was held back and forth between Vice Chair Olson and Commissioner Adams. Vice Chair Olson said data is needed to figure out the total volume heading towards us and what it costs us to dispose of it, with the goal to get the costs paid at the point of purchase. Commissioner Adams said the draft Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan has a section with some funding options. Director Kucharski pointed out that DEM’s solid waste budget is about $38 million per year, with more than half of it coming from the General Fund, which is funded by property taxes. If DEM takes money from the General Fund, it means that money is not available for other departments who may need it. The General Fund is a zero sum budget. If DEM gets 5