HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000.05.24 Conservation Commission Minutes 8/25/25,4:23 PM Regular Monthly Meeting-Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon
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Agendas and Minutes
City of Ashland �
Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee cvieWall>
Regular Monthly Meeting
Agenda
Wednesday, May 24, 2000
ASHLAND CONSERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES
May 24, 2000
CALL TO ORDER—The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Carole Wheeldon at 7:05 p.m. in the City
Council Chambers. Members present were Bruce Moats, Kari Tuck, Karen Amarotico, Carole Wheeldon, Howard
Braham, Mort Smith and Russ Chapman. City Staff present were Dick Wanderscheid and Sonja Akerman, and
Dan Murphy was present representing Ashland Sanitary & Recycling. Members Russ Otte and Ashley Henry
were unable to attend.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES — Chapman pointed out a few corrections under Discussion of Jefferson Monthly
Article by Annick Roulet-Stevenson for the minutes of the April 26, 2000 meeting. He then moved and Braham
seconded to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion was unanimously passed.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBER—Wanderscheid introduced Mort Smith to the Commission.
PUBLIC FORUM—There was no one present who wished to speak.
ASHLAND SANITARY & RECYCLING UPDATE — Murphy informed the Commission 1) The new recycling
building at the transfer station has been completed and without advertising yet, quite a lot of recyclable materials
have already been taken. 2)The hazardous waste collection event was about the same as last year. To date the
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8/25/25,4:23 PM Regular Monthly Meeting-Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon
official tallies aren't out, but Murphy said there were 600+ on Saturday as well as on Sunday. Wheeldon
mentioned that while at the AOR Conference, she learned that at similar events in Oregon, tables are set up with
examples of alternative (green) products citizens can buy in lieu of products that end up as hazardous waste.
Murphy said there was a reuse table set up and that Rogue Disposal is in charge of the event. Chapman and
Murphy agreed it would be beneficial to set up a board with similar information so people can read this as they
drive up to discard their hazardous waste. 3) Discount day at the transfer station will be June 10. Customers get
$3.50 discounted from the regular$14.00 minimum and there is usually quite a jump in customers for this event.
For each customer, $1.75 is donated to the Ashland Food Bank. 4)Worm bins have been moving fast. There is a
display in the front office and Murphy said he just ordered more. He puts them together and includes a worm-
composting flyer in each.
OLD BUSINESS:
Update on Leadership for Sustainable Communities and AOR Conferences — Wheeldon reported she had
attended both conferences last week. The Sustainable Communities conference was much more than the
Natural Step. It began by Governor Kitzhaber signing an executive order for sustainability in Oregon by the year
2025. She noted the State sent many people to both the Sustainability and the AOR conferences to start getting
on board with this. Wheeldon said she plans to write an article for the local newspapers. The Natural Step was
talked about as a tool by which to achieve sustainability, which is really a context in which people think about
how they make decisions. Sustainability is thought about as three legs of a stool - economics, ecology and the
social aspects.A lot of things resonated about what Ashland is doing. Wheeldon said she found it very interesting
listening to what other communities have done and are doing to attain sustainability. Most groups at the
conference that started sustainability programs were not government groups but independent groups. Wheeldon
observed the most interesting person she heard used to be a planner for the City of Seattle, who now works for
sustainability on a more global basis. He spoke about sustainability as not only being a process, but a term that
can be defined in many ways by many cities. Wheeldon then reported she spent a lot of time with Bob Guerra,
from the Medford Department of Environmental Quality office, at the AOR conference. She commented Ashland
citizens should feel very proud of the things we are doing. She will be talking to Guerra about the possibility of
getting grant money for a person to oversee a program such as the Green Schools Program. She thanked the
Commission for giving her the opportunity to attend the conferences.
Tuck asked what the conferences helped as far as the City is concerned. Wheeldon said she learned about ways
to approach problem solving and the role of leadership, adding it doesn't necessarily have to come from the
government. There were many examples about how cities can make choices. She said the challenge would be
to see if we could sustain Ashland's diverse population. Braham asked that Wheeldon give the City an overview
of the conference on sustainability.
Smith asked if anything was said at the AOR conference about recycling more plastics. Wheeldon responded
one of the speakers was a chemist and an interesting discussion was generated about polymers and the
difference between PVC and PET/PETE. PET products can be refabricated or items can be fabricated into PET
and it is less harmful to the environment. She said she asked about grayboard (such as cereal boxes) and was
told the fiber in it is so short by the time it is made into this type of material, it can't be reconstituted into anything
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else. She also found out that most paints and ink used on the grayboard are not harmful if the board is ripped up
and put into compost. Also of interest is that there is not a big enough market in Southern Oregon for recycled
tires so they are taken to Mt. Shasta, where they become fuel for a concrete plant. Trucking is too expensive to
take them to Portland to be remanufactured as tires again. Tires are, however, picked up at Les Schwab and
moved to Portland because it is a big enough company.Tuck brought up the fact that it is very difficult to read the
number on plastic products. Wheeldon said this has all sparked her interest in markets for recycled products and
she would like this on next month's agenda. Chapman said he gets calls on this all the time and will write up a
report for next month. Wheeldon said at the Sustainability conference, making a place for a recycled products
market within a city or industrial area was discussed. Also talked about was the fact that more companies are
taking back their products to recycle and reuse them; in other words, they are taking responsibility for their
products. Braham suggested if there were a coalition of medium sized cities, maybe there would be a greater
market. Chapman said that is what Klamath, Jackson and Josephine Counties are basically doing now. Grants
Pass and Southern Oregon Sanitation have an agreement with some of the industries over there to take some of
the recycled materials to process. Since there is an economy in size, Ashland Sanitary, Klamath, and some of
Southern Oregon Sanitation recyclable materials go to Rogue Disposal because it has a big facility and big
bailer. Tuck said it would be interesting to get this information out to citizens so they know where the products
are going, as this is a pertinent issue for sustainability in our area. Chapman said it would be a good topic for a
Jefferson Monthly article.
Braham asked if the conferences are held annually. Wheeldon said they are, and that there is an AOR
conference in the fall also. Braham commented it would be useful for other members to attend them also.
Tuck noted the decking for the porch on the North Mountain house is made from recycled plastic grocery bags.
Wheeldon noted the Furniture Depot sells futons with the batting made from recycled plastic bottles. Tuck added
information on some of these ideas and concepts will be on display at the North Mountain Nature Center.
COMMISSION DISCUSSION: At this time, the Commission took the opportunity to introduce themselves to
Smith and he, in turn, gave information about himself and why was interested in becoming a member of the
Conservation Commission.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
Green Business — Amarotico reported Ross Finney had given an informational presentation to the Chamber
Greeters on May 12. He will be meeting with Brother's Restaurant May 25, has met with Ashland Community
Food Store and Standing Stone, and he will meet with Parkside Cottages again by the end of the month. He will
meet with Ashland Greenhouses, Stratford Inn and Architectural Design Works in June. City Energy Analyst
Cathy Cartmill has been at these meetings with Finney. In discussing the program, Amarotico said the incentive
is for the businesses to get recognized for their efforts in promoting sustainability and conservation. Wheeldon
added the business owners would benefit by saving money in terms of conservation and tightening their
operations and that they would be a peer group that could draw in other businesses. Ultimately, the Commission
would like members to be added every year. The Conservation Department will eventually take over the
orientation and certification of the businesses. The Commissioners discussed the publicity for the program.
Braham said he would like the participating businesses to agree to the exposure. Wheeldon will write a letter to
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Finney informing him the Commission would like to give him some publicity about the project, perhaps through
the City Source. Braham suggested getting the newspaper reporters involved in writing the initial articles so this
would be an independent report about a new concept. The Commission agreed it is important to get this program
publicized.
Education Subcommittee — Tuck gave a brief overview of the articles written by the subcommittee in the past
year. Prior to that, the subcommittee had worked with the schools in surveying the recycling they were doing,
how they were doing with these programs, what they wanted to do, etc.; however not much resulted, primarily
because this type of program needs a person dedicated to working on it. Wheeldon added the Commission
recently sent a letter to all the schools recognizing what they have done and thanking them for their recycling
efforts.
TID Subcommittee — The next meeting will be on June 13. Wheeldon recounted it came to the Commission's
attention we have a failing system with TID. From a water conservation perspective, if the TID system could be
improved for irrigation, it would take more people off potable water.Although there are many items regarding TID
that would be worthwhile to get involved in, the Commission would like to see TID become more efficient from a
water conservation standpoint. Wheeldon said one of the projects the Water Department is working on now is
getting people with TID water to install backflow devices.
Braham suggested having only Green Business and TID subcommittees, however, Tuck stressed the importance
of educating people on recycling and precycling and stated this would be something for the Education
subcommittee to work on. She would like people to understand the entire system of recycling - what we do and
can do, where there is efficiency in recycling and where the inefficiencies are so that people can make the choice
to precycle. It would be nice to have this information at the depot and to also bring it in to the schools. Another
set of articles was discussed on this subject. Wheeldon said it is important to continue putting this type of thing
out to the public. Chapman commented there is nothing wrong with repeating this information. Braham said it
would be interesting to find out what different companies have done to investigate packaging for their products.
Smith said there is a need to raise consciousness to recycle more products. Tuck recommended tying in the
Governor's sustainability proclamation with the overall goals of the City. This will be discussed at the meeting
next month, as well as reformulating the Education Subcommittee. In a brief discussion about mailing lists,
Wheeldon noted the e-mail address to remove your name is the-dma.org.
MORE OLD BUSINESS:
Jefferson Monthly Article—Smith will write the September article on using the Recycle Center.
July 4th Parade Float Discussion — The Commission decided to do nothing this year; however, next year the
members would like to plan on having another float.
NEW BUSINESS:
Budget—The current balance is$677.
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8/25/25,4:23 PM Regular Monthly Meeting-Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon
COMMISSION ITEMS —Amarotico stated she would like to see an article on the progress of the North Mountain
Park Nature Center. Tuck responded she has been trying to get more coverage, which is very important at this
stage because they are still in the fund raising mode. Donations are still needed in order to finish the project.
AJOURNMENT—The meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m.
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