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Board Member Lewis stated he still questions if the Board should even exist but for the meeting <br />in November it would be a starting point for structure for the Board. <br />5.02: Review of Recycling Data <br />City Planner Anderson presented the staff report. He stated this is part of the work plan and there <br />are concrete numbers for recycling. Paper and organics make up over 50% of the waste stream. <br />Part of the purpose of this evening was to develop ways to potentially improve the recycling <br />tonnages. The goals in the solid waste master plan for 2010 and 2030 are 40% and 60%. He <br />wanted to start the discussion on materials to outline how they can tackle this item possibly with <br />a theme. He stated there is a lot of paper that ends up in the waste stream. He stated the City of <br />Ramsey has done well over the last 10 years but the goals will be going up and the City wants to <br />strive to meet the goals going forward. This is an area where we can track and monitor any impact <br />of the activities the Board is doing. He stated the City of Anoka is producing a bi-annual newsletter <br />only focusing on recycling and passed around examples of their recycling newsletter. <br />Board Member Hiatt asked if there was any data on monthly recycling and city clean up events. <br />City, Planner Anderson stated he hasn't received any numbers for the last two events. He stated <br />that he understood that there wasn't a great turn out for ACE's last two events and that they were <br />potentially going to discontinue their events going forward. <br />Board Member Hiatt stated residents need to change their thoughts of cleaning out once a year. <br />City Planner Anderson stated recycling on the go is an area to reach out to and added there are <br />containers available for this purpose. He added for the recycling day events, with the use of the <br />future public works campus site, there's greater space for better traffic flow, which allows the city <br />to consider taking new materials, such as carpeting and vinyl siding. This will also bring awareness <br />to other items that can be recycled. <br />Board Member Valentine asked to go back to the breakdown of the waste materials and questioned <br />if the numbers are similar to the state aggregate numbers. He suggested staff find the areas that are <br />meaningful percentages and bring this back to the Board. <br />Councilmember LeTourneau suggested direction to staff to identify the low hanging fruit and come <br />forward with a list of 5 to 10 items to start working on. He stated staff could do that and then there <br />could be a more robust conversation. <br />Acting Chairperson Bentz discussed packaging cardboard with plastic in the middle and wondered <br />if it is recyclable. Through his discussions with Mr. Holt at GRE, he was surprised how much is <br />being separated out. <br />City Planner Anderson stated there have been a lot of recent additions to that facility. If you think <br />of recyclables as a commodity, cleaner streams of material have higher value. He can take <br />Councilmember LeTourneau's suggestions and bring them back at the December meeting. <br />Environmental Policy Board / October 6, 2014 <br />Page 5 of 6 <br />