Minutes - Environmental Policy Board - 04/16/2018

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City Planner Anderson provided additional details on the collection for multi-family housing developments. He stated that the education component for that type of development is key due to the transient nature of those residents. He stated that the number by default will be smaller because multi-family housing is a smaller market than single-family homes. He stated that staff continues to reach out to multi-family housing developments to provide additional containers and improve collection efforts. He noted that multi-unit recycling is a bigger challenge across the metro. He stated that the recycling agreement will go forward to the City Council at one of the next meetings with a small increase for additional educational efforts in attempt to boost participation. Chairperson Valentine commented that he believes that a yard waste cleanup opportunity in the fall would be a benefit to the community. City Planner Anderson stated that until recently residents had the opportunity to purchase a permit from Elk River to use that yard waste site. He noted that opportunity was closed when the threat of Emerald Ash Borer came about, and the quarantine for Anoka County went into effect. 5.04: Resilient Communities Project Update City Planner Anderson presented the staff report. Tyler Thorn stated that his group is participating in the organics recycling program. He displayed the midway check-in poster that the group created, noting that they did receive input from City Planner Anderson. He stated that one of the biggest obstacles is finding a closer area to deposit the organic waste. Marie Olson stated that they are aware of the pilot organics recycling program in Ramsey and recommend increasing that program with additional drop-off locations that could also stimulate commercial participation. She stated that the hope would then be to incorporate curbside pickup for organics. Marin Forey stated that there are communities in the metro which have implemented curbside organics pickup. She stated that there is opportunity to combine household organics with yard waste,which would mean that the yard waste truck could collect the materials rather than requiring an additional truck for hauling. Board Member Hiatt stated that one of the challenges in the community is that Ramsey is a large geographic area. He asked if a northern location was looked at as a possibility for drop-off locations. He stated that perhaps that would generate more participation from the residents in the northern part of Ramsey. Marie stated that they did discuss that option with City Planner Anderson, perhaps using parks as drop-off locations. Board Member Hiatt stated that he does believe that Coborn's would be a successful location as well. Board Member Stodola stated that he uses the municipal drop-off location and would prefer a Coborn's drop-off location. Environmental Policy Board/April 16, 2018 Page 4 of 7