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Green Committee Packet 2008 10-27-08 ,QED CITE T United City of Yorkville 800 Game Farm Road EST. , 1636 Yorkville, Illinois 60560 v! N Telephone: 630-553-4350 � < ` ��?° Fax: 630-553-7575 E AGENDA YORKVILLE GREEN COMMITTEE October 27, 2008 7:00 P.M. Yorkville Public Library 902 Game Farm Road First Floor Meeting Room Mission Statement. To advise the City Council of the United City of Yorkville, Illinois on ways to enhance the community environment and ways to equip and encourage citizens and businesses to participate in sustainable ecological practices. Call to Order: Welcome Members and Guests: Approval of Minutes: September 22, 2008 Committee Reports: 1 . Education Committee Old Business: 1 . Plastic Bag — Educational Efforts, Holiday Handout update (Stephanie) 2. Waubonsee Community College Energy Fair on Oct 18 (Cheryl & Marta) 3 . Oct 2 Green Town Conference in Aurora www. =r� eent'ownconference.com - anyone attend? 4. Special Events: a. Rpt on Yorkville Share & Care Recycling Day to be held Nov 1 (Marta & Anne) Request for volunteers for the day of the event b. Spring Environment Seminar to include Water Conservation to be held in April or May 5. Cutting CO2 - Committee (report individual progress) 6. Water Conservation a. Progress on Recommendation to City Council (Stephanie) b. Creation of a Committee 7. Tree Survey Recommendation (Stephanie) 8. Building Code Change — ASHRE to include LEED standards (Stephanie) 9. List of Multi-family buildings not included in City Contract (Stephanie) 10. List of Commercial Buildings, contact information (Stephanie) 11 . Reminder: Nov 8 Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg Environmental Fair 12. Zoning Ordinance Committee Update (Phil) New Business: Additional Business: Adjournment: Remaining Meetings 2008 November 24 No December Meeting Yorkville Green Committee Minutes for Meeting Sept 22, 2008 Marta Keane- Member Stephanie Boettcher—City of Yorkville Al Green -Member Debra Ness - guest Mariann Manthei -Member Anne Engelhardt-Member Tedd Lundquist- Guest Richard Scheffrahn- Member Krista Sampson- Guest Cheryl Lee—Member Bob Allen -Alderman, ward 1 Earl Bushnell - Guest Call to Order: Meeting was called to order by Marta Keane at 7:01 . Only five members were present at the beginning of the meeting. No quorum. Approval of minutes: August minutes. This item was tabled. Education Committee: — Marta summarized a letter from Glory Spies telling what she has been doing for the Green Committee Spies updated Green Committee link on the City's web page, including stating that The Green Committee's taking the "Cool Challenge, She will advertise the recycling day to be held in early November. In the regular City of Yorkville newsletter, she will include an insert highlighting environmental issues, such as recycling. Spies wants to have a calendar of Green Events in the regular city newsletter. Cheryl Lee arrived at 7:13 p.m. Quorum is established. Old business: 1. Plastic bags - Citizen Earl Bushnell presented a report on plastic bags with facts from www.savetheplasticbag.com and other studies. (See attached.) Bushnell stated that his daughter makes a living selling plastic bags. He does not want to see a City ban on plastic bags. Mariann Manthei presented a report on what she found about plastic bags. In the 1980's plastic bags began replacing paper bags in stores. 400 billion bags per year used around the world. US.... (See attached.) One percent of plastic bags are recycled. Local information: Jewel/ Osco accepts plastic bags and sends them on in bundles to a recycler. Jewel does not use paper bags. Some businesses do not recycle plastic bags. Some stores use plastic bags, but do not have collections bins because they do not handle them for recycling. Many local companies have reusable bags for a small cost. Manthei did an informal survey. She observed for 15 minutes at Target and found that 1 women and 1 man out of approximately 30 people observed. used recyclable bags Green Committee has not taken a position on the use of plastic bags. However, Keane, pointed out that the Green Committee can take a position if desired. The general consensus is (1 ) Plastic bags should be recycled because they can be. (2) The preferred alternative to plastic bags is to use the eco-friendly bags. Lee asked, "What other Illinois communities have banned the use of plastic bags in stores? Manthei answered, " Lake County is trying to charge customers for using plastic bags." Engelhardt suggested that the Green Committee use the city' s web site to (1 ) encourage citizens to recycle plastic bags if they choose to use them (2)use eco-friendly, re-usable bags (3)encourage businesses to put out easy-access bins for recycling plastic bags. Green suggested that the Green Committee ask city to talk to Veolia about taking plastic bags for recycling. Scheffrahn pointed out that this is a contractual issue. Lee suggested, "We should get our facts on to our web site and in the newspaper on a regular basis, about plastic bags, and other environmental items." She stated that the Green Committee should have a regular column in the local paper to address recycling is and other environmental issues and recommendations. Richard Scheffrahn mentioned that the third page of the handout from Bushnell might be used as a basis for the first article. Stephanie Boetttcher stated that Spies can write an article for the Green Committee for the local paper. Green Committee needs to write this as a recommendation to the Mayor and include the information for Spies. Boettcher stated that Spies has researched the feasibility of handing out reusable bags with the City' s name and logo at a City-sponsored event, such as Holiday Under the Stars, with the city logo. Use the recommendation form to write up a memo as a suggestion to the mayor and copy to Glory, who will follow up on this suggestion. Scheffrahn presented another idea, saying that the City could ask the local businesses to each donate a number of bags, which in turn will advertise their business. This approach may be cost- saving for the City. Engelhardt motioned that Lee write a recommendation to the Mayor and copy Spies requesting that Spies write an article for the local paper regarding recycling plastic bags. Manthei seconded. All yes. No opposed. Green motioned that he will write the recommendation to the Mayor asking the City to hand out reusable shopping bags to citizens at Holiday under the Stars and solicit local businesses as donors of the bags. Scheffrahn seconded. All yes. No opposed. Approval of minutes. A quorum was established. Green moved to approve the minutes of the meeting of August 25, 2008 with the amended attendance list, adding Richard Scheffrahn, member; Jennifer Willis, guest; and Erika Wurst, reporter from the Beacon News. Engelhardt seconded. All approved. No opposed. 2. Enhanced Report from Veolia on Residential Recycling Rate. Boettcher presented an enhanced report from Veolia about garbage and recycling totals compared to the total amount diverted from a landfill. Manthei asked where the City is sending yard waste. Boettcher answered that the location is Green Organics. Engelhardt asked, "What are we going to do with this information?" She then suggested that Spies put the information into the newspaper as an article from the Green Committee. Lee added that the article should be very simple, bullet pointed. Keane stated that the web site to create list of factoids on various topics. In addition, the article could include state and county goals. Also, Spies could put on a positive spin with the fact that 90% of households put out a recycling bin. Engelhardt motioned to have Keane write up some facts for Spies that can be used on the web site and for an article. Scheffrahn seconded. All approved. No opposed. 3 . Special events. a. Yorkville Share and Care Day — Nov 1 or Bch Smith Building at the Kendall County Fair Grounds on Nov. 1 - either fair grounds on Nov I or Countryside Center on Nov 8 . Engelhardt is working on securing a location. Keane has been contacting several companies, asking for their donated assistance in taking some of the items. Vintage Tech has agreed to have a truck to take the electronics. Good Will has agreed to bring a truck to take clothing, books, house wares, etc. Several other organizations and businesses will be contacted in the near future. Lee reported that the Yorkville Women's club would like to be involved and is willing to give volunteers. They are willing to take cell phones for Mutual Ground . Engelhardt stated that the Yorkville Congregational Church Green Committee has offered to send at least five adults to assist for a couple of hours. Boettcher stated that the Share and Care Recycling Day event planning information should be bundled as a recommendation to the Mayor. She added that if Countryside Center is the site, Travis Miller should be asked to secure this location. Give him a day and time and a second location or date. Scheffrahn and Engelhardt preferred to use the Kendall County Fairgrounds on Nov I " as it can be held indoors. Engelhardt will continue to secure this as the first option, and will ask Travis to work on the contract. The second option is to use the empty parking lot at Countryside Center , Nov 8 or 1st. If these locations and dates do not work, the event will be postponed until spring 2009. Cheryl will work on getting volunteers. b. Spring Environmental Seminar to include Water Conservation to be held in April or May. Lee volunteered to work with Phil Stuepfert on the Water Conservation forum to be held in the spring. Nancy Wagner from the Environmental Center for Law and Policy Center is interested in helping with this event, as she did last year. 4. Cutting CO2 - Committee (report individual progress) Comments: on Cool Challenge — The web site was not easy to use; there was a mismatch between the calculator results and the recommendations; calculator was not meant to be exact, but a general guideline of amount of carbon usage. Marta suggested that members of the Green Committee do the challenge over the next two months, using the book Low Carbon Diet. Engelhardt brought a copy of the book and passed it around. She suggested each member get a copy for individual use. After discussion, several indicated they would use the book. Engelhardt will Email all of the Green Committee to get numbers, and will order the book from Amazon. The cost will be approximately $ 10.00 to be paid after the books are distributed at the next meeting. It was decided that the group will use the book at the individual level for the next three months. At the January meeting, members will report on their findings and discuss the ease and usefulness of the workbook. At that time the group will determine next steps if interested in expanding the Cool Challenge into the community. 5 . Waubonsee College Informational Booth — Waubonsee College is hosting the "Second Annual Renewable Energy Fair" on Saturday, October 18, 2008, 9 a.m. — 6 p.m. The Yorkville City Green Committee is invited to participate. Non-profit organizations are not charged a fee to have an exhibit. Lee and Keane volunteered to serve at the Green Committee' s booth. Keane will email the Green Committee and other volunteers on the new list of volunteers to recruit people to sit at the booth. The booth will include the banner, flyers, free CFL' s, and name tags of volunteers. Boettcher requested that Keane let the mayor know that the Green Committee desires to participate and ask for her approval and ask for Spies to write up something about this event. 6. Water Conservation. a. Progress on Recommendation to City Council Boettcher reported for the Public Works Committee. The actions recommended will be implemented at the staff level. There are no changes in ordinances and no changes in rates. Bob Allen reported that the development is down, therefore the water usage is down. b. Creation of a Committee. Keane requested the creation of a committee to follow up on the education component and talk to homeowners' groups. Topics might include the need to eliminate sod, the use low-flow faucets, and other suggestions. The group discussed and decided to table the creation of a committee. These issues and recommendations from the Green Committee can be emphasized at the Water Seminar Forum in the spring. After the seminar, there will be opportunity for follow up in the community with water conservation strategies. 7. Tree Survey. Boettcher reported that Alderman Plocher talked to the high school staff members in the science department about doing a tree survey. There is no information at this time as to whether or not the school district will be able to incorporate the survey into their curriculum. At this time there has been no follow —up from the Yorkville School District especially getting maps with matrix of the city and database forms. The school district has not yet committed to doing the survey. Laura Haake will be following up with Alderman Plocher about this. New Business: 1. Multi-family Recycling and Commercial Recycling. Marta requested a member of the Green Committee do some research into Yorkville' s situation — find out the status of recycling at multi-family and commercial sites. Keane stated the need for information about Yorkville's commercial and multi-family units. Boettcher suggested that the research by done by the committee. City office can give names of businesses, etc. Boettcher explained that multi- family and commercial must independently contract for recycling and waste services. The City does not have any information nor ordinances on multi- family and commercial development recycling. It is, however, within the authority of the City to impose a recycling requirement without providing the service. She cautioned that recommendations should not make it difficult on these businesses to operate in the City Travis Miller sits on the Kendall County Solid Waste Committee; he is the voice for the city. The County is looking to make recommendations on recycling at their Feb meeting. Miller would like to get some recommendations from the Green Committee. Engelhardt suggested that the October agenda include creating a prioritized list of local environmental concerns that Miller can bring to the County committee. 2. Construction Recycling Keane reported that more and more municipalities, especially in Lake and Northern Cook Counties are creating franchise agreements where one hauler is selected to provide all commercial waste and recycling services to the community's businesses. The selected contractor pays a significant fee to the City and must bid the prices of different size dumpsters and service levels to be awarded a contract. Most businesses usually benefit from lower prices and the municipalities benefit from less heavy truck traffic. Additionally, the amount of CO2 is reduced due to the lower number of trucks and lessening of congestion overall. Guest Krista Sampson reported that the Yorkville public schools are not fully recycling. Even though they have the paper recycling bins, recycling may not actually be taking place. She volunteered to check the status of recycling at the schools. 3. Nov. 8 Hoffman Estates/ Schaumburg Environmental Fair, hosted by their green committees, will have presentations throughout the day. City of Yorkville has been asked to present about the new rain garden. The Green Committee is invited to this Fair. Boettcher will be attending and presenting information about the rain garden. 4. Zoning Ordinance Update Committee Volunteer — Scheffrahn volunteered to serve as a representative of the Green Committee. . 5. October 2 Green Town Conference in Aurora The Green Committee is invited to attend. Tedd Lundquist, coworker with Phil Stuepfert, will be going with his company to this conference and will report on this. Additional Business: Oct 15, Naturalized Basins Seminar, at the Yorkville Public Library, at 7 p.m. Members should go to the City web site to check for more information. Oct. 8, 3-4:30 p.m. — APA Audio/ Web Conference Training series 2008-09 on "Renewable Local Energy" — at Kane County Government Center, in Geneva hosted by The Conservation Foundation and Kane County in Geneva , cost is $20.00 Money can come from community development budget, if someone from the Green Committee wants to go. Oct. 14, 7 p.m. - Seminar at Kendall County Historic courthouse — green cleaning products that can be found in the average home. Open to the public. Green requested Green Building ordinances to be placed back on the Green Committee agenda. Allen, Alderman gave a brief report from Mayor Burd. He briefly mentioned that the Mayor is looking into wind energy and if it can be used in Yorkville. He also mentioned the lawsuit brought against Hammon Farm by State Attorney Lisa Madigan. His third (and final point) is the one on the E85 and Hybrid cars. At this point, City cannot move forward with this due to budget constraints. Keane gave a brief summary of the most recent charges on the landfill south of Yorkville, responding to Alderman Allen's report. Allen reported that Public Works committee had a discussion on using E85 fuel. They would like to get a hybrid if the budget allows. Cheryl YEDC is raffling off a Smart Car. Tickets can be purchased at the YEDC office (651 Prairie Pointe) or local banks for $25 .00 a piece. Adjournment: Keane adjourned the meeting at 9:25 p.m. History • Walter Deubnner invents plastic bag in 1950 ( England). • First plastic sandwich bag in 1957; 1980 grocery stores start using plastic bags. • 1980-1990s: 14 million trees used to make 10 billion paper bags in US. • Late 1980s: concern over use of paper bags (trees destroyed); PB seemed to be a popular alternative. • $4 bill/yr spent in US to make plastic bags. • 12 billion barrels of oil per year used to make plastic bags. • World uses up to 500,000 billion bags per year; most used once then to landfill . • In US, each person uses 500 bags/year • Only 1% are recycled • Once in landfill it takes 1,000 years to break down. . Locally • Jewel/Osco has drop off boxes for recycling (bags are sold to TREX) . TREX makes boards, fences, etc. • Jewel, Target, Walgreens, Aldi all sell Eco bags. • Show Bags Here. My Survey • Jewel-Sunday morning for 15 minutes: 3 eco bags (women ) and 1 man. Rest were plastic. Today (Monday) • Target: 1 person asked for paper; all else plastic (no eco bags used) . • Jewel (15 min ) : 1 man asked for paper; everyone else used plastic; no eco • Walgreens: All plastic • Aldi : 4 men used cardboard boxes; 1 woman had plastic & paper; rest purchased paper or plastic; several hauled basket to car and used their own paper/plastic bags Trends • Some cities are promoting curbs on plastic bags. • In Alaska 30 town/villages have banned the use of plastic bags. • San Francisco in Mar 2008 became first major city to ban the use of plastic bags.