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[Alicia Hunt]: All right, so welcome everybody for coming this evening. We have a small group here on the zoom, but we are also broadcast live on TV, and we are, we are always going to play in repeats as well. So we're hoping more people will watch this online after the fact. So good evening this evening, everybody. Thank you for joining us for the first edition of Medford Talks Trash. We are here to talk to people about Medford's solid waste contract and to get feedback from people. My name is Alicia Hunt. I am the Director of Planning, Development, and Sustainability for the City of Medford, and I am co-chairing this task force with Tim McGiven, our Commissioner of Public Works. I am bringing the sustainability and green to this effort, and Tim is bringing the operations and the continuity to this effort to make sure that you continue to get waste services. With us this evening is Madeline Levin, a graduate intern working with our office. She's staffing the task force. She's doing research. She's doing outreach for us. She is the everything for this project. And she is working the slides. So we are on Zoom this evening. This is being recorded and broadcast live to TV, as I said, at the bottom of your screen. There might be a CC button, live transcript, or it might be under more. You can click on that to get subtitles for the meeting this evening. And if it's on TV, I believe the subtitles are already being broadcast. There's a chat button at the bottom. You are welcome to use the chat button to ask questions. We'll actually have a pretty short presentation, and then we'll have time for questions, or you may raise your hand. There's a reactions button, and you can use the reactions button. If you click that, there'll be a raise hand option, and we'll try and have somebody looking at the actual pictures if you have your video on. So I'm gonna turn it over to Madeline to introduce the task force.
[Evangelista]: Yeah, we'll just have, thank you, Alicia. We'll just have each of the members of the task force just go ahead and say your name in that order. We are missing tonight, Lois, Angelica, Dina, and Yvette, but we've got a few other members on the call tonight. So Steve, I'll start with you. Okay, sorry.
[Alicia Hunt]: Oh, it's kidding.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hi there. Sorry, all my Wi Fi connection is very shaky. I'm City Councilor Kip Collins. My name is Steven that are muted.
[Evangelista]: Oh, Jim, you're muted. Now the unmuted Jim Schumann Task Force member. I'm Jacqueline Torres, task force member. Great. And we are also missing John Doherty tonight. I think I missed his name.
[Alicia Hunt]: Great. So thank you, everybody. It is time times have changed medford has changed the world has changed resident needs have changed it's time to reevaluate our waste disposal in medford and we really want to hear from everybody we don't want to just sit here in city hall and say what services we think the city needs. We really want to hear from residents about what you all need. And we also want to hear from businesses. We've been emphasizing our resident survey, but I will point out that there is a business survey for business owners to fill out for there as well. So we want to hear about trash and recycling, business trash and recycling. And we want to hear about what you want for other waste services. Talk to us about composting, textiles, electronics, et cetera. Why now? Our current, we've had waste management for a very long time. We've had many contracts with them. I actually recently become aware that waste management has been our waste hauler since the the state privatized waste services and the city went to a private waste hauler. They were actually under a different name then. Why does your voice matter? Because we wanna hear what people want. Many of us live here in the city, actually just about every member of the task force and the staff involved in this. I think Madeline's actually the only one who's not literally a Medford resident who was involved in this effort. And this is the right time to think about rates, services, how we approach waste services here in the city of Medford. We're gonna be doing, the survey will be open through October 1st. We already have 300 responses, but we wanna hear from everybody. There are 18,000 households in the city of Medford and almost 60,000 residents. So 300 is an amazing number for a survey, but it's not everybody. And then we'll be providing back feedback from that survey. We'll have public interest meetings in October and November and be doing a request for proposals over the winter. Here are some examples of the types of questions that we're asking. There's also an opportunity to answer just a few questions and say you're done, or you can go on and answer. It'll ask you if you're willing to answer more questions for us. And here are just a couple of examples of the kinds of questions that we ask. So we do ask that you respond by October 1st. If you are watching this right now, you can do your survey on a phone. You can take your phone and your camera, turn on the camera and point it at the white and gray square. That is a QR code for people not yet familiar with them. And if you scan that, a URL will pop up on your screen. You can click on that URL and you can get straight to the survey. Or you can type in the URL that is on your screen, which is bit.ly slash Medford Waste. So not everybody has a computer. You might be watching this on TV yelling at me right now that you don't have a computer and you can't fill it out. We are going to have volunteers, members of the task force and Madeline are going to be taking turns They will be at the Medford Farmers Market from 3 to 5 p.m. for the next three Thursdays, the 8th, 15th, and 22nd. And if you haven't been to the Medford Farmers Market, you should check it out. There's a lot of interesting stuff there, and they always have good music. They will also be at the Medford Public Library on Saturdays for the next three weeks from 10 a.m. to noon. And we have hard copies in City Hall. here in our office up in room 308 that you can grab anytime and fill out for us. To get more updates and learn more about opportunities, things that's going on with the Solid Waste Force, to learn about the public meetings for October and November, which have not yet actually been scheduled, you can sign up for our newsletter. Our office has a newsletter that has a ton of information. We try to put it out about once a month. But we'll do it more often when we have something urgent to come out. Or you're welcome to email Madeline, and she can add you to our newsletter. Her email address is on the screen, mlevin at gsd.harvard.edu. And really, I don't have that much to say, so we'd be happy to take questions now. You can raise your hand in Zoom. I mentioned this before. You can hover over Reactions and click the Raise Hand. You can call us on the phone. We have staff in our office right now who can answer it, 781-393-2480. or email us questions at OCD at Medford dash ma.gov. And if you are watching this later on a repeat, this is if it's not Wednesday, September 7 that you're watching this, you're welcome to email us questions and we will get back to you. You can call us during business hours and one of our staff will answer the phone and or get back to you about it. I'm sorry that I don't have any stunning, crazy information that you're all horrified and reacting to yet. We really want to hear from residents about what we should have in waste services before we try to make any changes. So I'm going to be quiet now and see if anybody has any questions for us. And if we don't immediately have questions, I'll ask if any of the members of the task force or Tim have anything else they'd like to add. Oh, we do have a question. Eunice, do you wanna ask?
[Eunice Browne]: Yeah, thanks very much. Eunice Brown, Greenleaf Avenue. Couple of points. First of all, I see that there are currently, Oh, first of all, I'll say this. I know you're going to do more outreach. I know you're doing the survey and things. There'll be more meetings coming down the pike, but there are currently 14 participants on the Zoom. And if my count is correct, at least half of them, maybe a little bit more, are either on the task force or are city employees. So that leaves maybe Four or five that are actually interested residents. So that's, you know, certainly not a very good showing. You know, it's kind of like you guys are there talking to yourselves. So, you know, you're not going to get much public participation when you've got probably four members of the public on here. I know there'll be other things coming down the pike, but. You know, I personally think, and I think I mentioned this in an email to you, Alicia, I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, is that I know it's hard to cram a ton of stuff in that goes on in the city, but to hold a meeting of this magnitude two days after Labor Day weekend, the day after an election, you know, while people are just kind of getting back in the groove after summer, I don't think it was a wise idea, but it is what it is.
[Alicia Hunt]: Secondly, actually, can I address that first before your question? Sure thing. We are expecting to have meetings in October and November where we're providing information back to the public. This is a launch meeting to let the public know about this survey and that we want to hear from you. So we needed to have that at the very beginning of our outreach. We'll be having a meeting in early October for additional to respond back, and we'll be replaying this. So this is the very first thing. I'm also very disappointed that there aren't more people here, but I think people get upset when you have something to tell them that they don't like, and then they show up for the public meeting. So maybe I should have announced that we're getting rid of recycling in Medford, and then we'd get a great turd out tonight, right?
[Eunice Browne]: Possible, yeah.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, this is the launch.
[Eunice Browne]: Basically, there's like four members of the public on this meeting. Yeah. So did you have a question? More of a comment or a suggestion, and I put this in the survey that I filled out as far as what I want with my trash plan, so to speak. And we used to have this 1,000 years ago. back in the turn of the century, but it used to be that our trash pickup people, if you put it out in the curb, they took it, didn't much matter what it was. As long as it wasn't electronics, you couldn't put a TV out there, you couldn't put paint out there or anything hazard, but if you put it out there, they took it. And it makes it really hard to, you know, on a Saturday, clean out your basement, clean out your garage. You just have a bunch of random crap that you're trying to get rid of. And, you know, if it doesn't fit in the bin, then you have to get a dumpster. You have to get a bag stir, whatever. And I think when she was Councilor, Marilonga Kern lobbied for this. But what I'd like to see is in a perfect world, once a month from May through October, But if not once a month, at least maybe three, four times or twice is a pickup where whoever vendor is will come along and on your designated day or maybe pick a day and they do the entire city, but just take anything that you put out there. you know, other than hazardous or, you know, electronics or appliances and things. But, you know, maybe Memorial Day weekend, you're, you know, deciding to clean out the garage in the basement or sometime in a weekend in July. There's no way to get rid of all that stuff that you excavate from your basement. So that's what I would like to see.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, and we appreciate that Yvette, I'm sorry Yvette, Eunice. One of the things that we've been trying to make people aware of is that the city's current contract, it used to not, one of the prices that have escalated over the years is the price per large item. For every large item that a resident puts out, the city pays $25. And we don't, and that has been in our contract for many, many years. And we don't charge back to residents at all. So while it's actually a very convenient idea for residents, we can't afford that under this current contract. So it is helpful to know that that's something that residents would like. But we've been trying to figure out how to manage that. The state would actually really like us to pass on charges for bulky items. They'll actually bribe us, they'll bribe us, sorry, they'll give us some, there are various, Things that they will incentivize communities to do and charging for large items, at least $5 an item is something that they would like to see communities do to manage waste right now. We've tried to put information in our brochure about how to get other groups to come to pickups of large items that are worthwhile, simply because the costs of those bulky items have gotten very, very unmanageable for the city.
[Eunice Browne]: But I don't even know that it's necessarily a large items. I think you're talking like furniture and things like that. I don't think it's even necessarily that. I think it's just, you know, my understanding and, you know, please correct me if I'm wrong, but If it doesn't sit in the bin currently, you cannot get rid of it. So even things like, I have a couple of, you know, old mops and brooms and things that I would like to get rid of, you know, just stuff that, you know, sort of accumulates, you know, some wood, some, you know, various things. I can't even name them, but they're not big bulky things. They're just things that just don't fit in the bin. you know, that's, you know, I would just like a, you know, Thursday, they come and take whatever I put out there.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right? And waste management wants to charge us for every one of those things. So I think you probably are aware that if you have smaller things, wood that can be made smaller, you can buy overflow bags. And I believe that a roll of bags is $10 and you can put out overflow. But it appears that they are charging us for everything that people put out outside their bins. which is part of one of the many things that we need to address in the new contract.
[Eunice Browne]: Right, exactly. And that's, you know, what I'd like to see addressed. And, you know, I would, you know, next time you, you know, decide to clean out your basement or your garage, you know, look around and see what you're trying to get rid of. And, you know, it's just all sorts of, you know, random stuff that, you know, you can't seem to find an easy way to get rid of. So in redoing the contract, that would be something I'd like to see.
[Alicia Hunt]: Great, thank you. It is perhaps helpful to let people know that you can take extra recycling at any time to the DPW yard. We have a compactor there now that was being filled up three times a week when it was just a dumpster. So now we have a compactor that's emptied once a week. We also have a scrap metal recycling bin. So if things are scrap metal, you can take it to DPW and dump it in the scrap metal bin there.
[Eunice Browne]: Okay, thanks.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, I got a bunch of heavy metal things out of my, my basement that way.
[Eunice Browne]: Yeah, just, you know, just all sorts of strange random crap that, you know, you need to find a way to get rid of. Yeah.
[Alicia Hunt]: Great, thank you. Are there other people who would like to share their thoughts and opinions or questions with us? I do see that this also the survey is available in multiple languages. Madeline has posted links in the chat to the Residential Survey in English, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish. as well as the business survey. So it is available there and it is available in multiple languages. And we're making those available on our website page as well. I'm sure somebody else has something else for us. I mean, we'll wrap this up early. We'll also, Madeline, can you put this, the version up that has the QR code for the survey so that if people are watching this later on TV, it's easy for them to get back to the survey? Great, so you'll have that available. And then you can always contact us at OCD at Medford-MA.gov.
[Theresa Dupont]: I'll jump in with a question. Teresa Dupont, staff member for the city of Medford, also a resident. Question and comment that I have, maybe so much more is like a request, I think, having some attention paid to recycling grocery bags and film products. That's a call I get all the time here about how do I recycle grocery bags. And right now it seems like the onus is really to direct people towards grocery stores. I know Wegmans has a recycling program, I believe Stop and Shop does as well. So having something city sponsored or having collection bins at public buildings beyond the grocery store environment, I think would be something I'd like to personally see. Because I know that those bags end up in recycling bins and totally ruins the entire recycling process. So just a comment, if you will.
[Alicia Hunt]: Thank you. And yes, that's true. I've actually had the opportunity to tour some of the recycling sorting stations in the Boston area. I've actually seen both Casella's and waste management's and neither one of them has the capability of dealing with plastic bags. and thin films. And so at the very beginning of their sorting line, they have people who pull the plastic bags and thin film off the conveyor belt, because if they go too far, they jam up the equipment. They'll actually wrap, they have large spools that break up glass And if the plastic bags make it there, they wrap around them and they jam them up. And so periodically they have to stop the line and have people get up onto the spools that break the glass and cut the plastic films. off of that. I actually have some great photos of that that we should put back up. I think they're on the website, but we'll get them. We should link to some of the recycling images that we have from some of our sorting facilities. It's quite fascinating. Other questions? I am not seeing very much, and while I could talk trash and recycling all evening, I don't want to keep people here longer than necessary. Is there anything that anybody would like to add from the committee? Tim?
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, I was just gonna add, Alicia, about Denise's comment on extra trash. You can also get an extra bin, but you have to pay for it. So no matter which way you look at it, they want more money from you. But I think another bin is $50.
[Alicia Hunt]: Great, thank you. And I see that Kit has her hands up.
[Kit Collins]: Thanks, Alicia. Yeah, before we sign off, I just wanted to jump in and say, of course, big thanks to the 300 folks that have already filled out the survey. It's really important that we hear from as many people as possible. And when you're filling it out, you know, ideally, the questions will prompt you to be thinking this way. But I think it's both about how can this better suit for you for your current needs, your current waste and recycling disposal needs, and also the aspirational, what would you like to see that you're not currently seeing the version of whether that's iterating on current, how waste is picked up, how frequently recycling other add-ons like textile composting, so it's both. How's the status quo working for you as well as what are you not seeing that you'd like to be considered? So thanks in advance to everybody who fills out the survey. It's really important.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yes, thank you to everybody. And I'm getting the report that there are no emails and there are no phone calls. So thank you everybody for coming and we appreciate it. Be in touch. And sign up for our office newsletter and make sure you listen. We'll have some meetings in October and November where we'll be providing more feedback and running some, our ideas by you all. Great. Thank you everybody. Good night.
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