City of Newberg
Sustainability Committee
Meeting Notes
Date: Tuesday, 10/6/09
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Engineering Conference Room
Participants: Sonja Johnson, Jessica , Howard Hamilton, Michele McManus, David Beam, Paul Chu, Jan Annette de Paz, K’Lyn Hann, Denise Bacon
◦ Participation-
The group felt that we would only take on the tasks that we could handle and that we were all adult enough to know when to say no.
◦ Park(ing) Day (Jan Wolfe)
Jan explained the basic idea and asked the group if they would be interested in participating. The idea is that parking spots become a park for a day. (for more information go to www.parkingday.org) Discussion was tabled until April since the event isn’t until the third Friday in September.
◦ Sustainability Page-
For the time being we will use the Friday Update as a method of communicating to all city staff. Persons in the committee who wish to contribute will send information to Sonja, who will then send it to the committee for approval. Information will then be sent on to Howard/Mariann for final approval and submission.
◦ Bike Rack(David Beam)
David looked at several locations at City Hall for bike rack placement. He offered some suggestions. A bike rack could be installed on the concrete slap (moving picnic table under trees) or under the stairwell (concerns were discussed- Safety of people carrying bikes up and down stairs, safety committee had already moved planters from the area). Funding? Discussion was tabled until January.
◦ Mission Statement Clarification (David Beam)
Committee felt that is was necessary to have a clear vision on where the committee’s focus would be. The Sustainability Committee wants to include both staff and citizens by leading by example.
Update on Projects:
Annette dePaz- Department heads will promote the practice of double-sided printing.
David Beam and Michele McManus- Working on getting the word out (Water bill, Mayor’s Musing and internal information).
Jessica Nunley- Commuter Challenge is underway
Current City sustainability practices:
Library- K’lyn – See end of this document
Howard- Public Works- See attachment
Michele- 2nd Floor- See attachment
Dan- 3rd Floor- N/A (absent from meeting)
Next Meeting:
Date: Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Time: 2pm
Location: Engineering Conference Room
Library:
We recycle paper, cardboard, newspaper and magazines. The newspaper, cardboard and magazines are collected by a volunteer b/c FISH gets paid by the pound for them. (FISH covers the cost of their utilities with their recycling proceeds.)
Many of us recycle cans, bottles, etc.
We recycle cartridges through a place that pays us for them, not much, but a little bit for each. We've heard, although not confirmed, that if you send cartridges back to HP via their free return pouches, they throw them away rather than refill them so you have to buy new. We also sometimes give our empty cartridges to the refill place in MacMinniville, if we can't recycle them for profit.
Most of us on staff re-use any single-sided discard paper, at least we save it. It gets cut by volunteers for scratch paper at our public computers and library catalog computers as well as at staff desks.
Rea calls/e-mails any company that sends us multiple catalogs. She requests one copy only, no name, just "Newberg Library." Problem is companies buy "lists" that are ages out of date, and you get dups again. Many more companies are trying to cut out the unnecessary catalogs all the time so you get a much better response than even a couple of years ago. You used to get really miffed company reps if you asked them to send only one, no name. If anyone who orders requests that they NOT be sent a catalog that helps. Also using a common order code/id code/account # for the whole department helps.
For years we recycled magnetic tape (cassettes/vhs) but no one does that anymore.
We try to let other departments know what stuff we have laying around. Mary Newell, Jill Dorrell and Rea Andrew have been around a long time and have always asked each other before purchasing new stuff. Sharing info on purchasing is a biggy too. i.e. where you get the best deal on purchasing or printing etc. If you find a great deal let everyone else know about it.
Of course then there are the books which we recycle several ways depending on their condition.
Rechargeable batteries haven't been so successful b/c they often need to be removed to equipment to maintain their charge, and that just doesn't happen. If they make it to the battery charger, they tend to get left which is a potential liability.
Some of us try to use manual options like pencil sharpeners, staplers etc. (This is an issue because there is only the once a year option to recycle batteries in Newberg - at the annual hazardous waste collection day. Perhaps the committee could look into an option for the city to establish and maintain a battery and flourescent tube collection drop site - maybe in collaboration with the Newberg Garbage.) The "automatic" choices like the towel dispensers in our restrooms and the auto-faucets or now the automatic hand sanitizer dispensers use electricity or batteries which raise there own issues of what kind of sustainability. Refills for automatic things tend to be pre-packaged and much more costly.
We save excess supplies like the cut off pieces of the Kapco material which we use to reinforce and protect paperback books to make bookmarks or cover smaller items. There are also the obvious things like using the back side of posterboard, don't print in color or don't print unless you need too - that kind of thing. Again, if staff don't think in a re-use fashion, it's hard to make this approach really effective.
I have also purchased or re-used dishes for my teen programs. Spoons are next on my list.
I have the staff turn the computers off at night. Although they still pull energy while plugged in, it is less, especially for those who have changed their power settings to not hiberate or go to stand-by. I'd like to get to the point of having all equipment, that can be, unplugged when we're closed for 3 days in a row.