CVSWMD News - Flood Relief Funds Still Available!

Published Monthly June 2011

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A Note from Leesa

Memorial Day weekend of 2011 brought Central Vermont a memorable flood. Many of our residents and local businesses suffered great loss as the floodwaters damaged property, roads and land. For some of our residents, the future of their homes and places of employment is still tenuous, with businesses closed and the long-term viability of some homes in question.

Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District's Staff and Board of Supervisors worked quickly in the aftermath of the flood to determine what CVSWMD might do to lessen the impact of the flood on the residents and businesses of our seventeen member towns. Given waste management is something we understand, we recognized that the flood would cause permanently damaged materials and that disposal of flood-damaged waste would be an additional cost to flood victims. We also recognized that the cost of disposal of flood related waste is often not covered by flood insurance.

To ease the financial impact of cleaning up after the flood the CVSWMD staff and Board worked quickly to reallocate funds dedicated to seemingly less urgent program areas to alleviate the financial burden caused by the flood. $20,000 was allocated to provide grants of up to $200 to assist in the disposal of flood-damaged materials. As of the writing of this note, CVSWMD has provided $6,766 in flood relief funds to 39 residents and small businesses.

If you were impacted by the Memorial Day 2011 Flood and incurred expenses for disposal of flood-damaged materials, please consider applying for disposal assistance funds. To receive an application, call our office at 802-229-9383 or visit our Flood Relief Fund webpage to learn more.

Be Well,

Leesa

Quick Fact:

Flooding causes more damage in the United States than any other severe weather related event, an average of $5 billion a year. Included in that damage estimate is a lot of flood related waste! Source

flooded sign

The CVSWMD Flood Relief Fund will help residents and small businesses cover the cost of disposal of flood related waste items. Learn more at our Flood Relief Fund web page or below in our Vermont news section.

If you've been flooded, remember to dispose of hazardous waste properly! Flood clean-up is hard, hectic work, but it is important to separate toxic items out from regular trash to prevent them going into the landfill. Visit the EPA's website to learn more about preparing for future flood events and the handling of hazardous and other materials after they have been flood damaged.

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Our June Zero Hero

Terry Redmond

Terry Redmond

Director of Nutrition & Food Services, CVMC

This month, we celebrate Terry Redmond and Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) in Berlin. Terry is a genuine man with laughing eyes, but when it comes to social responsibility, he's dead serious!

CVMC's window-lined cafeteria with views of the Worcester Mountains was our meeting place. It's a nice, bright space, but there's more to this cafeteria than immediately meets the eye! First, the cafeteria offers a discount to encourage customers to use non-disposable dishes and flatware. This also means they reduce waste by not buying as many disposable items. Second, there are signs posted letting customers know that they are in a facility that composts food scraps. Third, when they have finished eating, customers may recycle and throw away non-recyclable items, but are instructed to leave all uneaten food on their plates. That food is then separated into CVSWMD compost buckets or totes by the kitchen staff. All of this is designed to capture and divert as many food scraps as possible from the waste stream.

The program at CVMC also captures food scraps from food preparation, room-service style patient meals, and hospital staff. And to make things even better, they program also operates at CVMC's Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing facility!

When pressed to say why CVMC signed on with our Business Composting Program, he stated there were many reasons to participate. The hospital had begun a Green Initiatives Committee and food scrap diversion was recognized as "low hanging fruit"; plus, unlike many places in the country, CVSWMD had a fully functioning program already in place, making it a simple process to train staff, set up infrastructure, and have the scraps hauled away. Terry saw other benefits as well: food scraps were previously going down the drain, putting strain on the wastewater system and plumbing; for similar reasons, composting also saves on water usage; seeing how much and what types of food were going in the compost bin helped Terry and his staff implement cost saving measures through better purchasing.

According to Terry, the program has been well received by customers, hospital and kitchen staff. He says, "Now it's just how we do things here. It was simple to implement and it's simple to operate. And it's also about social responsibility; it's the right thing to do." In the last month alone, CVMC diverted approximately 10,000 lbs of pre- and post-consumer food scraps from the waste stream! Way to go CVMC and Terry!

You're a true Zero Hero!

(Article written by Marian Miller, PR & Outreach Coordinator)

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Vermont News and Stories

CVSWMD Offers Flood Relief
As everyone in Central Vermont knows, we have recently experienced catastrophic flooding in our area. In response to this, the Staff and Board of Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District are pleased to announce our Flood Relief Fund, which offers up to $200 per residential household or small businesses (of member towns) to help cover the disposal of flood related waste. These funds are limited but money is still available; please call our office at 800.730.9475 for more information on how to apply. We also have information available on our website or at the Flood Relief Center on Main St. in Barre.

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New Flood Relief Website

There is now a website for victims of the flood to go to as a one-stop, online resource for information and assistance. Visit the new site at http://www.cvfloodhelp.org/.

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Stowe Mountain Lodge a Compost Champion!

Mia Roethlein, Program Manager, and Marian Miller, Public Relations & Outreach Coordinator, recently visited with one of the most enthusiastic of our Business Composting Program's customers, Stowe Mountain Lodge (SML) in Stowe. Andre Blais, Landscape Manager, is spearheading sustainability initiatives at the resort and wanted to review how the program was working there and discuss plans for diverting even more food scraps.

Chris beside Tote

Chris with CVSWMD Totes

Andre met us in the lobby to talk about how things were going with the program. He shared that while some staff members were initially resistant to having to "compost" in the kitchens and dining rooms, most now agree that it actually works better than just throwing food scraps in the trash. According to Andre, one big help is that graduates of the New England Culinary Institute (NECI) are often hired by the resort and they arrive with a solid background in composting food scraps in the kitchen; it is simply best practice for them! (NECI is also a long-standing customer in our Business Composting Program and they practice food scrap diversion in all of their kitchens and classrooms.) At Stowe Mountain Lodge,these graduates convey to resort staff how well a compost program works and the benefits they have experienced.

We toured several kitchens on the grounds of SML, as well as the loading dock area where trash is compacted and compost totes are stored for pick-up. The level of commitment at SML is made evident by the fact that most kitchens don't even have trash cans in them! Instead, there is a compost bin and a recycling bin; staff must often go out of their way to get to a small, nearly empty trash can! This encourages proper handling of food scraps and recycling. Given the fact that 41% of the waste stream at SML is food scraps, this adds up to savings on trash hauling fees. And since 50% of the "trash" at SML is recyclable, there is good reason for this business to dedicate itself to separating recyclables out as well.

kitchen setup Overall, Andre believes the resort is really going big on sustainability and that our Business Composting Program has enabled them to really have a huge impact without having to invest heavily for an on-site facility to handle food scraps. Mia and Andre are also working on plans to separate food scraps in other areas of the resort, including a summer day school on site!

If you would like to learn more or become a customer of our Business Composting Program, contact Mia Roethlein at 229.9383 x 106.

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National News

GE to Recycle Customer's Water Filters for Free

General Electric Appliances is jumping into Extended Producer Responsibility by offering a free recycling program for those replacing the water filter in their GE refrigerator. According to their spokeperson, GE wants to minimize their environmental impact through this program. 100% of the filters are to be recycled to other uses. Read the full article.

GE filter

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Terracycle and The NorthFace Partner Up

Outdoor products giant The North Face (TNF) is partnering with waste reduction specialist Terracycle to prevent polybags from entering the landfill. Unless you've worked in retail lately, you may not know that nearly all items arrive in the store in individually wrapped plastic packages. These packages are intended to protect the item during shipping and handling, but have a very short useful life and end up creating huge amounts of waste that typically ends up in the landfill or incinerator. There are few markets to recycle these bags, so TNF will use Terracycle as the vehicle to get them to a recycling facility. The program will take place at all 20 of TNF's retail locations in the U.S. Visit Terracycle's website to learn more about this and other recycling programs and keep track of how many tons of polybags are being recycled.

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School Updates

Gwen Lyons-Baker Receives Sustainability Award!

On June 9th, Gwen Lyons-Baker went to Montpelier High School to give an award to the school for Outstanding Student Participation in the School Composting Program. But the MHS EARTH Group had a surprise in store for Gwen; she was presented with the school's 2011 EARTH Group Sustainability Award! The award is given in recognition of "outstanding efforts that have reduced the ecological footprint of our school, and in doing so, have led us closer toward a path of sustainability". Gwen worked closely with MHS this year, including fields trips, a waste audit, and developing their partnership with Twinfield HS to collect bottle caps and chip bags. The award was presented by Sky Baumgardner, EARTH Group President, and Tom Sabo, EARTH Group Advisor. All schools in our district are encouraged to contact Gwen to learn about how they can get students and staff engaged in waste reduction initiatives.

Congratulations Gwen!

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School Compost Program Awards

To celebrate the hard work and dedication of our schools, School Zero Waste Coordinator, Gwen Lyons-Baker, created three different awards to present to schools that have gone above and beyond in their participation in the School Composting Program. Each one of the winning schools was presented with a certificate to hang in their cafeteria. Gwen plans to continue this tradition next year.

Gwen_RoddyCooke

Roddy Cooke (E. Montpelier ES Principal) receives the Outstanding Student Participation Award from Gwen Lyons-Baker

Cleanest Compost:

Tunbridge Central School
Barre City Elementary Middle School
Bradford Elementary School
Spaulding High School

Most Improved Composting Award:

Union Elementary School
Barre Town Element/Middle School

Outstanding Student Participation Award:

Montpelier High School
Spaulding High School
Orange Center School
East Montpelier Elementary School
Woodbury Elementary School
Twinfield Union School

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Union Elementary School Students Chow Down on Lettuce!

diggin in!

Diggin' in!

There was a party in the cafeteria at Union Elementary School on Thursday June 2nd! A pizza and salad party, that is! There were balloons and music and yes... plenty of salad to go around.

But this party was unique. The students were eating the lettuce that they had planted on their field trip to Montpelier High School's Greenhouse at the beginning of May. The kids were thrilled to be eating what they and their friends had planted! We were excited to see the students so eager to eat the fresh, healthy salad with such gusto; many came up for seconds, thirds, and even fourths! The Salad Party tradition, now in its 7th year, is a great way to teach the students about the local food system and about the closed loop they participate in through the CVSWMD School Composting Program. And it's tons of fun, too!

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Locker Clean-Out Day at Oxbow HS

Every year at every school it happens: locker clean-out day.This year, Oxbow High School reached out to CVSWMD for assistance with their "clean-out event". In years past, most of what students pulled from their lockers simply ended up in the trash. The Oxbow Environmental Coalition (OEC) was determined to make this year different. The club's advisor, Wendy MacKenzie made sure that each hallway had a recycling bin, trash can and area for items that could be reused and informed teachers about the sorting stations; they passed it along to the students.

The morning of June 9th was chaotic. The maintenance staff at the school had concerns, based on previous years' experience, that the dumpster would not hold all the trash. They need not have worried!OEC students worked with Gwen, CVSWMD School Zero Waste Coordinator, and made sure that everything that could be recycled was. What the school ended up with was eye-opening: one 55 gallon can of actual trash; an estimated twenty 55 gallons bins full of recycling and four large boxes of notebooks; and many binders and other school supplies that can be reused! The items collected for re-use will be available to returning students in the fall.

This is a great way to make a big impact in your school while teaching students about the simplicity and value of recycling. Let us know if your school would like to hold a similar event next year. Gwen can help you coordinate it!

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Program Updates

Hazardous Waste Collection Season In Full Swing

CVSWMD staff would like to thank all of those who have already attended one of our events for properly disposing of their hazardous, electronic and other wastes! You're awesome! We enjoy these events, meeting our residents and business owners, and getting feedback on our work.

It's important that we work together to prevent hazardous substances from going into the landfill, where they may later leach into our soil and water. Proper disposal of these substances is simply the right thing to do and we're here to help district residents, schools and small businesses accomplish that! So for those of you who haven't yet made it to an event, collect all those items that require special disposal and bring them on down!

Visit our Hazardous Waste Program pages to learn more about what hazardous waste is and how to properly dispose of it. Also, see our 2011 Collections Schedule to find an event near you.

********************************************* Clean Up Your Act Day in Barre

CVSWMD was pleased to partner with Casella Waste Management, the City of Barre, Salvation Army, Magic Wheel, ReSource, and Copy World for the first annual Clean Up Your Act Day. The event was held at the B.O.R. in Barre and was created so that residents of Central VT could bring multiple kinds of waste for proper disposal and/or recycling. CVSWMD collected 3 pallets of books, which will be resold or recycled in Vermont!

Clean Up Your Act Day Ted, Mia and Mike

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Next Special Collection Event

Our next scheduled collection is on July 9th from 9AM - 1PM and we'll be collecting Hazardous Waste and Electronics. The event will be held at the Recycling Depot in Tunbridge. Cost is $15 for most residential car loads. Electronics will be collected for free!

*See the full collection events schedule.

*Business owners: Use our hazardous waste collections and save money! You'll get a better rate than if you contract independently for disposal. Call Mia Roethlein for more: 800.730.9475 x 106.

*Schools: You may bring your hazardous products in as well! Several schools in our district now use only non-toxic cleaning products and our Zero Waste Coordinator can help you figure out how to do the same. Call Gwen Lyons-Baker for more: 800.730.9475 x 111.

*Homeowners & renters: Find a collection event near you and load up the car! Call Mia Roethlein for more: 800.730.9475 x 106.

Please visit our website at www.cvswmd.org to learn more about the how's and why's of proper disposal of hazardous waste materials.

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Reuse Resources in Vermont & Beyond

Giving Cell Phones New Life

Electronic devices entering landfills has become a major issue in every U.S. state, including Vermont, which recently implemented a law banning many such devices from the landfill. Included in these banned devices are cell phones, but there are ways to properly dispose of (visit our website to learn more about disposal options) and even recycle those phones for reuse. The following are some are some online resources to get you started.

Reusing Historic Structures

When we think about the second "R", we don't often think about reuse of historic buildings! But in fact, it's an important part of reducing the overall waste load. According to the Agency of Natural Resources, construction and demolition waste accounts for 20 percent (or 90,000 tons )of the waste that goes into Vermont's landfills.

Smart Growth Vermont, soon to merge with Vermont Natural Resources Council, believes that "for Vermont to grow and thrive we need to carefully integrate growth, environmental protection and economic opportunities into our local planning framework." One aspect of Smart Growth is maximizing use of existing resources, such as housing and commercial infrastructure. The organization makes a case for enacting Adaptive Reuse Provisions that would encourage planners and owners to reuse and maintain structures that might otherwise be deemed unworthy of saving. Visit Smart Growth Vermont to learn more about the subject.

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CVSWMD Notes

Soilsaver Classic Composters are selling fast!

We only have about 40 of these left! Those who have purchased them have commented that the quality is high and the price is very reasonable, so stop by our office to check them out.

These are for sale to in-district residents for the ultra-low price of $47. You can visit our website to learn more about these long-lasting composters.

Soilsaver Classic

Green Cones for Sale at the District Office We love these things! They're a great way to keep food scraps, including bones and meats, out of the landfill. To purchase a Green Cone, email Gwen Lyons-Baker or call the office (802.229.9383 ext.111).

cones and bin

PLEASE NOTE: We have 17 Green Cones left for sale at the old price of $72.50 (including VT sales tax) which can be paid for with cash or a check; receipts are available. Once these are gone, Green Cones will cost $99! Stock up now!!
Pickup is at CVSWMD at 137 Barre Street, Montpelier. Please be sure you speak with Gwen prior to stopping by to pick up a cone.

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Town Representatives Needed!

We still need Board Representatives from the following member towns: Plainfield, Tunbridge, Washington, and Williamstown. If you or someone you know would be interested in helping guide the organization's work, let us know!

Please contact us at 802.229.9383 or at administration@cvswmd.org for more information.

Community Member Needed for Commitee

We are looking for a community member to join our Lawrence Walbridge Reuse Grants Committee. If you are interested or want to learn more, please contact Gwen Lyons-Baker at 802.229.9383 ext. 111

Contact Us

Central Vermont Solid Waste

Management District (CVSWMD)

137 Barre Street

Montpelier, VT 05602-3618

Staff Photo