Spring 2013 CVSWMD News

Quarterly Newsletter

Spring 2013

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ARCC

Municipal Assistance Grants

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Who We Are

Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District is a union municipality committed to helping its 18 member communities work toward Zero Waste.

We are

Zero Waste CentralTM.

We are Zero Waste Central!

You are Invited ...

... to join our Board! If you hail from Plainfield, Tunbridge, Walden or Washington, we invite you to look into filling these vacancies on our Board of Supervisors. Board members must be appointed by your town Select Board.

Compost, Compost, Compost!

Imagine 701 VW Bugs. That's about the volume of food scraps our 24 district schools have diverted since CVSWMD began working with them in 2004. School Program Manager Gwen Lyons reports that schools have composted a total of 701 tons of food scraps in the past 9 years. That's over 1.4 million pounds of organic matter returned to Vermont's soils in the form of compost, rather than taking up space and releasing methane in a landfill.

Our Business Organics Program helps over 100 schools and businesses to compost. We have expanded the program to help businesses get on board with Act 148, which calls for phased in mandatory recycling and organics diversion by 2020. Some larger generators of food scraps will be required to divert by 2014 - in 9 months. CVSWMD has been working to help prepare our community for this by offering our business organics program to more restaurants, and providing the training, equipment and signage needed to make composting a successful endeavor. We encourage diners to ask their favorite restaurants if they compost, and if not, give them our phone number: 229-9383 x106.

We will be finishing up the Hardwick Residential Composting Pilot this summer. The Pilot has taught us a lot about how to collect organics from residents. We have provided two drop-off points and a compost monitor for 71 participating households. Our compost monitor, Carol Schminke, will be returning to her gardening business on April 30, but we will continue the pilot without a monitor, and plan to continue the service if our budget allows it. In Montpelier, food scrap collections remain at DJ's Convenience Store on River Street Wednesdays and Saturdays, and at the CVSWMD Additional Recyclables Collection Center in Barre, 12:30 - 5:30 Mondays and Fridays.

Household Collections 2013 Schedule

Our 2013 season is underway! Here is the current schedule: Click here for more details.

All Collections 9 am - 1 pm unless otherwise noted
$15 per carload for district residents
Businesses must preregister by calling 229-9383 x.106

May 3 (Fri.) Hazardous Waste/Rover in Calais/5 - 7 pm*

May 4 Hazardous Waste / Barre Town / Town Garage

June 20 (Thu) Hazardous Waste / Rover* in Fairlee / 5 - 7 pm*

June 21 (Fri) Hazardous Waste / Williamstown /Old Landfill

Aug. 24 Haz. Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles / Hardwick / Town Garage

Sept. 7 Haz. Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles/ Tunbridge / Transfer Station

Sept. 14 Hazardous Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles/Bradford/Town Garage

Oct. 12 Hazardous Waste / Montpelier / Dept. of Labor Parking Lot

*Participants of this Collection must preregister by phone, and only material from households is permitted. There is a limited capacity for this collection, so please register as soon as you are able.

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Did You Know?

Recycling Aluminum takes 95% less energy than making it from virgin materials.

School Updates

The School Zero Waste Team has enjoyed working in all 24 public schools in the district this year. By teaching over 120 lessons and empowering Green Teams to make a difference, the following has been possible:

completion of a district-wide School Sustainability Study
waste audits in many schools
disposable dishware removed from most cafeterias
compostable napkins introduced in many elementary schools
promotion and creation of reuse art projects
tabling events about recycling held in all high schools
recycling bin next to every trash can in each school
increased educational recycling signage
partnership with the Highfields Center for Composting for field trips and compost education
school wide recycling education assembly planning
launch of the 3rd Annual Poetry contest
maintenance education and assistance with recycling and hazardous waste
creation of two new Green Teams in high schools

We are currently scheduling spring waste audits and end-of-year locker clean-outs, which emphasize reuse and recycling. School program staff are increasing efforts in schools in the lower ranking of the sustainability study, assisting them with their waste reduction goals through education and Green Team creation and empowerment.

For more information, or to be added to the School Zero Waste Newsletter, please contact Gwen Lyons, School Program Manager at schoolmanager@cvswmd.org, (802)229.9383 X111 or Amanda Garland, School Zero Waste Coordinator, at amandag@cvswmd.org, (802)229.9383 X103

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CVSWMD Notes

Spring Cleaning? Check Out the ARCC.

We accept batteries of all types at the ARCC

Before you start throwing things out, check out the list of what we accept for reuse and recycling at our Additional Recyclables Collection Center (ARCC) at 3 Williams Lane, Barre. We take everything from bottle caps to propane tanks, from batteries to cereal bags, cell phones, textiles, tires, latex paint, and more ... The list is long and varied, so check it twice.

Sort your items into a bin (or cereal bags!) and drop it off any Monday or Friday, 12:30 - 5:30 pm. Click here for the complete list and directions. There is a $1.00 fee per visit; and $2.50 per tire or $3.00 per tire if it's on a rim. Call 229-9383 for more info, or email our Program Manager with any questions.

Montpelier's Independence Day Festival: Moving Toward Zero Waste!

We are excited to be working with Montpelier Alive! and the city's July 3 planning committee to help them move toward Zero Waste for Montpelier's annual July 3 celebration. This year the event will feature two staffed Zero Waste stations featuring compost, recycling, and ARCC collections. Vendors will be primed to reduce disposable containers or opt for recyclables, and the concept of Zero Waste will be promoted as part of the event's publicity. Over 20,000 people attend this celebration every year, so it's a great chance to spread the word about how simple it is to go Zero Waste. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the date.

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Legislative Update

H.262 - The Paint Bill

CVSWMD supports passage of H.262, which is product stewardship legislation brought to us by the paint industry itself. Vermont stands to benefit from $600,000 annually on the collection and management of roughly 160,000 gallons of leftover paint every year. H.262 would reduce the role of government in paint collection and recycling and lower cost to residents when they dispose of their own paint.

Benefits of paint stewardship legislation in Vermont:

Reduced government cost.
Increase paint recycling by increasing the number of pain collections around the state
Green sector jobs - Potential for expansion of paint recycling industry in Vermont.
Less disposal, more recycling - More paint will be diverted from landfills and be reused and recycled, which helps the state reach its recycling goal (and fits right in with CVSWMD's goal of moving toward Zero Waste).
Less waste - The industry will educate the public to buy the right amount of paint for a job and reduce waste.

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Chrissy Bellmyer: the new Municipal Assistance Grant Coordinator

Municipal Assistance Grants

CVSWMD has created a new Municipal Assistance Grant program, which awards up to $3,000 to help municipalities reduce waste. Examples of grants awarded are: The town of Orange received a grant for organizing a bulky trash pick up for residents; the town of Middlesex received a grant to help fund the clean up and proper disposal of an old dump site containing an estimated 1,500 tires.

Our former School Program Intern has been hired as the Municipal Assistance Grant Coordinator; her responsibilities include outreach, promotion, recommendation and reporting.

Click here to see the MAG guidelines and application, or call 229-9383 x109 or email Chrissy. The grant will be available until May 1, or until funding runs out.

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