Last 2013 Haz Waste Collection, Recycling Survey, and More

Quarterly Newsletter

Fall 2013

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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!

Recycling Survey

Please take our 1 minute Recycling Survey to help us determine the best ways we can educate our community about recycling. Please share the link with your friends when finished. This is a first step toward our educational ad campaign that will focus on recycling in Central Vermont, funded in part by a grant from the Curbside Value Partnership. Keep an eye (and an ear) out for our messages about how - and why - to recycle in our region.

Click here to take the survey!

Did You Know?

The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year. You can change that number dramatically just by recycling and composting.

CVSWMD Board vacancies: Tunbridge and Washington

Interested parties must be appointed by the town Select Board. Someone in your town already serving? That's okay - we also need Alternates.

Last Hazardous Waste Collection of 2013

Our last Hazardous Waste Collection for 2013 will be held in Montpelier at the Dept. of Labor Parking Lot (5 Green Mountain Way) on Saturday, October 12, 9 am - 1 p.m. Fee is $15 per vehicle for District residents. Businesses must pre-register by calling 802-229-9383 ext. 105.

This is by far our largest collection of the year, so please follow the tips below:

1) Follow our guidelines for what is hazardous waste or call our offices with questions at 229-9383 ext. 105.

2) Each carload costs $15 for in district residents (more for out of district) - so make the most of your money, gas and time by joining with friends, neighbors or family to share loads. CVSWMD encourages this kind of car-sharing and the fee remains the same no matter how many households are represented per car.

3) Consider that this is a large collection and so the lines will be long. Therefore, help us reduce the number of cars in line by sharing a load with neighbors.

4) Bring reading material and a snack, because there will likely be a wait ranging from 15 - 45 minutes when you arrive.

5) Consider arriving in the middle of the event rather than at the beginning, when lines are longest. Come around 11 am or noon for shorter lines.

6) We take both oil and latex paint at hazardous waste collections, but you can also bring LIQUID LATEX PAINTto our Additional Recyclables Collection Center on any Monday or Friday afternoon for just $1.00 per carload. Do bring us your oil paint, paint thinners and other household hazardous materials - but if you are able to save the latex paint to bring to Barre, that, too, may save time and money for residents.

District residents are from the following towns:

Barre City, Barre Town, Berlin, Bradford, Calais, Chelsea, East Montpelier, Fairlee, Hardwick, Middlesex, Montpelier, Orange, Plainfield, Tunbridge, Walden, Washington, Williamstown, and Woodbury.

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School Notes

Berlin Elementary School

With garden construction nearly complete, students will work with CVSWMD in partnership with Cindy Gauthier and maintenance staff to create a three bin compost system to be used as an educational resource and for the school garden. In the cafeteria CVSWMD staff is working on a food waste reduction program where students join the "Clean Plate Club" in an effort to lower food scrap waste from the current 10 pounds per student per month.

Hazen Union School, Hardwick

Science teacher Jay Modry will be leading students to study on-site composting as they divert their food scraps from the school cafeteria to a windrow by the greenhouse. Students will monitor and tend to the pile throughout the school year with assistance and educational resources from CVSWMD staff.

Main Street Middle School, Montpelier

MSMS is starting out the school year plastic water bottle free! Students on the Team Summit Green Team worked hard last year to educate the school community about plastic water bottle use, recycling and waste reduction. They were seeing many students buying bottled water and not recycling the empty bottles when done. Members of the Green Team researched the cost of reusable water bottles and wrote a grant to purchase enough for every student in the school to have one.

Pam Arnold, Principal at MSMS said: "It has been incredibly awesome to watch the dedication, commitment, and follow-through of Team Summit students over the past several years as they have worked with teachers and local experts regarding the importance of reducing and recycling in our school...this team of students learned through hard work what it takes to make such a change. "

Washington Village School, Washington

Students at WVS have very little to throw away in the cafeteria this year. The school has continued to support waste reduction through education and action. The cafeteria switched to compostable napkins and recyclable milk bottles at the end of the school year last year. Starting on the first day of school students and teachers began collecting the caps from the milk bottles to recycle with CVSWMD. With the cafeteria already using reusable silverware and trays, there is little left to go into the trash can. School Program Manager Gwen Lyons met with faculty before the start of school to share ways to reduce waste. She looks forward to working on agreed initiatives throughout the school year.

Public Hearings

CVSWMD will be holding two back-to-back public hearings on Friday, November 1 at 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. at Central VT Chamber of Commerce, Paine Turnpike., Berlin

The first hearing will be held at 4:00 - 4:45 p.m., in which we welcome public comment on the District's preliminary fiscal year 2015 budget and the member community per capita assessment for FY15. Additional time will be provided if needed.

The second hearing will be held at 4:45 p.m. to hear comments on changes to Ordinance #94-01, which broadens the definition of disposal to include: "1) The incineration of any solid waste other than clean wood for fuel; 2) delivery of solid waste to a gasification or plasma arc conversion facility 3) the placement of any solid waste in a landfill; or 4) the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any group of surface waters." The changes to this ordinance will also clarify that the solid waste management fee "is imposed on all solid waste collected or generated in the District including but not limited to solid waste that is collected for disposal and solid waste used as landfill daily cover within or without the District." The revised ordinance also provides for a process for hearing should the District levy civil penalties for ordinance violation.

Both the preliminary FY15 budget and the draft-revised ordinance will be available for review on October 1. Please call 802-229-9383 ext 101 for a copy.

Fall 2013 Zero Hero: Thomas Moore

By the very nature of his business - T&T Repeats, a thrift store in downtown Montpelier --Thomas Moore helps reduce Central Vermont's impact on the landfill. But Moore goes above and beyond. Clothing he can't sell gets donated to the Trinity Methodist Church thrift store across the street. He donates items such as microwaves, a weed whacker and other tools to various non-profit organizations in the area; and he leaves a free box outside, which gets heavy use by many of the homeless people in the area.

"Lots of people come by who have nothing," Moore said, gesturing to a pile of shirts he recently added to the box.

Moore operates a truck-for-hire, which often gets used to help people clean out their garages or homes. But he also will trade goods for services. Moore has turned T&T Repeats into a great option for people who want to downsize their possessions, and in the process, nothing gets wasted.

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