HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes Sustainability Jan 20_2011
St. Lucie County Sustainability Advisory Committee
January 20, 2011 Meeting Minutes
Present: Eric Winterstein, Bob Cenk, Leon Camarda, Amy Brunjes, Marty Laven, Tod Mowery, Linda Bartz
Staff and Guests: Sandra Bogan (ERD); Nancy Flickinger (FPL), Marc Myers (Ft. Pierce); Ron LeClair (Cold-Plus), Michelle Noble
(Waste Pro) Nichole Rouse (TC Re-Use Center), Jeff Sabin (Waste Management), Teri Westerman (Waste Management), John Daly
(Innovative Energy Products)
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The meeting was called to order by the Chairman at 1:40 pm
MOTION TO APPROVE minutes from the August 25, 2010 meeting made by Linda Bartz, seconded by Bob Cenk, passed
unanimously.
New Members Marty Laven and Commissioner Tod Mowery introduced themselves to the group. The Chairman asked each committee
member and guest to introduce themselves as well.
The Chairman asked Sandra Bogan to review the list of accomplishments that the committee achieved to date. She also reviewed the
three priorities that committee has set for itself: Energy conservation and education, Clean Energy and Green Economics, and Waste
Management.
The Committee continued its discussion on sustainable waste management by reviewing some of the strategies they have talked about
so far, with the goal of reducing/diverting 75% of waste from the landfill, as indicated in the St. Lucie County adopted Greenprint. Some
strategies discussed included:
Consumption-based rating: In order to increase participation by residents and businesses. Similar to other utilities, customers pay for
the amount of trash they produce on a monthly basis (not hidden on their tax bill); for example: customers would pay more per pound
for regular trash, significantly reduced amount for recyclables, and 0 for things they pass onto others for repair, resale, etc.
Eco-Industrial Parks: identify a site to create a business park that would receive items for re-purposing such as broken lawn mowers,
exercise machines, etc. Businesses would be set up that would fix items and sell, turn items into artwork, re-sell items etc. The Eco-
Industrial Park would include composting, and would bring companies together where one’s byproduct could be used by another.
Waste Management and Waste Pro representatives gave the committee a lot of good information and insight into the business of trash
and also discussed successful programs implemented in other cities/counties, For example:
Recycle Bank – Waste Management has program in Hollywood Florida. Essentially, participants receive ‘bucks’ for the amount of
recycling they contribute. The bucks can be used at participating businesses, for ex: Home Depot, Walmart, etc.
Single Stream Recycling – System where all recycling is put in one container, not separating paper/textiles from glass, aluminum and
plastic. This increases participation significantly.
Commercial Recycling is an untapped market. Consumption-based rating system would increase commercial participation without
government making it mandatory.
Marc Meyers suggested that Fort Pierce or the County could look at the TC Education and Research Park for placement of an Eco-
Industrial Park.
Mr. Meyers also brought up a proposal that the Fort Pierce Green Team has been discussing – hosting a Green Show at the Fenn
Center for public outreach. The idea would be to create a green showroom with numerous green vendors who have products or
information they want to share, such as solar/pv, cisterns, FPL and FPUA, landscape ponds, energy-efficient cars, etc. He’s looking for
people who would be interested in serving on a steering committee. Sandy pointed out that the County hosted the Green Conference in
2007 and 2008, and that USGBC and FGBC were excellent partners and would probably be interested. Bob Cenk said he could bring it
to those committees as well as TCBA.
MEETING ADJOURNED at 3:20, motion by Leon Camarda, seconded by Bob Cenk, passed unanimously.