Minutes 10-14-2014 Early Comm. for Environment

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good opportunity to address the non-profit affordable housing entities in the County and lobby for the next generation of energy efficiency. Commissioner Price asked if Solarize Orange County is modeled after the program in Durham. David Neal said it is a little different, and the Durham program was a neighbor to neighbor program for implementing energy efficiencies in the home. Commissioner Price said this was a good program where neighbors were helping each other, and experts were doing audits of the homes. 5. Solid Waste Issues • CFE Interest in the Direction the County Will Go In Handling Solid Waste; Support of the `New Solid Waste Advisory Group (SWAG) Jan Sassaman said when the Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB) phased out a couple of years ago, a lot of the solid waste issues came before the CfE, and the group began to make some recommendations. He said at this point, given the changes that have happened and the formation of the Solid Waste Advisory Group (SWAG), the CfE has an interest in understanding what the Board is thinking and how the CfE can assist them. He suggested that a couple of the Commissioners could attend the next CfE meeting to discuss this. Chair Jacobs suggested that Commissioner Rich could give an update on where the SWAG stands. Commissioner Rich said the group has met several times, and they are still working on an interlocal agreement. She said other issues will be prioritized after the interlocal agreement is completed. She said it has been a very detailed process, and there will be some discussion of finances at the next meeting. She said UNC and UNC Hospitals are at the table and seem interested in partnering with them. Chair Jacobs noted that a report will be given at the Assembly of Governments meeting on November 14tn • CFE Interest in Diverting More Food Waste from the Solid Waste Stream Through Composting (Attachment 5) May Becker said the CfE Air and Energy Committee has put together a resolution regarding diversion of solid waste food waste from the landfill, and they would like the Board of County Commissioners to consider adopting this. She said the resolution specifically addresses commercial food waste. She asked the Board of County Commissioners to ask the solid waste department to expand their commercial collection of organic food waste. She said a lot of the waste is being trucked away, but a lot of the material is organic and can be re-used and treated so that it does not occupy more space. She said this organic waste could be taken away from landfill and be composted. She said there has not been a lot of controversy around this, and she asked the Board to adopt this resolution. Chair Jacobs said once the County gets past the recycling program discussion there is an interest in discussing this in their work group. He said this is one of the low lying fruits in solid waste, and he hopes the advisory group will tackle this. He said it is a breakthrough to have the university partners at the table. Commissioner Price said this gets back to the issue of education and awareness. She said many commercial establishments are already using vendors to collect their food waste, and this needs to be publicized more. She said this might make other farmers more interested in moving this along.