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Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary May 8, 2017 Solid Waste Management Administration Building, Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill Present: Lynne Gronback (Chair), Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), May Becker, Jeremy Marzuola, Jeanette O'Connor, Alan Parry, Sheila Thomas-Ambat, Marshall Gray, Matt Crook, Bill Newby Absent: Lydia Wegman, Rebecca Ray, Peter Cada, Alex Nicodem Staff: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma I. Call to Order Chair Gronback called the meeting to order at 7:31. II. Additions or Changes to Agenda Introduction of Kim Livingston the new County Land Resources Coordinator III. Approval of Draft Minutes from April 10, 2017. Bill Kaiser motioned to approve the minutes as written. Marshall Gray seconded. Minutes were approved unanimously. IV. Guest Presentation – Kim Piracci of The North Carolina Climate Solutions Coalition (NCCSC) will present information concerning the resolution they are asking the Orange County Commissioners to consider including a commitment to be fossil fuel free by 2050. (Attachments 2, 3, and 4) The proposed resolution is based on Stanford Professor Marc Jacobson’s published work. Kim had a conversation with Commissioner Renee Price. Comm. Price recommended that Kim present to the CFE and then the CFE could put it forward to the Commissioners if they approve. Kim clarified that as long as no new fossil fuel generation sources are built, all existing sources would have outlived their useful life by the target date. She also clarified that this would be a non-binding resolution, and that 2050 is a long time, given the rapid rate of change in energy technologies and energy markets. The CFE agreed to review the documents and put it on their agenda next month for a vote. V. Orange County Recycling Programs - Orange County Recycling Programs Manager Allison Lohrenz presented information concerning recycling efforts, including composting, in Orange County. Orange County Solid Waste has met its aggressive per capita waste reduction goal for FY 15Ǧ16 of 62% overall, meaning that the waste landfilled per capita was 0.52 tons per person last year compared to 1.36 tons/capita per person in base year 1991. This surpassed for the third year in a row, our goal set in 1997 of 61% reduction. The County’s composting efforts were a significant part of this reduction since they divert some of the heaviest and hardest-to-process material from the waste stream. This residential program assists homeowners in composting at home through selling compost bins and training residents in their use. Residential food waste can also be dropped off at several locations. The commercial composting program includes free pickup from more than 10 businesses around the County by the County’s composting contractor, Brooks. The material is then composted at their facility and a portion is sold back to the County and then to residents for productive use.