LICTON SPRINGS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of Community Meeting, March 18, 2009,
NSCC Green Room

Directors Present: Jerry Owens, Kay Mesirow, Tom Meyer, and Ellen Beck.

Visitors: Carolyn Johnson (Seattle Public Utilities, Residential Liaison), Carlos Sanabria, and Robin McCain.

Vice President Jerry Owens called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. and we had introductions around the table.

Minutes: The February 18, 2009 minutes were approved as presented.

NEW BUSINESS:

Neighborhood Recycling Changes. Carolyn Johnson, who is a residential liaison with Seattle Public Utilities, told us about the better recycling coming to us beginning March 30th. For 60% of households, their collection day will change. We will be informed what our collection day is, and for some of us, our collection day will remain the same.

Food and yard waste will be picked up every week! Plus, more food waste will be able to be put into the Yard Waste/Food Waste container including: bones and shells, meat, dairy and cheese, coffee grounds and filters, pasta, bread, grains and rice, tea bags, compostable bags, paper bags, uncoated paper plates, shredded paper, paper towels and napkins, and even greasy pizza boxes! Yard Waste/Food Waste should contain no plastic, metal, glass or garbage.

Cedar Grove is the City’s composter and they have advanced methods to break down the new food items allowable in our Yard Waste/Food Waste container and making it into compost!

Recycling now can include glass bottles and jars mixed in with the paper items normally recycled, plus we now can recycle aluminum foil, scrap metal (less than 2’ x 2’ x 2’) and lids wider than 3 inches, plastic plant pots, plastic trays, cups, containers, and pill bottles (although no prescription vials). Recyclables need to be clean, empty, and dry.

You can have no recycling or yard waste in your garbage, but you can also now have paint cans that are dry and empty, empty toxic materials containers, and kitchen fats, oil and grease, if in a secure container.

Used motor oil will be picked up free, if in a one-gallon plastic milk jug with screw-on lid and put next to your recycling cart. There is a limit of two jugs per collection and there is no charge and no advance phone call is required.

TVs, computers, electronics can be left with your garbage if you schedule this in advance. They will even pick up bulky items like stoves and refrigerators! The cost for having a stove picked up is $30.00, while a refrigerator, which contains CF’s, is $38.00.

Seattle is a national leader in recycling. The goal is to get our recycling up to 60%. Last year 45 tons of yard waste was made into compost that was then used in local parks and gardens.

Cleanscapes replaced Rabanco on January 1st as the recycling facility used by the City.

Carolyn gave us all compostable bags that can be used to store food waste in the refrigerator, and put into the Yard Waste/Food Waste container. Only compostable bags can be used, i.e. EcoSafe, Al-Pack, and BioBag or BioSack. She urged us to go to the SPU website for complete information.

With these recycling and yard waste/food waste changes, our rates will increase. However, because yard waste/food waste will be picked up every week, we can downsize our container, and reduce our costs! There are many sizes of containers available.

Carolyn was asked if the City had counter containers available to store recyclable food wastes. She said that the City did not, but she believed that the County did. She told us to check online with Solid Waste Services.

OLD BUSINESS:

Sidewalks on 100th. Robin McCain told us she has applied for a grant to continue the sidewalks on 100th. There is already a design plan in place, and that is favorable when applying for a sidewalk grant. The project is “shovel ready.” Good luck, Robin!

Upcoming Meetings. Tom Meyer reported contacting DPD about someone coming to speak to us about code changes. This could be for our April or May meeting. Tom will keep us posted.

Northwest District. Jerry said that the District will be determining which projects to endorse funding. He said they try to be fair and spread the money around. Robin will be at the upcoming meeting with her sidewalk project.

P-Patch. Kay Mesirow spoke about the struggles to get a P-Patch going in the neighborhood. This hasn’t turned out to be as easy as it was first thought to be.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen M. Beck, Secretary