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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 3/15/2011 r City of Glendale GLENLIE Council Sustainability Committee Minutes March 15, 2011 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Conference Room B-2 Council Sustainability Committee Members: Present were Councilmember/Chairperson Yvonne Knaack (Barrel District), Vice Mayor Steve Frate (Sahuaro District) City Staff Members: Larry Broyles, Marilyn Clark, Jon Froke, Cathy Gorham, Stuart Kent, Doug Kukino, Kerri Logan, Bob Manginell, Deborah Mazoyer, Jo Miller, Nancy Schwab, Bill Schwind, J.B. Shaw, Pam Wertz I. Approval of Minutes Chairperson Knaack called for a motion to approve the minutes for the January 18, 2011 Council Sustainability meeting. Vice Mayor Frate made a motion to approve. The motion was seconded by Councilmember/Chairperson Knaack. The minutes from the January 18, 2011 Council Sustainability Committee meeting were approved as written. II. New Youth Programs - Recycling and Energy Youth Recycling Programs As an introduction to the presentation on youth recycling, Bill Schwind, Parks and Recreation Interim Director showed the Committee a colorful drop-box that is used in the Parks Recycle Bag Program. The containers are placed in various city buildings to collect empty/recycled plastic grocery bags, which are then dispensed at city parks for picking up dog waste. Mr. Schwind also treated the Committee members to samples of the Capri Sun drinks that the children are collecting in the after school programs. The Recycling Programs portion of the presentation was presented by J.B. Shaw, Parks & Recreation Programmer. March 15, 2011 Minutes Council Sustainability Meeting Page 2 The G.R.E.E.N. Crusaders Recycling Program What is now called The G.R.E.E.N. Crusaders Recycling Program, evolved into Glendale Recreation's Environmental Education in Nature. The program began with the recycling of printer ink cartridges through a partnership developed with Cartridge World. Students from Kachina Elementary and Sahuaro Ranch Elementary schools collected empty printer ink cartridges from families and friends. The recycling program went from collecting cans as a fundraiser for after school programs, to collecting recyclable items such as toilet paper rolls and egg cartons for making crafts. These items were also collected by the students, their families, and friends. Annual Recycling Contest Last year, Parks and Recreation started the first annual recycling contest with participation from all twelve of the after school program sites. Through this effort, the Parks and Recreation Department was able to secure two green businesses that donated money for purchasing a Band Hero Video Game as the contest prize. The recycling contest was a big hit. It ended on Earth Day with a fun project where the students created a picture of the earth out of old crayon shavings. The students raised seven hundred dollars for the Youth and Teen Division. The success from this contest led the way to further transactions with Cartridge World. It was also the start of a budget analysis of expenditures on ink cartridges in the Parks and Recreation Department. The analysis revealed that if ink cartridges were purchased through Cartridge World rather than Office Depot, the department would be able to realize approximately $1,500 a year in savings. To date, Parks and Recreation is more than half way through their second annual recycling contest. TerraCycle - New Recyclable Items Through watching the hit TV, show "Garbage Moguls" on the National Geographic Channel, staff learned about a company called Terracycle located out of New Jersey. Terracycle began by worm composting and bottling the fertilizer in recycled plastic bottles. Since then, the company began offering collection programs (many of them free) to collect waste and then convert the waste into a wide range of products and materials. Terracycle eventually teamed up with commercial businesses to offer non- profits, charities, and schools the opportunity to raise money through the recycling of trash. Most of the programs offer free shipping as well as a donation for each piece of waste collected. Terracycle's programs created new ways to raise additional money for the Youth and Teen Division. Some the items currently recycled are drink pouches, candy wrappers, cookie wrappers, chip bags, tape dispenser cores, and energy protein bars wrappers. Building Today's Youth The children participating in these programs are the backbone of the operation; they are our little worker bees. They are taught to carefully sort, load, and package the recycled trash to be shipped. Some of the students are now bringing items from home and asking their families to help out with the collection of their "valuable" trash. Some parents started soliciting the help of their co-workers in collecting the items needed. All twelve after school sites are collecting trash with each school turning over what they have collected to J.B. Shaw. March 15, 2011 Minutes Council Sustainability Meeting Page 3 The first shipment of trash yielded forty-six dollars and twelve cents. The cost to the city - zero dollars. Teaching our youth how to save the environment - Priceless! To date, the Youth and Teen Division have sent five or six shipments, and are anxiously waiting for Terracycle to update the numbers. The program has currently raised a little over a hundred dollars with ten boxes still to be counted. School Partnership In mid January, the Youth and Teen Division Program received help from the National Junior Honor Society who was also participating in the Terracycle program. The National Junior Honor Society made a decision to drop out of the program because they did not have the time or resources to devote to getting the program off the ground. The Society not only turned over 1,000 Capri Suns wrappers to the students, they also turned over their spot in the cafeteria for the collection of the wrappers. As a result of the students spreading the word about this program, many of the teachers joined the campaign and began collecting items for this cause. Green Crafts The recycling of cans, ink cartridges, and items collected for Terracycle, together with the green craft projects have contributed to the reduction of trash that is now being thrown away. School trash containers are being changed twice a week, where before they were being changed on a daily basis. Programs like these helped teach students how many of the items that are tossed in the landfills can be reused, and as an added bonus, it can also save money. The Youth and Teen Division Program began a partnership with the teachers at Sahuaro Ranch Elementary to create green crafts from some of the trash they collected. One of items they made was a corncob, which was made out of paper towel rolls, used bubble wrap, and tissue paper. Another creation was a seal made out of water bottles, old socks, and pom-poms, and yet another was a holiday wreath made from recycled telephone pages. One of the crafts the students created started out as a milk carton turkey for Thanksgiving, which eventually led to a fundraiser contest for families in need during the holiday season. The students heard that Channel 3 News and the Salvation Army was sponsoring the "Big Guy Turkey Drive" and wanted to get involved. They decided to turn the milk carton turkeys into donation containers for money they collected to purchase turkeys. The students took it a step further, and started a campaign to get other classes involved, and in no time, every class at Sahuaro Ranch Elementary was participating in the fundraiser. The students ended up making thirty turkey banks, one for each class. It was decided that the class that raised the most money would be rewarded with a pizza party. The pizza party was made possible through the generous donations from Sardellas and Hungry Howies Pizza. The students also took part in counting the money they collected for the fundraiser. The total raised for this event was five hundred and fifty dollars. Eleven students, each one carrying a donated turkey, attended the benefit. March 15, 2011 Minutes Council Sustainability Meeting Page 4 From this experience, the children learned new ways of recycling milk cartons, seeing firsthand all the hard work that goes into a charity event, and most significantly, the importance of helping needy families in their community. The Future - Saving the Planet - One Family at a Time The creation of The Green Crusaders came about in a meeting with J.B. Shaw, Deanna Ortiz, current Parks and Recreation Manager, and Raul Daniels, former Parks and Recreation Manager. The Green Crusaders, Recycle Mycle, and Plastic Mastic were created as a result of that meeting. The task to develop a sign, which signifies The Green Crusader characters, was given to one of Parks helpful partners, GaryHillery, of The Green Path Company. Gary skillfully illustrated the idea below. pt x : I ', ti t The next step in this endeavor is to take these characters and develop them into "Glendale Recreation's Environmental Education in Nature" the G.R.E.E.N. Crusaders Recycling Program. The Recycle Mycle character has developed over the past few years through the program's recycling efforts, and now it's time to introduce Hydro Hannah and the Kilowatt Kid who were created to cover the water and energy conservation aspects of sustainability. Parks and Recreation will be working closely with Water Conservation staff and Nancy Schwab, Energy Education Specialist, on the Energy Conservation side to utilize their amazing ideas for fun programs to educate the students about the importance of saving the planet. Energy Programs As a preface to the Energy presentation, Jo Miller, Environmental Development Manager, discussed the theory behind using a community based social marketing methodology for programs such as the Water Watchers and the Watt Watchers energy education programs. The financing for the Watt Watchers programs and the part-time position of Energy Education Specialist are funded through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. Ms. Miller introduced Nancy Schwab, the new Energy Education Specialist, who presented this portion of the presentation. March 15, 2011 Minutes Council Sustainability Meeting Page 5 The Energy Education Program offers three types of programs, the Green Living Classes, the Watt Watchers Program, and a Teacher Training Program/Partnership Program. The Green Living Classes rolled out in September of 2010. So far, the classes have been very successful. They are free to the public; the classes are hands on, and very informative. Glendale residents who successfully complete the energy class receive free energy saving devices such as energy efficient showerheads, programmable thermostats, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. These items are funded through the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant. With the help from Community Partners, Green Living Classes were held at the Glendale Public Library Auditorium, on February 5, 2011, and February 26, 2011. Another class is planned for March 26, 2011, which will take place at the Annual Green Festival. It is hopeful that due to the success of these classes, future Green Living Classes will be offered again in the spring and fall. The Watt Watchers Program is available to public, private, and charter schools at the 6th grade level located within the City of Glendale. Teachers can sign up for the "Energy Conservation at Home" interactive Discovery Station. Part of the discovery station includes a model house that is used to educate students on how to save energy in their own homes. The energy curriculum and materials used in the Watt Watchers Program are aligned to the Arizona Academic Standards. This method of teaching will prepare students for the AIMS tests, which are geared to these standards. Teachers receive free materials for their classrooms, such as the kilowatt monitor, and students get to take home free energy saving devices. The Teacher Training Program Partnership Program joined forces with Salt River Project to co-sponsor a training program titled, "Turning Kids On to Energy" for west valley science teachers on November 6, 2010. This program has been very successful and has received very good feedback. In addition to Salt River Project, the city has also established partnerships with Arizona Public Service and a variety of community partners. Joint efforts with the Community Services Department on coordinating focus groups for residents are also being established. As Ms. Miller mentioned earlier, the city is using focus groups and community surveys to evaluate these energy education programs. By doing this, the city can determine the wants and needs of homeowners and teachers to increase their leverage of grant resources. The city is also sharing the results from the programs, and information on what they have discovered from the focus groups. This has been performed at a regional level, and as such, other cities within the valley are looking to Glendale for information to implement programs of their own. One of the provisions of the grant is that participants in the program attain specific green house gas reduction goals. One of goals is the distribution of 6,300 energy conserving devices, which is estimated to reduce more than 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Another goal is to reach approximately 2,400 city families through the Youth Take Home Energy Audit. March 15, 2011 Minutes Council Sustainability Meeting Page 6 The Committee commented on how much they enjoyed the presentations and thanked staff for their time and effort. It was a fun presentation enjoyed by all. Both topics were for informational purposes, and no action was required on the part of staff. Ill. Sustainability Topics Presentation Schedule for 2011 Staff presented the Committee with a schedule of sustainability topics for the months of March to July for their consideration and approval. The Committee reviewed and approved the list of topics without any changes. IV. Staff Updates Jo Miller, Environmental Program Manager gave an update on the Tree & Shade Canopy Summit and the 2011 Green Festival. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:26 a.m. NEXT MEETING: April 19, 2011 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Conference Room B-2 TOPIC: Green Habitat Homes I Sustainable Homes Respectfully Submitted, -121 • Marilyn Clark, 'ecording Secretary