Kane County Energy and Environmental Committee met April 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. Call To Order
Madam Chair Bates called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM.
PRESENT Board Member Mavis Bates
Board Member Chris Kious
Board Member Bill Roth
REMOTE Board Member Bill Tarver
Board Member Cherryl Strathmann
Board Member David Young
ABSENT Ex-Officio County Board Chair Corinne M. Pierog
Ex-Officio County Board Vice Chair Vern Tepe
AWAY Board Member Deborah Allan
Also present: Bd. Members Daugherty*, Gumz*, Juby*, Lewis & Molina*; Dir. of Env. & Wtr. Res. Wollnik; Rec. Res. Coord. Ryan; Res. Mgmt. Coord. Klee; Sp. ASA Shepro*; WIA Fiscal Mgr. Gonzales*; and ITD staff Cash & Tierney.
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of Minutes: February 17, 2023 & March 17, 2023
RESULT: APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT
MOVER: Chris Kious
4. Public Comment
None.
5. Environmental (J.Wollnik)
No oral report was made.
6. Recycling/Solid Waste (C. Ryan)
A. 2022 in Review: Curbside Recycling & Events
Rec. Res. Coord. Ryan presented the 2022 Recycling Report. She highlighted curbside recycling and waste data that was collected throughout the year. (Allan arrived - 9:05 AM) She mentioned that there were 262,495 tons of residential discards collected in 2022, which included trash, recycling, yard waste, and organic items. She provided a visualization of what these amounts equate to by showing that this amount would fill two container ships. She presented detailed graphs and charts that depicted 68.3% of items collected were trash, 24.5% were recycling, and 7.2% were organics. She noted that the amount of trash collected has steadily increased over the years, while the amount recycled items has decreased. She discussed potential causes for these changes, such as a decrease in the weight of product packaging. She stated that East Dundee had the highest recycling weight of 2022. Much discussion ensued regarding calculating factors, volume, sorting, bailing, and comparisons to the national recycling average, as well as previous years. Ryan spoke on sending recycling discards overseas to China, but that the U.S. is working to maintain these items domestically. Additional discussion ensued regarding recycling facilities, commercial recycling, construction debris, electronic waste, and compost fencing. Ryan reported that there were over 30 tons of documents shredded and 12 tons of latex paint collected at events held by Kane County in 2022. She spoke on website traffic, presentations given, and upcoming events. More information can be found at https://www.countyofkane.org/Recycling/Pages/recyclingEvents.aspx.
Discussion ensued.
7. Sustainability (I. Klee)
A. Sustainability Program Updates
Res. Mgmt. Coord. Klee spoke on the success of recent listening sessions and presented photos of community participation. She announced that an upcoming listening session in partnership with the Elgin Earth Summit will take place on April 29, 2023 from 11:45am to 12:45pm at Elgin Community College, Building E. She stated that the department will be finalizing the Climate Action
Implementation Plan, which will include 50-60 participants and workshop meetings to acquire feedback. She mentioned working with the Conservation Foundation and Upcycle to provide rain barrels to the public at $64.50 each, compost bins at $75.50 each, and additional accessories. Discussion ensued regarding an upcoming webinar with the Conservation Foundation and grant funding opportunities.
8. New Business
Committee Member Young spoke on a West Coast nuclear power company called NuScale. Discussion ensued.
9. Chairs Comments
Madam Chair Bates expressed gratitude to staff. She summarized implementation projects and upcoming grant opportunities. Committee Member Kious announced an oak tree planting event and a plant sale hosted by the Kane County Forest Preserve. More information can be found at http://www.kaneforest.com/calendar. Discussion ensued.
10. Reports Placed On File
RESULT: APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT
MOVER: Chris Kious
11. Executive Session (if needed)
None.
12. Adjournment
RESULT: APPROVED BY VOICE VOTE
MOVER: Bill Roth
SECONDER: Cherryl Strathmann
This meeting was adjourned at 10:20 AM.
https://www.countyofkane.org/MeetingMinutes/6613/23-4-14.pdf
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