Location: Monmouth County Landfill, Tinton Falls, NJ

 Meeting was opened by Alain Fortier from Monmouth County. 

ANJHHWC President Diana Vigilante thanked Monmouth County for being a gracious host.  Diana had everyone introduce themselves, as there were some new faces in the crowd. 

Guest Speaker

Mark Vangieri, Bergen County Utilities Authority, provided an overview of Bergen County’s upcoming pilot program for pharmaceuticals.  Several months back, NERC (Northeast Recycling Coalition) asked Counties if they would be interested in doing a pilot program for old prescription medicines during our HHW Events.  Bergen County was in the planning phase of having an event in the fall of 2005 when many practical issues arose that forced the pilot program to be postponed until June of 2006.  The issues included handling controlled substances as hazardous waste, the requirement to maintain a Chain of Custody for the items, whether the Prosecutors Office could offer residents amnesty, the need to have a pharmacist on site and so on.

A discussion ensued amongst the various counties and Mark promised to provide an overview of the program after June.

Consumer Electronics Update

Carole Tolmachewich from Middlesex County provided an update on the proposed current legislation for Consumer Electronics.  She and Fred Stanger attended a meeting at Assemblyman Barnes’ office along with representatives from Sharp and Panasonic.  Assemblyman Barnes is sponsoring a Producer Responsibility Bill, making companies responsible for taking their items back.  Middlesex County expressed a desire for bill that generated funding.  Assemblyman Barnes had no interest in the views expressed at this meeting.  He eventually would like to see curbside pickup of electronic waste.

Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP)

The subcommittee that was formed at the last meeting met in October to review the amendments to the SWMP that pertained to Household Hazardous Waste (including electronics).  The committee drafted a letter outlining their comments and mailed it to the DEP.  The letter was sent out to the ANJHHWC membership.

School Lab Waste Program

JoAnn Gemenden mentioned that the CEHA (County Environmental Health Act) program has a School Lab Waste Initiative as part of their grant package for 2006.  Interested Counties would receive CEHA grant funds in exchange for visiting 20 schools, 10 must be high schools, and educating them relative to storage, disposal, etc.

NJDEP Update

Robin Heston spoke about the current restructuring of the DEP.  Currently there are three sections in Solid Waste, but after the restructuring there will only be two.

County Update

Dennis DeMatte from Cumberland County gave an overview of their pesticide collection program.  Participants must follow the triple rinse procedure for all containers.  Cumberland County then receives reimbursement for the plastics.

After the meeting, all were invited to go on a tour of the various solid waste and recycling services offered to residents of Monmouth County.  The tour included a very interesting tour around the landfill and an impressive walking tour of their permanent Household Hazardous Waste Facility.   Kudos to Monmouth County!!!!