Location: Anheuser-Busch in Newark (Essex County)
Call to Order – The meeting was opened by President Alain Fortier at 10:00 a.m. at Anheuser-Busch in Newark. Introductions by all followed.
Elections: Carole Tolmachewich made a motion to nominate the existing Board of Officers for an additional year. Motion was seconded and approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Chris Sikorski reported the Account balance at the time of the meeting it was $9,529.50.
March 18, 2008- ANJHHWC members pose for a picture at the Anheuser-Busch plant in Newark during a meeting / site visit.
IRS Status: President Fortier reported he is waiting to hear about the ANJHWWC appeal letter regarding 501,C.6 status filed in October 2007. Brief discussion was held regarding the Merck grant including how and when to spend the funding. At this point everything is on hold until the Association hears from the IRS. It was decided to give the IRS until June of 2008. If a favorable decision isn’t made by then, the Association will seek other avenues to accept the grant funding.
Old ANJHHWC Video: Secretary Diana Vigilante will send extra copies of the ANJHHWC video to the following counties: Camden, Atlantic, Salem, Gloucester, Union and Cumberland.
CFL Stakeholders Meeting: President Fortier gave a brief overview of the CFL stakeholders meeting held at PSE&G on March 12, 2008. The following individuals were in attendance: Nancy Wittenberg, Ralph Asplen (NJDEP), Susanna Chiu, Eric Svenson, Albert Fralinger, Cindy Mehallow, Jeanne Pieratelli, Melissa Standing (PSEG) and Alain Fortier (Monmouth), Diana Vigilante (Somerset), Chris Sikorski (Middlesex), Fred Stanger (Middlesex), JoAnn Gemenden (Union) (Association of NJ Household Hazardous Waste Coordinators).
Assistant Commissioner Nancy Wittenberg stated the NJ DEP is interested in working with retailers to develop CFL point-of-sale take-back programs. She has approached retailers such as Wal-Mart with mixed results. Ralph Asplen also mentioned there were 3 locations in New Jersey that would take back CFL’s but did not advertise this. One location was IKEA.
JoAnn Gemenden expressed concern and stated the household hazardous waste collection programs, should not be the only disposal solution for several reasons. First the way the contracts are structured, e.g. $35 / car it would not be financially a good idea. Also there are already thousands of cars participating in the collection days already and they could not handle more. In addition, the collection programs shut down over the winter months so there would not be a drop off options available to citizens.
Participants agreed that local government and county household hazardous waste programs should not bear the sole responsibility for CFL disposal and recycling. Instead, they envision a partnership between four groups: manufacturers, retailers, utilities and local government.
Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 11:15am.
This was followed with a tour of the Anheuser-Busch’s facility and a group lunch.