Call to Order – President Ron Berenato opened the meeting at 10:20 a.m. by welcoming all to the Middlesex County Fire Academy and thanking Chris Sikorski for coordinating this meeting location and food for the meeting.

Approval of May 25, 2010 ANJHHWC Minutes– Mr. Berenato stated that the minutes from the previous meeting held at the baseball stadium in Trenton were prepared by Larry Gindoff and posted on the ANJHHWC’s website (www.NJHazWaste.com).   Mr. Berenato then asked for a motion to approve the minutes.  A motion was made and seconded and approved by all present voting members.  Mr. Gindoff then provided a brief overview of the ANJHHWC website and how he transitioned it and copied the old material from the original site that had been running since the mid-90s to the newly formatted website.

Selection of Financial Committee to Review Records – Due to the ANJHHWC’s non-profit status, it is required that a financial committee be appointed to review the association’s financial records. Members of the committee cannot be current or recent board members.  A motion was made to establish the committee and this motion was seconded.  All members then voted in favor of its establishment with the exception of the ANJHHWC Treasurer, Chris Sikorski, who abstained.  Mark Vangieri of Bergen County suggested that an auditing firm, like the one used by ANJR, can be used, and he believes the cost is not too high, if the ANJHHWC want to proceed in that manner.  Tom Burbridge, Morris County and Melissa Harvey, Somerset County both volunteered to sit on this financial committee and to meet with Chris Sikorski prior to the December meeting to review the ANJHHWC’s financial records.

Treasurer’s Report – ANJHHWC Treasurer, Chris Sikorski provided a report on the ANJHHWC’s finances.  He stated the balance in the Association’s bank account is $10,255.21 and that NewTech Recycling joined as the most recent commercial member.  Chris then provided a run-down on the RBRC battery grant and spending associated with it.  The ANJHHWC spending on the grant is complete as it has spent a total of $18,000 on promoting the “If It’s Rechargeable It’s Recyclable” campaign.  $15,000 came from the RBRC grant, $1,000 came from Covanta Energy, $1,000 came from the Merk grant and $1,000 was matched and provided by the ANJWWHC.  A motion was made to accept the treasurer’s report and it was seconded and approved by all.

Electronics Recycling Act and Disposal Ban Starting In 2011– Discussion ensued regarding how the counties are beginning to transition to operating their electronics recycling programs in consideration of the new Electronics Recycling Act (“Act”).  Most counties reported that they have been contacted by a variety of representatives (electronic recyclers/demanufacturers) of manufacturers that have proposed, in one way or another, to take over and pay for individual county programs as their way to meet their obligations of the Act.  While most counties are in the middle of existing demanufacturing contracts, and therefore are not in a position to act on any of these proposals, a couple of counties have already been able to figure out how to take advantage of these proposals and have entered into contracts to have their programs operated by firms as part of the Act.  Guy Watson of the NJDEP requested that people send him copies of proposals they receive if they involve facilities in NJ so that the NJDEP could assess their approval status to operate in NJ.  Mr. Watson admitted the NJDEP needs a much better way to regulate and approve New Jersey’s class “D” recycling facilities than what is current going on.

Several counties at this point still were trying to figure out how to react to what are in essence unsolicited proposals from the manufacturers’ representatives. Guy Watson reiterated that it is the manufacturers’ obligation to get these programs paid for and up and running and not necessarily the obligation of the individual counties.  Mr. Watson stated that his Department will send a letter to all municipalities educating them about the Act and its implementation prior to January 2011.

A question came up about knowing which manufacturers these demanufactures represent and the members were informed that many of the demanufacturers have non-disclosure agreements with their clients and therefore cannot disclose who they represent.

Summary of County Programs

  • Burlington – They run permanent facility and satellite facility and no one-day events.  Latex paint is getting to expensive to haul for them.  It was suggested to look into using it as a landfill cover application in something called “Posi-Shell” which you can spray onto a landfill face to supplement daily cover operations.  ACUA reported they send their latex paint to Covanta for energy recovery but many counties are still in a dry-it-out and throw-it out mode with respect to latex paint.
  • Salem – They have a problem with their current HHW contractor for not provided a forklift at their programs which is needed to unload farmer’s waste delivered on flatbed trucks.  Salem also distributed magnets they sent out as a postcard mailer and discussed problems with the plastic coating used to keep the magnet attached to the postcard.
  • Sussex – Running 6 events for the year and they report they are currently withholding some payment to their HHW contractor while waiting for the return of executed manifests.
  • Somerset – They are about to conduct the last of 6 events for the year and plan on conducting the same number in 2011.
  • Morris County – in 2010 cut events from 5 to 4 and this did not seem to be an issue.  Participation is down a little in 2010 compared to previous years.  Not as many people moving seems to have impacted participation and people are getting into better habits of only buying only what they need.  Morris County will probably conduct 4 days again in 2011 while continuing to run its permanent facility as it has in the past.
  • Gloucester – They conduct 8 programs this year and they also see participation going down a bit.  They have recently stopped accepting latex paint and that has cut their cost dramatically. Gloucester anticipates cutting the number of programs in the future due to decreasing participation and as a way to save money.
  • Camden – They have conducted 6 programs a year and anticipate keeping that frequency for the near future. Their participation continues to increase.  They anticipate stopping the accepting latex in the future.
  • Mercer – They conduct 3 HHW days and 2 electronic recycling days and anticipate keeping this schedule for 2011.
  • Union – They anticipate keeping the same basic schedule in 2011 as they had in 2010.
  • Middlesex – They conduct 7 one-day events a year and their participation is waning a bit.  They continue to operate their latex drop-off program
  • Monmouth – Permanent facility continues to increase in participation; claims many people are cleaning out their homes in preparation to leave the state permanently.  They continue to conduct 2 one-day events in addition to operating their permanent facility.
  • Bergen – They conduct 8 one-day events a year and plan on doing the same in 2011.  They accept latex paint at their events and participation is about the same as the past.
  • Passaic – They conduct 3 one-day programs a year and will do so in 2011.  They also accept latex paint as apart of their programs.
  • Atlantic – Conduct 7 one-day programs a year.

Medicine Take-Back Programs – Discussion about promoting medicine take-back programs followed.  It was suggested that the ANJHHWC may want to create and distribute public service announcements promoting these programs similar to what it did with respect to battery management.

Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:30.

Executive Board Meeting – The executive board conducted one if its required quarterly meetings between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon following the adjournment of the regular meeting.  Discussions included scheduling the December 2010 meeting and preparing an updated membership form for 2011 membership.