SUDBURY GETS ORGANIC WASTE PROGRAM

Good news for the City of Sudbury - starting this week, 1100 households in the Greater City of Sudbury have become part of a pilot program where the city collects organic waste on a weekly basis. The houses were given an indoor and larger outdoor container where they can put all table scraps (vegetables, fruits, meat, paper towel, eggs, etc...). The City will take the waste and turn it into useable compost.

The City plans to try the pilot program for 1 year before making a final decision about bringing this program city-wide. For more information about it, call 673-BLUE.

This is a great initiative that can potentially reduce household waste by 30%. The City is targeting an overall waste stream reduction of 65%, so this would be a significant help.

Other cities that have this program include Pembroke, Halifax, most of Toronto...

Great job Sudbury!

October Meeting Changed Again

Meeting on Thursday, October 26th has been moved to Thursday, November 2nd at 7:00pm at 124 Third Avenue in Lively.

New Meeting Date

We have had to change the date of the October meeting to be Thursday, October 26th at 7:00 pm at Meadowbrook.

Meeting Minutes for September 18, 2006

Present:
Ralph Shore
Amanda Turcotte
Allison Muckle
Aaron Dent

New Business:

1. The committee discussed the official mandate of the committee and approved the following:

a. To tackle Walden specific environmental issues

b. To lobby the City to make positive environmental change by acting as a role model for the public

c. To educate and assist businesses and citizens in Walden about how to lessen their impact on the environment

d. To lobby on behalf of the various environmental groups if there is a particular issue that is important to the community of Walden

2. Community Garden

a. The community garden will remain a sub-committee of the environmental committee over the next year

b. The sub-committee will be co-chaired by Allison Muckle and Amanda Turcotte

c. The sub-committee plans to have a summary meeting for all members of the 2006 garden to decide on plans for the winter and next spring.

3. Pesticide-Free Sudbury

a. Allison Muckle recommended that the Pesticide-Free Sudbury group be invited to the general Walden CAN meeting to help educate Walden about what the group is hoping to achieve – Allison will make a request to the Steering Committee to make this happen for the next CAN meeting

b. If there are no concerns raised by the community at the presentation at the CAN meeting, the environmental committee will draft an official letter of support for review by the Steering Committee.

4. Park Allotment in New Subdivisions

a. It was raised at a CAN meeting that there was some concern that Walden was not getting the required 5% of park land that must be built with every new subdivision in the Walden area. Ralph Shore agreed to pursue this issue and find out more about the by-law and if it can be altered under any circumstances.

5. Energy Efficiency in Municipal Buildings
a.After Earthcare presented their Efficient Sudbury program at the last CAN meeting, we decided to tackle energy efficiency at the City to coincide with their program. Aaron Dent agreed to investigate current Sudbury specific energy standards (if any), investigate more about Efficient Sudbury, and look into whether or not any municipal buildings have had energy retrofits in the past. He will report back his findings at the next meeting.

Other business:

1. Smoking in Public Spaces

a. At a future meeting, we will discuss the possibility of supporting a ban of smoking in all / some public spaces (ie. Parks, playgrounds).

2. Wastewater treatment

a. At a future meeting, we will discuss current wastewater treatment in Lively and how it is treated. There is some concern that it is not being adequately disposed of and could pose a health risk to well users in Walden.

NEXT MEETING: Our next meeting will be October 24th at 7:00 pm at Meadowbrook