LPC Environmental Club

Environmental Club

 

Las Positas College

3033 Collier Canyon Road

Livermore, CA 94551

 

December 4, 2006

 

Meeting Minutes

 

I.           Call To Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:36 p.m. Tiffany Breger, Club Secretary, was present. Parag Saraf, Club Vice President, arrived later. Our advisor, Mr. Kutil, was also present.

 

II.         Approval Of Minutes

       Tiffany passed out a copy of the minutes from the last meeting. Mr. Kutil moved to approve the minutes, Mr. Everett seconded the motion, and the motion passed unanimously.

 

III.        Adoption Of The Agenda

The agenda was not available at this time.

 

IV.        Guest Speakers

       Tiffany asked our guest speakers, David Everett and Tom Fuller, to introduce themselves. They came to talk about recycling and waste management. Mr. Fuller is the district recycling coordinator. Mr. Everett teaches the horticulture program at Las Positas. He said that he teaches about the composting side in his introduction to horticulture (there is a chapter focusing on it in the textbook) and explained that it is an experience and an activity that is important to learn about during every introduction to horticulture. There was a lot of interest in it from all his students. There are also compost bins in the yard that weren’t being used much until Mr. Everett came to Las Positas. He wanted to get everything in motion and be proactive in getting the bins used and expanding the program. He talked to the cafeteria because it’s a good place to get the green and brown waste that’s needed. Everyone at the cafeteria was helpful and cooperative when Mr. Everett brought in the compost bins and explained what can go in them. Someone currently picks it up every Monday and brings it to the yard. Mr. Everett said he then talked to Mr. Fuller who is a compost celebrity at Chabot, and Mr. Fuller discussed how everything works at Chabot. They both expressed interest in trying to start using compostable plates and utensils in the cafeteria, and Mr. Kutil would also like to get that set up. They want to look into ways to get the cafeteria to stop using Styrofoam as well. Mr. Fuller brought compostable service ware items for us all to look at. Some of the items were made out of cornstarch. They all break down quickly and would be great to use. However, Mr. Fuller said that they are more expensive. Mr. Everett explained that it’s hard to impose on the cafeteria to start using these items, so we need to find a way to offset the cost. It would be four times as expensive, but it’s just a matter of pennies. Mr. Fuller also noted that all the products are great quality. Mr. Kutil mentioned that he talked to waste management, and they’d be able to take everything in bulk, but we’d need to get a bin. Mr. Everett said it’s important to get the student body involved, especially in sorting goods. There has to be some accountability from the students and more people need to be aware of these issues. Mr. Kutil spoke about how to improve the recycling at campus by getting all the garbage and recycling bins the same and all with lids and then getting a lot of signage. He said that it’s important that throwing away garbage and recycling both require the same amount of effort. Mr. Kutil and Mr. Everett then spoke about possibly collecting trash from one day and displaying it at a Club Day or expo and telling students that it will all go to a landfill unless we take action. Mr. Fuller said that currently, there are problems with the containers and bins, and he doesn’t like them, but we got them free from Alameda County Stop Waste. (www.stopwaste.org) He recommended that we all do a search for their website and take a look at it. There is a lot of useful information, including lists of where to take recyclable items. Mr. Kutil suggested trying to get donations and making agreements to advertise that the bins were sponsored by whatever businesses help us. Mr. Fuller said that we could come up with a proposal. We’d need to know exactly what we want and all the details and work that into a proposal. He thinks that Alameda County Stop Waste may be willing to help us pay. He also said that it’s good experience for us to write up a proposal, because it’s likely we’ll need to do that later in our lives too. If we have a good proposal, Mr. Fuller thinks that Alameda County Stop Waste will help us with the money needed to get started. He also discussed raising funds by separating the items that are worth money such as plastic, aluminum, office paper, and cardboard. We can get more money by separating colored paper from white paper. It would be good to be able to separate green waste, bottles and cans, and papers. Mr. Everett said that they prefer that meat not be used for the compost because it attracts vermin, but a little bit doesn’t hurt. Meat is also sometimes on the bone still, and the bones have to be ground to break down. Mr. Fuller passed around pictures of a big mixer they have at Chabot that people can toss things into to be ground down. He also showed us a bucket of finished compost. Right now at Chabot, the recycling program is actually subsidizing part of the college rather than the other way around. Mr. Everett talked more about raising funds and said that once we lay out the structure and get student body participation, pennies will turn into dollars. He thinks that at school, peer pressure and guilt would really help with the participation. Mr. Kutil said we should focus on writing up a proposal to Stop Waste (we could probably get up to $5000 from them). We would then need to work out the percentage of money from the recycling that we can keep for our club and then how much we’d give the cafeteria for their participation and help. Mr. Fuller discussed possibly getting mugs and selling them at school, so we can cut down on Styrofoam. Mr. Fuller also said that right now, Elite doesn’t pay for the garbage pickup. Mr. Everett said that so many more things can be recycled, including plastic wrap. The waste can be cut down by 90%. Mr. Kutil suggested that Mr. Fuller start charging Elite for the garbage pickup unless they agree to go completely green. Mr. Fuller said we should find out what other schools are doing and bring that to attention. Upon requests to hear our ideas, Tina said that the recycling bins at Las Positas are moved around a lot. She also said that there are recycling bins for paper in the ILC and library but not in the faculty offices, but Mr. Kutil said that there are some in the faculty building too. Mr. Everett said that saving the planet isn’t easy, but it’s easy for people to be educated about this and we should use guilt and also hang up flyers. Tina also talked about how now we have disposable products for everything and people choose to use them because it’s easier. Mr. Fuller said it used to be that everything was reusable. Corporate America started changing everything and making us be more wasteful. He said that we didn’t do anything; it was done to us. Mr. Everett said that people have to pay for their recycling to be picked up. Sarah talked about possibly getting information about recycling and us being a green campus on forms handed out during the orientation to Las Positas. Mr. Everett said that this is a huge pride issue, and it would be great to raise awareness and get more student participation by being able to say “we’re shoulders above other schools.” It would raise student accountability and encourage more participation. Tina talked about having a recycling contest between the students and faculty. Mr. Everett and Mr. Fuller said that all the garbage bins should be next to the recycling bins. Parag liked the idea of charging the cafeteria a disposable fee. Elizabeth said she likes the idea of having an expo to raise awareness about recycling. Mr. Fuller suggested that as a club, we go on a field trip to a recycling center. He also encouraged everyone to sign up for a horticulture class. He is teaching one on Tuesday evenings this next semester. Mr. Fuller also asked that we look up LEED certification for homework and familiarize ourselves with that. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.)

 

V.         Officer Reports

                 A. President – Lori Myers

                          Lori was not present at this meeting.

          B. Vice President – Parag Saraf

                           Parag had nothing to add at this time.

          C. Secretary – Tiffany Breger

                           Tiffany had nothing to add at this time.

          D. Treasurer – Christian Blanco

                           Christian was not present at this meeting. Tiffany said that because Christian and Lori weren’t there, if anyone had any membership dues to turn in, they could probably give them to her or Mr. Kutil. However, no one had any dues to turn in at this time.        

          E. ICC Representative – Steve Linney

                            Steve was not present at this meeting.

 

VI.        Public Forum

       No one had anything to add.

 

VII.      Unfinished Business

                    There was no unfinished business.

 

VIII.     New Business                                 

               Tiffany mentioned that Lindsay offered to let the club stay at her cabin in Arnold, CA, so we may be planning a trip there sometime over the winter break.

 

IX.        Faculty Advisors – Dr. Ansell and Mr. Kutil

         Dr. Ansell was not present at this meeting. Mr. Kutil had nothing to add at this time.

 

X.         Open Discussion/Announcements

       Tiffany thanked everyone who participated in our whale watching trip.

 

XI.        Adjournment

                    Tiffany called for the meeting to be adjourned at 3:48 p.m. Our spring semester meetings will be held every other Wednesday from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. in the Student Center Club Room.