Order for a hearing regarding recycling, compost, and waste services in the City of Boston.
0242024 to order for a hearing regarding recycling, compost and waste services in the city of Boston. Did she ever recognize this council chair of the Committee on City Services Innovation Technology Council? You have the floor. Thank you so much. It's excellent. Okay, great. Thank you so much, Counselor Flynn. We had a great hearing on Monday. It was really wonderful to have Brian Coughlin, our superintendent of Waste Reduction and Waste Management Services here. And he took all of our questions and talked about all different matters of what the city does on the waste management front. And then we actually heard from panelists from both Seattle and I'm ready to name right now but just are Hooksett and New Hampshire hearing about what other model cities. And so I think it was a really good model. Mr. President, of the benefit of a hybrid hearing. And I think it made a real difference for us to have Brian there in person. But then it was great to have Seattle beaming in from across the country. So I want to thank all the colleagues that attended. And in particular, I think the most exciting thing was the confirmation that the the city curbside composting pilot that this council has long been fighting for. And I want to particularly flag the work of our colleague, Councilor Matt O'Malley, on this body. We've been fighting for that and funding it for several cycles now. And and it now actually, like the RFP is come back, they're planning to launch it this summer and it's going to make curbside composting available to 10,000 families at the beginning. And my hope is that that's a a real start down a path of ramping up to a city wide service in the same way that, as we heard, Seattle has. So I thought that was really exciting. But we talked about everything from batteries and and e-waste management, hazardous materials, the fact that the five days in city halls right now are just, you know, they're way above demand to recycling and the recycling market and how we can make sure that that we really put our city on a trajectory to reach our zero waste goals. Because I think Brian was very upfront about the fact that they've taken some major strides and yet still we are not on a path to actually meeting our goals there. So it's grateful for the participation of the environmental justice chair, Kassala Lara and a whole bunch of councilors. And I think another thing that really came out of the hearing that I expect we'll do more council follow up on is as Councilor Baker has constantly pointed out, and I think it's something that Councilor Laura and I share. I know you do, Mr. President, is just the idea that, you know, as we see the contracts for us doing this externally, becoming more and more expensive, and we recognize that we need to do more effective waste management to meet our climate goals. Like let's look for ways that we can have actual processing capacity, facilities and jobs here in the city of Boston. And let's actually be the place that other cities and towns turn to for help with processing their materials, because it seems as though there's a real opportunity there and and we're going to need more capacity. So I think we learned about I can't summarize everything. I mean, we learned about the fact the state guidance is going to affect how mattresses get recycled and turned and thrown away in the city of Boston. That's going to be an upcoming challenge. And I think just it was very brass tacks, city services, you know, what we what we do and in many ways, one of the ways that cities were organized and grew in the first place was to help manage and manage trash and waste and make sure that people have the opportunity to live in a clean and sanitary city. So I was grateful to host it and will definitely be continuing follow up, Mr. Chair. And my request would be that the docket remain in committee. Thank you. Thank you, counsel. Oh, sorry. And I neglected to mention my co-sponsors on the docket. Councilor Flaherty. And. Last count celebrating. He's right here with me, who were wonderful and stayed for very long here. Thank you. Thank you, counsel. Would any of our colleagues like to speak on the matter? I will speak on it. I just want to say thank you to. To the chair and to the to the sponsors of this. I also want to make sure that when we roll the program out, that different neighborhoods have different needs. In the South End, I'm struggling with barrels and with the recycling and with pest control and adding composting, which which which I support. But we need to make sure that when we roll this out, we have a public awareness educational campaign that especially includes the residents, but also includes district city councils so that they can educate their constituents working with owners on the importance of this program. One of the first hearing I'm going to call for this year is on pest control, and I think that's also part of the subject of work on this issue with many of our colleagues, most recently with with Councilor Braden. But pest control is a major problem in the city of Boston. It's in my district and other districts as well. But during this budget process, we really need to advocate for basic city service funding for these critical nuts and bolts issues impacting practically every every neighborhood in the city. Would anyone else like to speak on this matter? The docket zero two for Cho will remain in committee. Thank you, Counsel. Barker Mr. Clarke, will you please read docket. 01950195 order for a hearing regarding city level Conservation Corps for Boston.