WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.960 Welcome to the City of Denton Sustainability Framework Advisory 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:14.840 Committee. It is Friday January 26th and it is 1 o' 3. We are in the City Council 00:00:14.840 --> 00:00:19.680 work session room. We do have a quorum and we also have a new member, welcome 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:25.880 Kamilia Mayer. All right and we will go ahead and get started for items for 00:00:25.880 --> 00:00:31.120 individual consideration with our first item consider approval of October 27th 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:43.540 2023 minutes. Is anybody Adam? All in favor? Aye. All right so then we will move on to 00:00:43.540 --> 00:00:48.040 item B. Receive a report. Hold a discussion regarding North Central Texas 00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:51.880 Council of Governments efforts surrounding air quality in the region 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:56.680 and our presenter does need to catch a plane at one they need to leave here at 00:00:56.680 --> 00:01:00.560 1 30 to catch a plane. So we will move through the presentation. You could write 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.040 your questions down and then at the end we will go over them so that we can get 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:10.040 through. Okay go ahead. Thank you. All right so I guess I don't need to really talk into 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:16.680 this. No we are using the mics. All right well my name is Jenny and I work at NCT 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:21.000 Cog. I've been there about 19 years and I know Chris was supposed to come out and 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:25.240 talk to you a few months back. He's my supervisor. He's on vacation so here I am. 00:01:25.240 --> 00:01:34.120 Okay so just a little snapshot. These are the criteria pollutants that the EPA 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:39.760 follows and these are the different pollutants that there are certain 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:44.000 standards for. So we are of course in non-attainment for ozone as everyone 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:51.200 knows and we are in attainment in attainment for the other five so far. We 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:55.600 are probably going to be dipping into non-attainment for particulate matter 00:01:55.600 --> 00:01:58.960 here soon but I'll talk a little bit more about that and we're also 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:03.640 monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and we have a really big project that we are 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:11.040 working on right now for the region. So just a little bit of background. So 00:02:11.040 --> 00:02:17.440 starting out back in 1990 there was a one-hour standard and that was 125 parts 00:02:17.440 --> 00:02:22.600 per billion. That was the limit and the the non-attainment counties for that were 00:02:22.600 --> 00:02:28.000 the four core counties. Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant. We did attain that 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.400 standard in 2006 of course it was revoked and replaced by a more stringent 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:38.280 standard which was the eight hour 1990 standard 1997 standard and the limit for 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:46.240 that was 85 parts per billion and so other counties got added to that. We had 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:50.280 of course Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant and then they added Ellis, Johnson, 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:57.000 Kauffman, Parker, Rockwall. This standard was eventually revoked and replaced of course 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.040 with the more stringent standard the eight hour 2008 standard which is less 00:03:01.040 --> 00:03:09.520 than or equal to 75 parts per billion. We were classified as as moderate and we 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:14.120 did not attain the standard in the time frame that was required so we were 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:18.600 bumped up to serious and now we are severe because we did not commit into 00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:25.920 attainment and right now for this particular standard we are we have ten 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:31.080 counties in non-attainment for that standard and because the EPA no longer 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:35.160 revoke standards anymore they just keep adding them we are now under two 00:03:35.160 --> 00:03:40.200 standards so we're under 2008 and 2015 standard which is less than or equal to 00:03:40.200 --> 00:03:45.400 70 parts per billion. We did not attain this standard either we started off as 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:51.200 marginal and got bumped up to moderate and now we are getting bumped up to 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:57.600 serious. Governor Abbott made a request to voluntarily reclassify our 00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:04.800 area to serious and as of yesterday the EPA administrator did sign it and for 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:10.840 that particular standard it's only nine counties so all the ten minus Rockwall. 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:15.880 Okay so this is a snapshot of our 2023 ozone season which runs from March 1st 00:04:15.880 --> 00:04:21.560 to November 30th we unfortunately did end at 81 parts per billion again this 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:27.240 is a three-year average of the fourth highest design value at anyone monitor 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:34.760 and so you know we have been trending down since the 90s unfortunately now we 00:04:34.760 --> 00:04:41.120 are starting to tip back up and now you can see the blue line that is the 2008 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.360 standard since we've been reclassified to severe we have till 2027 to reach 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:55.000 this standard and we were supposed to reach the 2015 by this ozone season 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:02.800 that just ended obviously we didn't and so we're getting bumped up. So these are 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:09.680 the monitor locations and along with their design value so you see the 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:15.280 highest highest monitor up there is 81 part per billion that is the driving 00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:20.560 monitor and on this map it shows that during ozone season the prevailing wind 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:28.880 comes from the south and so we get a lot of background ozone before you even go 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:33.560 out and start your car in the morning. Okay so we're looking into that trying 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:40.520 to figure out what's going on and this is our exceedance trends that goes back 00:05:40.520 --> 00:05:47.120 to the 90s so what you can see here for 2023 this past ozone season we had 50 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:58.040 exceedance days 8 of those were red so wasn't a really good ozone season okay 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:03.800 so like I said both we are being reclassified for both standards the 2015 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:14.200 standard like I said is going we're being bumped up too serious and you're 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:22.960 for the so we will have until 2027 to attain that standard so they add about 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:31.720 like three years every time you you don't attain a standard and so you know 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.920 there's a few things that we want to look at because we have these state in 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:39.560 the limitation plans out there that TCEQ develops and they publish and you know 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:44.960 showing that we are going to attain and we don't and so we had pointed out that 00:06:44.960 --> 00:06:49.960 well you know our highest monitor pilot point along with some others were way 00:06:49.960 --> 00:06:58.080 over 70 and you know even way over 75 but the SIP seems to be modeling at 73 00:06:58.080 --> 00:07:02.560 which you know there's something going on I know models aren't perfect we 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:10.120 understand that but real world is way off from from what is being modeled and 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:15.480 now for the 2008 standard like I said we were reclassified to severe and we have 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:22.840 until 2027 to attain that standard so yay thank you for both I guess but yeah 00:07:22.840 --> 00:07:27.000 so there's a lot of there's a few things that go into severe because we have 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.320 never been classified as severe before again comparing real world to the 00:07:32.320 --> 00:07:39.640 monitor same thing that I showed you earlier except for this set for the 2008 00:07:39.640 --> 00:07:47.840 they are modeling frisco at 72 so we have a ways to go granted this is a value 00:07:47.840 --> 00:08:02.520 that's supposed to be in the year 2026 so a few things about the severe 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:09.160 classification is that if we do not attain in time for this then there's 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:15.240 going to be some section 185 these that will kick in and now it probably happened 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:22.560 around 2028 or so and basically these are going to be additional fees to the 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:29.040 large-scale emitters who are throughout our region and they can get pretty 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:38.640 expensive if we do not reach it so and also the bottoms were there TCQ did 00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:43.000 submit the SIP for the 2008 standard we did comment on it we provided comments 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:51.560 on in January and so I think I think I'm a slide on those but anyway so that's 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:56.800 where we are with that and so this is like as you all know or don't know 00:08:56.800 --> 00:09:02.000 ozone is not emitted from any one source we have NOx we have VOC those two primary 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:07.920 pollutants mixed together in sunlight from ozone and so you know we're trying 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:14.560 to figure out why why why are we at 81 and so you know we went back looked at 00:09:14.560 --> 00:09:19.280 because I mean we're transportation we focus on on-road and non-road but we're 00:09:19.280 --> 00:09:23.200 trying to you know kind of like put our feelers out to the other sources because 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:27.520 there's a lot of other sources that emit NOx and VOC and just trying to figure 00:09:27.520 --> 00:09:35.920 out what what the change has been since 2006 to 2023 and you know there has been 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:42.160 a significant decrease in on-road mobile for both NOx and for both VOC our cars 00:09:42.160 --> 00:09:45.840 are getting cleaner they are and there's a lot of hybrids and electric and 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:50.800 there's other sources or other other alternative fuel vehicles now that are 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:56.380 coming to the market non-road has gotten cleaner as well and so you know taking 00:09:56.380 --> 00:10:00.840 that and trying to investigate further and then looking at what the anticipated 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:06.600 percent change may be you know we do we do still see an increase or I'm sorry a 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:10.840 decrease in emissions by a certain percentage but it is starting to slow 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:16.800 down so a little bit more about the 185 fee program that I did tell you about 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:25.000 because we're in severe so we do not attain then the TCQ will submit a plan 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:32.640 to the EPA basically stating how they are going to put this fee program in 00:10:32.640 --> 00:10:38.800 place so this program is a per ton penalty penalty fee like I said it can 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:45.560 kick in as early as 2008 so and then the fees are collected annually until we 00:10:45.560 --> 00:11:00.360 reach attainment so that's you know where we're at ready one and then you know we're trying to get to 75 so yeah and this will be implemented by the TCQ we are 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:04.120 working as closely as we can with them sometimes they're a little tight-lipped 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:09.640 and you know just they're only able to share certain things we have held 00:11:09.640 --> 00:11:14.680 meetings invited them out to our offices to meet with the public and the industry 00:11:14.680 --> 00:11:20.000 as well we have a big industry meeting last week but unfortunately if this does 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.120 kick into play then our anticipated fee could be upwards of 45 million dollars 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:41.440 for the region okay so the major point sources are like cement kilns electric 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:47.960 generation units crude petroleum natural gas and there are there are some other 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:55.960 ones as well and so we basically did you know as or the TCQ did an apportionment 00:11:55.960 --> 00:12:02.520 based all of our counties to see where a lot of these facilities are we're right 00:12:02.520 --> 00:12:08.440 right now it's we're kind of we're going off of 2022 data it's not the latest and 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:14.200 so we're just trying to you know basically get ready for the future and 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.400 we're meeting with them with with the high inventors now trying to figure out 00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:25.440 what we can do to keep ourselves out of this and so this is broken up by County 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:31.080 okay so that was ozone and now I'm going to talk to you a little bit about 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:38.000 particular matter just over writing questions down the end that's right so so 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:45.320 we are EPA is proposing to lower the particulate matter primarily the the fine 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:51.020 particulate matter currently it's at 12 micrograms per meter cubed and that's an 00:12:51.020 --> 00:12:56.040 annual mean that's averaged over three years so the Clean Air Scientific 00:12:56.040 --> 00:13:00.440 Advisory Committee they they meet every five years on all of the standards and 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:04.240 they're like okay how is it hurting plant life animal life and what can we 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:08.760 what should we do they either lower it or they keep it the same so they are 00:13:08.760 --> 00:13:12.800 proposing to lower it to anywhere between not nine to ten microgram per 00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:19.000 meter cube okay so unfortunately that is going to affect our region there they're 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:26.640 keeping the PM 2.5 the 24-hour standard and then the PM 10 standard the same so 00:13:26.640 --> 00:13:35.080 we're really looking at the PM 2.5 the annual standard so this is where we're 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:43.160 at so in our region we only have like a handful of these PM monitors which can 00:13:43.160 --> 00:13:50.680 be good and can be bad we do have two that are tipping over the nine microgram 00:13:50.680 --> 00:13:56.280 per meter cubed one in Tarrin one in Dallas and one in Fort Worth and one in 00:13:56.280 --> 00:14:00.080 the city of Dallas so we have gone out we have met with these cities we have 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:05.440 met with TCEQ trying to figure out what can we do to help keep us in attainment 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.280 under that standard we're not really sure exactly what years they're going to 00:14:10.280 --> 00:14:17.160 base whether we're attainment or non-attainment we're assuming 22 or 00:14:17.160 --> 00:14:22.200 2020 to 2022 three years not a hundred percent sure about on that but at any 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:26.320 rate we are a little bit over and unfortunately once you get in on attainment 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:31.920 it's hard to get out of it but we like I said we have been meeting with both the 00:14:31.920 --> 00:14:41.280 counties both the cities trying to figure out what we can do okay so we have 00:14:41.280 --> 00:14:46.360 a program that we are working on which is it's called the climate pollution 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:53.560 reduction grants and it does hone in on on reducing greenhouse gas emissions but 00:14:53.560 --> 00:14:58.960 what we were able to do with this particular program is throw all the 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:03.440 other emissions you know in with it so all the projects that we are thinking of 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:07.240 and it's some pretty big projects this is we could apply for upwards of 500 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:14.760 billion for the region which is a lot of money sorry 500 million which is a lot 00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:19.920 and so we are you know looking at we have we've gone out now with the cities 00:15:19.920 --> 00:15:23.520 we have partners going into this we're asking what you guys want to do with 00:15:23.520 --> 00:15:28.720 this money what can we do to help you it's a huge undertaking but it's it's 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:34.160 well worth it so we received 1 million to basically develop a regional plan so 00:15:34.160 --> 00:15:38.440 we're using the 1 million to write up a big plan this plan is due the first the 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:42.840 first priority climate action plan is due March 1st which is right around the 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.720 corner so we're working very very hard trying to get that all you know going 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:51.360 and ready and we're having to put all of the projects or the reduction measures 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:56.200 into this plan so that's what we have been busy doing and the projects we're 00:15:56.200 --> 00:16:00.000 putting in there not only help reduce greenhouse gases but we're also going to 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.200 focus on particulate matter and ozone what you know we're like throwing 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:09.160 everything in there and so this will then lead to what's called a comprehensive 00:16:09.160 --> 00:16:14.960 climate action plan that is due summer of 2025 and then we have status report 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:22.040 that's due in 2027 yeah can we go ahead and since we only have about 10 minutes 00:16:22.040 --> 00:16:26.400 left yes start questions yes and then it's the next one I think it's just 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:31.040 process and measures and if you have any questions over those can we still go 00:16:31.040 --> 00:16:35.040 over them even though she hasn't discussed it in the presentation since 00:16:35.040 --> 00:16:39.400 they're in the agenda okay all right so we want to go ahead and Adam will start 00:16:39.400 --> 00:16:42.960 with Adam and then work around yeah thank you for this presentation it sounds 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:47.560 like a mystery but I got to ask how can it be that the VOCs and NOCs are going 00:16:47.560 --> 00:16:55.560 down but we had this uptick in ozone so there's that's a good question there's 00:16:55.560 --> 00:17:01.960 other factors at play meteorology is a huge one and our area is just like the 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:10.300 perfect nesting ground for ozone so it's you know and a lot of it also doesn't 00:17:10.300 --> 00:17:14.680 you know doesn't our transportation our cars and trucks have gotten a lot 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:18.840 cleaner over the years but you know we still have our point sources which have 00:17:18.840 --> 00:17:25.560 decreased over the years and lots of VOC but because of you know the climate and 00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:30.620 you know also what's flowing into our region that we don't know about you know 00:17:30.620 --> 00:17:35.440 that's that's a pretty big deal in fact the TCEQ didn't put it into the the SIP 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:44.760 that oh only 30% of the emissions in our region come from our region yeah so they 00:17:44.760 --> 00:17:48.200 wrote that out but they can't do anything about it and so we still get 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:56.960 penalized for that yeah yeah well thank you for the presentation I knew and I I 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:01.800 will not have many questions but I was wondering about the particulate matter 00:18:01.800 --> 00:18:07.240 monitors yes so that we have only two in the region we have about six or seven 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:13.280 total but two of them are over the nine micro oh I see yeah those are the 00:18:13.280 --> 00:18:21.960 potential problem children yeah yeah I was just gonna ask kind of along 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:26.640 Camilla's line given we only have six is there an interest in getting more 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:30.920 granular eyes data say like you can just more evenly distributed monitors in the 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.840 way that you could perhaps more uniformly capture where some of these 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:40.120 emissions are coming from or identify problems so those are those are the 00:18:40.120 --> 00:18:45.320 regulatory monitors that are put out by EPA TCEQ okay and so we do have a lot of 00:18:45.320 --> 00:18:50.680 monitors that are going around the region in fact we are currently trying 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:56.280 to ramp up a program where where we do have you know where we don't put more 00:18:56.280 --> 00:19:00.080 regulatory monitors in but we put monitors in trying to figure out where 00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:04.240 is this coming from and so it's an annual standard that we're going to bus 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:10.400 which is trying to figure out why we're going over that like other certain you 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.120 know data is there certain points in time like the Sahara dust when that rolls 00:19:14.120 --> 00:19:17.400 in it's like is that you know just trying to figure out what what it could 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:23.360 be and so yes now I don't know if they're gonna put more regulatory 00:19:23.360 --> 00:19:28.400 monitors out there I don't know that we would necessarily want them to but you 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:32.640 know yeah we are we have and we also work with a lot of universities that are 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:37.000 they have monitors and they put they push them out into the area as well so 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:42.560 it's kind of behind the scenes I was also gonna ask whenever say these these 00:19:42.560 --> 00:19:48.840 do kick in and 45 million dollars is quite a lot does TCEQ take those fees 00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:53.880 and then allocate them out to programs to help improve do you know what types 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:59.840 of funds this get used for does it kind of just get so I'm not sure they that's 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:03.560 something that we did comment on in the letter is that hey these fees do you 00:20:03.560 --> 00:20:10.680 kick in they need to go back into air quality projects in our region you know 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:18.560 so yeah yeah I have just to kind of piggyback off the monitors and the face 00:20:18.560 --> 00:20:23.920 okay the same thing that stuck out to me one I know that be and didn't only have 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:28.360 to how are the monitors determined like how many go in each county because some 00:20:28.360 --> 00:20:34.320 have one some have two three is it by population or none yeah some have none 00:20:34.320 --> 00:20:39.400 and then you know if it's like by population are they constantly evaluating 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:47.720 that to see if we need more monitors or is it just ran like just ran I don't 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:55.960 well I I think that I mean I would I don't know how comfortable I say I feel 00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.600 saying it's random however looking at the monitor placement it sure looks like 00:20:59.600 --> 00:21:06.160 it is yeah and it's not based on population obviously and there's some you 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.960 know we have some counties that like we there's a monitor on the cusp of it it's 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:19.280 not even like in the county so how how that is evaluated I'm not 100% sure 00:21:19.280 --> 00:21:26.600 really yeah okay and that kind of goes back into the fee so our counties that 00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:32.760 don't have monitors are they responsible for paying into the the fee if we're if 00:21:32.760 --> 00:21:37.520 they're in our beer if they're in our not attainment area for severe if they're 00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:43.280 you know the whatever point source is the heavy emitter then that point yes 00:21:43.280 --> 00:21:48.720 they're gonna have to pay but if there's not monitors matter it's all region okay 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:55.880 so it's just the region yes and it's divided equally yes okay yeah so even if 00:21:55.880 --> 00:22:01.140 we do reach our goals if someone else doesn't we still pay if the individual 00:22:01.140 --> 00:22:08.960 goals yes if if you have a point source here that is over a certain like a 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:18.400 certain time or whatever yeah yeah yeah thanks for the presentation in looking 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:28.560 over the all the of these potential strategies the 12 page under energy I 00:22:28.560 --> 00:22:38.600 just wondered I didn't see I see utilizing more battery storage but is 00:22:38.600 --> 00:22:45.520 will there be any discussion for virtual power plants and that that sort of 00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:51.960 technology that is now being piloted in Dallas with encore I think I had not 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:58.160 seen that you know I mean we did we did meet with the different cities and 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:03.120 counties and I think I'm pretty sure you guys are in this with us I think you've 00:23:03.120 --> 00:23:09.760 joined on to this program with us so I have not seen that yet but a lot of 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:16.480 these projects unfortunately are things that we need to hit the ground running 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:24.640 like we need to do it now and so I don't know how close that particular strategy 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:29.280 to beat sounds great you know but it's like if you can't if they can't go in 00:23:29.280 --> 00:23:36.160 now then it's not it's not gonna work okay well it might be early but I was 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:42.920 just curious if it was on your radar yet another question on the priority climate 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:46.760 action plan then the comprehensive climate action plan and then the third 00:23:46.760 --> 00:23:56.120 one which I write down how it what's the planet is is done what what is done with 00:23:56.120 --> 00:24:02.320 it I mean what are there mandates that have to be fulfilled or is it just a 00:24:02.320 --> 00:24:08.360 wish list or suggestions or well the priority climate action plan is like 00:24:08.360 --> 00:24:13.920 it's like the first draft dish plan but at the same time we have to include all 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:18.880 of the measures that we are planning on putting in place and so once they get 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:26.200 that a second grant comes along and we would like to ask for 500 million on 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:30.780 behalf of the region our directors not so sure that we can do that because it's 00:24:30.780 --> 00:24:35.760 a huge undertaking so maybe 300 of them but so once that happens and they approve 00:24:35.760 --> 00:24:40.800 our plan then the different cities and are you know whoever is interested in 00:24:40.800 --> 00:24:53.040 this can submit we will submit on their behalf for these projects so you know 00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:56.640 we're already meeting with the different cities we have a general idea of what 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:02.960 everybody wants and so if we get awarded that funding if our plan goes through 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:09.600 then we will yeah we will submit okay we want these projects you know Denton 00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:14.520 wants this so you're basically like a clearing house for all these yeah and 00:25:14.520 --> 00:25:17.760 unfortunately didn't this wasn't how it's supposed to go this is what house 00:25:17.760 --> 00:25:23.640 told we were told that you know we would apply for you know just a million to 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:27.080 basically to handle the grant and then the cities would be able to come along 00:25:27.080 --> 00:25:32.440 and they would work with EPA on their own and the way they the way that they 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:38.120 finalized you know the different parts of the grant it's it's just not like you 00:25:38.120 --> 00:25:43.600 can't have multiple multiple projects of the same project so like say you want to 00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:48.160 do a bunch of signals then Dallas couldn't you know what I mean so it's 00:25:48.160 --> 00:26:00.040 like yeah and one more of the 45 million fees for not a paint non-attainment they 00:26:00.040 --> 00:26:09.360 anticipated that for DFW who pays that that's a good question it depends if 00:26:09.360 --> 00:26:13.280 it's like a private company if it's a private like a power plant what have you 00:26:13.280 --> 00:26:17.400 then they'll pay it but some of our power plants and other high meaning 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:25.280 point sources are owned by cities and so the city would pay yeah okay thank you 00:26:25.280 --> 00:26:31.240 yeah just last question I know you got to go but thank you so much for coming and 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:35.680 presenting to us today I'm on the climate action plan for the cities to be 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:41.640 eligible do we do the city councils or committees like this be to approve that 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:49.640 plan and then like be involved in it is there some sort of like process where we 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:56.600 need to to be able to use those funds and get those programs do we need to buy 00:26:56.600 --> 00:27:05.920 in and councils approve that climate action plan I I think you guys are 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:12.800 already a partner I just know I didn't know plan specific oh well so we're 00:27:12.800 --> 00:27:18.160 taking what like the different cities are wanting you know in terms of you know 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:23.080 we've been going out meeting with everybody and then we are going we put 00:27:23.080 --> 00:27:30.520 it into the plan from there so whatever projects it is you know and then then 00:27:30.520 --> 00:27:36.160 hopefully we get awarded to start pushing out these projects and yeah 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:41.520 that's that's what we know right now a bit it changes all the time so sorry to 00:27:41.520 --> 00:27:45.200 quit are you saying that we would need to request assistance through these 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:53.000 grants through you if we were going for a particular program I don't I mean it 00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:00.200 would come it would go through us but I mean it's right now right now we just 00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:04.000 have to include the projects and measures and they're not specific they're 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.280 very high level and then if we're awarded if we're approved and then we 00:28:08.280 --> 00:28:13.520 get funding then we go back out to everybody saying okay we got we got 00:28:13.520 --> 00:28:21.840 approved to do a region-wide signal program hydrogen program and then you 00:28:21.840 --> 00:28:27.000 know what do you all want to do with that do you want to do that in your area 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:30.920 yeah does that make sense yes and it changes all the time like we're 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:39.600 learning new things all the time this grant is a beat down okay thank you so 00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:49.560 much appreciate it yeah thank you all right so we will move on to item C 00:28:49.560 --> 00:28:53.760 receiver port all the discussion regarding annual summary of education 00:28:53.760 --> 00:29:01.960 and outreach efforts for sustainability programs for fiscal year 2022 and 2023 00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:19.880 all right good afternoon members my name is Julie say amador I serve as an 00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:24.160 engagement coordinator in environmental services and sustainability we're going 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:28.360 to be doing an education and outreach update for the previous fiscal year 2022 00:29:28.360 --> 00:29:34.520 and 2023 and this is going to be a little bit of our focus today but we're 00:29:34.520 --> 00:29:38.560 going to be going into some of the sustainable programming that we do of 00:29:38.560 --> 00:29:43.080 course which includes a residential recycling education includes the dense 00:29:43.080 --> 00:29:46.960 sustainable schools program and then sustainability education like local 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:54.680 food air quality a little bit of background about the sustainability 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:59.320 department and some of the education we expanded the recycling education in 2021 00:29:59.320 --> 00:30:05.680 and then we established the dense sustainable schools program in 2004 with 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:13.080 a full relaunch of it in 2022 with Kim Jennings coming on board and we've been 00:30:13.080 --> 00:30:19.520 having doing sustainability education since 2007 and that's of all since then 00:30:19.520 --> 00:30:25.120 we'll dive first into the residential and multifamily recycling education that 00:30:25.120 --> 00:30:30.400 I do and so here's a good picture that we had of our finished mural if you guys 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:34.760 haven't been out to prac or haven't seen the mural of the mural was done by one 00:30:34.760 --> 00:30:39.040 of our interns that we have and it was through the dense sustainable schools 00:30:39.040 --> 00:30:42.960 program that they were able to get submissions for the mural and prac was 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:47.680 a really good partner in that the person that is in the high-res shirt that's 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.800 Ricky he's the plan supervisor over there is heavily involved with a lot of 00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:55.200 education that we do as well but going into the first bullet it's going to be 00:30:55.200 --> 00:31:02.400 audits and contamination so I focus on the multifamily recycling containers and 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:07.160 we also have two other coordinators who we have someone like him for the dense 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:10.480 sustainable schools program that audits the containers and then we have someone 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:14.640 a business account coordinator that is over the other commercial businesses and 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:17.560 when we're auditing a recycling container we're looking inside the 00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:23.720 container itself what items are inside there you know is the it can you tell 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:27.460 that it's a recycling container in comparison to what's next to it you know 00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:31.680 what are the items that are in there and so through that we were able to get a 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:38.420 full-time full-time auditor and he is responsible for part of the cart 00:31:38.420 --> 00:31:42.240 tagging program that we have out in the residential field and he also supports 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:47.820 me in the multifamily side of it as well and so outreach and education through 00:31:47.820 --> 00:31:53.000 some of our tours prac industries was closed for a little bit due to COVID and 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.280 so coming out of COVID is a really great opportunity for us to bring people back 00:31:56.280 --> 00:32:02.000 into the Murph itself which is our materials recovery facility and it's a 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.160 great opportunity to remind people you know where their material is getting 00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:10.000 processed bailed and sent out social media has been something that we've used 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:15.240 consistently to educate people we manage the sustainability page and then we also 00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:19.320 manage the solid waste recycling page just educating people about what are the 00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:24.600 common items that we're seeing you know back recyclables plastic film clothing 00:32:24.600 --> 00:32:28.720 those items and you know we don't accept in our curbside program or in the 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.320 dumpsters but you can take them to different places take them to a grocery 00:32:32.320 --> 00:32:37.780 store at clothing we can donate etc and so through some of the audits that we 00:32:37.780 --> 00:32:40.640 have and then obviously the operators that we have out in the field we have 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:44.960 targeted messaging so operators out in the field will let us know you know 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:49.320 we're seeing a lot of plastic film we're seeing a lot of hangers in this area so 00:32:49.320 --> 00:32:53.360 we're able to do targeted education for that on social media and then also 00:32:53.360 --> 00:32:58.300 things like next door as well and I'll talk in a bit about the market strategy 00:32:58.300 --> 00:33:05.200 that we have here's that some pictures of our education that we did and that 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:09.720 first picture on the left that is one of the apartment complexes we provide those 00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:14.120 reusable totes and they have a little handle on the bottom so it makes it 00:33:14.120 --> 00:33:18.000 easier for residents to take their recycling to and from their dorm or 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:22.320 their apartment wherever they live we expanded some of that education through 00:33:22.320 --> 00:33:26.640 some events that we offer so I do recycling bingo with apartment complexes 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:31.680 to kind of get them out I also provide free pizza so it's a big hit with with 00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:36.540 the college students who haven't had a meal in a couple of days we've had over 00:33:36.540 --> 00:33:41.520 250 people come out to my multi-family events just for the previous fiscal year 00:33:41.520 --> 00:33:45.160 and it's something that we continue to do as well that second picture is a 00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:48.880 picture of scrappy getting the lowdown on what is and isn't accepted in the 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:54.000 recycling program so we offer we try our best to go to as many tabling events as 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.680 we can you'll see through our attendance that it's where we do a lot of good 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:01.160 outreach and we're able to educate people on the do's and don'ts of their 00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:06.080 recycling at home and then obviously of course you know reducing and reusing not 00:34:06.080 --> 00:34:11.440 just recycling and then that last picture is a picture of over at the 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:16.280 senior center of the Denton high new lines clubs and so we do outreach and 00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:22.080 education to HOAs community organizations if you have a HOA meeting 00:34:22.080 --> 00:34:25.120 that's coming up and you'd like for any of us to have a presentation whether it 00:34:25.120 --> 00:34:29.240 be recycling or sustainability education we provide that so that's something that 00:34:29.240 --> 00:34:37.080 we can do and so now moving on to our market strategy this was a really great 00:34:37.080 --> 00:34:40.520 opportunity for us to get creative and trying to reach out to people that don't 00:34:40.520 --> 00:34:45.360 typically just subscribe to our platform so you know maybe we are reaching people 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:49.600 to not bag their recyclables because they don't follow us on social media so 00:34:49.600 --> 00:34:52.880 how can we reach out to them and so one of those things was through targeted 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:56.520 mailers so we sent out mailers which are little postcards that just reminded 00:34:56.520 --> 00:35:00.440 people not to bag their recyclables and then some of those top contaminants we 00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:03.320 sent those out to the highest contaminated residential routes the two 00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:08.760 highest contaminated residential routes every month to just remind them and 00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:14.560 see that they get that reminder in that education at their mailbox we also did 00:35:14.560 --> 00:35:19.680 billboards and so we had two billboards we have this one this picture was for 00:35:19.680 --> 00:35:23.620 the one that was located at Dallas and Teasley and that was there for about 12 00:35:23.620 --> 00:35:27.560 weeks so it says recycle smart no bags in your cart that's what you'll see the 00:35:27.560 --> 00:35:31.320 tagline for a lot of our education to be just because that's really one of the 00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:36.160 top contaminants that we're seeing in the recycling stream and then we also 00:35:36.160 --> 00:35:41.840 had another billboard that was located off of McCormick near UNT and it said 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:46.840 Eagles keep it green plastic bags are mean so it was another way to just 00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:51.880 remind people to take their plastic bags to a drop-off like a grocery store and 00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:56.920 to stop bagging their recyclables we also use movie ads other departments 00:35:56.920 --> 00:36:02.280 have used movie ads before we had two movie ads throughout the previous year 00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:06.480 both that were going to be shown at the two local movie theaters Cinemark and 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:13.200 then movie Tavern within Denton and during that time we had them for we had 00:36:13.200 --> 00:36:16.200 the first movie ad for four weeks and then the second movie ad for 15 weeks 00:36:16.200 --> 00:36:21.040 and the second movie ad that we had was during Barbenheimer and so it was a 00:36:21.040 --> 00:36:24.720 really great opportunity for everyone to be able to be in the movie theaters 00:36:24.720 --> 00:36:28.440 already they're already in there for nine hours so they see the those 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:31.200 advertisements before they get to watch the movie and that was a great 00:36:31.200 --> 00:36:37.160 opportunity to do some outreach if you guys go past Locust and Parkway heading 00:36:37.160 --> 00:36:42.960 out of the square we have had a Locust banner there before calling out Texas 00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.640 Recycles Day which is November 15th we'll most likely have something around Earth 00:36:46.640 --> 00:36:51.600 Day to remind people to recycle right and keep bags out of their carts and 00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:57.000 through a vendor we went through the Dent Render Chronicle and we're able to do a 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:02.000 lot of different education so we kind of tried these different tactics that they 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:06.360 offer one of that one of those was a new article and so this picture right here 00:37:06.360 --> 00:37:12.040 is a little screenshot of a Facebook ad and it's from the Dent Render Chronicle 00:37:12.040 --> 00:37:17.160 so it reads just like any you know news article that you would see and says hey 00:37:17.160 --> 00:37:20.220 Denton Recycle Smart keep plastic bags out of your cart and then people can 00:37:20.220 --> 00:37:24.560 click on the link and it'll send them an article that we wrote and it's also 00:37:24.560 --> 00:37:29.400 pictures behind the scenes of the recycling facility the workers that are 00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:32.360 working back there and it was a really great opportunity for us to be able to 00:37:32.360 --> 00:37:36.800 highlight what Pratt does so where all of our recycling goes and what happens 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:42.000 there and so you'll see pictures of you know workers that are out in the field 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:47.240 that are up you know sorting bottles and so it's really great to be able to remind 00:37:47.240 --> 00:37:51.920 people that real people are sorting your material and so needles you know diapers 00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:55.960 plastic bags those are really big issues and there's real people handling that 00:37:55.960 --> 00:38:00.480 material and you know we don't have optical sorters we don't have robotics 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:04.840 just yet in that plant so you know until we get those things real people are still 00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:09.440 sorting the material and so it's just a good reminder to to keep your recyclables 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:15.040 empty clean loose and dry and when in doubt throw it out is what we always say 00:38:15.040 --> 00:38:20.680 yeah a question before we move on to the next item I'm on this with the market 00:38:20.680 --> 00:38:26.560 strategy and containment is it too early to see how all of these strategies are 00:38:26.560 --> 00:38:30.520 playing out in the reduction of contamination or like did we get a 00:38:30.520 --> 00:38:33.720 baseline and we're gonna do this for a year and then we'll check again or do we 00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:37.800 automatically see a difference well we definitely did see a difference in the 00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:41.440 reduction in recycling contamination we're analyzing that information right 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:46.240 now to try and see what strategy fit us best so that is something that we are 00:38:46.240 --> 00:38:50.880 going to be doing there's so many things going on all at once so we have 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:54.880 obviously the card tagging program out in the field we have these movie ads we 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:59.720 have a market strategy and so trying to pinpoint specifically what it is that is 00:38:59.720 --> 00:39:03.360 was the biggest thing for our but for our market strategy something that we're 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:07.920 still looking at and we'll continue to do and so just because of that I'll talk 00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:10.720 about it in the future initiatives but we're also doing other other cool things 00:39:10.720 --> 00:39:18.160 on the horizon as well and so for as part of the DRC package that we had they 00:39:18.160 --> 00:39:23.000 also offered banner advertisements which means that if you were just scrolling on 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:28.440 the web and any website that you had that offered an advertisement both mobile 00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:32.080 or desktop it would give you a reminder to recycle smart and keep plastic bags 00:39:32.080 --> 00:39:35.200 out of your cart and then people would actually click on those and it would 00:39:35.200 --> 00:39:39.160 lead us lead them to the den recycles website and so we were able to track how 00:39:39.160 --> 00:39:42.800 many people are actually coming from those banner advertisements and audio 00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:48.240 and video ads we were also able to offer ads on Spotify and Apple podcasts as 00:39:48.240 --> 00:39:52.160 well and it gives the same stick of recycle smart keep plastic bags out of 00:39:52.160 --> 00:39:56.880 your cart you know all of that and then we also had video ads and so the video 00:39:56.880 --> 00:40:02.800 ads and a lot of these tactics were able to be geo fenced so we could geo fence 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:07.200 them to Denton and then we could even target specific households and so we 00:40:07.200 --> 00:40:10.400 could educate people that were on the highest contaminated residential routes 00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:15.680 and we were able to see if they clicked on it or something like that so it was 00:40:15.680 --> 00:40:18.840 really it was really cool opportunity for us to be able to get to educate 00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:23.160 people differently some of those future initiatives that we have are include 00:40:23.160 --> 00:40:28.520 truck wraps so if you guys are in the square you may see it it's one of our 00:40:28.520 --> 00:40:32.240 ballet trucks we have two that got wrapped and so they have a little plastic 00:40:32.240 --> 00:40:37.800 bags keep the plastic bags out of your cart logo on them we also worked at this 00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:43.440 past football season with Denton High School for some of their broadcasting so 00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:47.880 we were able to sponsor four games and with that we were able to give out the 00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:51.920 message again of just recycle smart no bags in your cart and then we currently have a 00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:56.960 billboard in Shady Shores so if you guys can it's going to be there for about 12 00:40:56.960 --> 00:41:00.480 weeks but you can stop by. 00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:05.720 Moving on, I'll talk about Kim's bread and butter, the Denton Sustainable Schools 00:41:05.720 --> 00:41:10.120 program so of course when she came on board and we did a full relaunch of it 00:41:10.120 --> 00:41:14.480 in 2022 she was out in the field auditing containers and auditing them 00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:19.960 for contamination. The Denton Sustainable, the DISD or Denton Independent School 00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:23.600 District is a really great partner and that they're very receptive and so are the 00:41:23.600 --> 00:41:27.120 students to the outreach and education that's done through the Denton 00:41:27.120 --> 00:41:33.160 Sustainable Schools program. Through the program it also offers tours and so 00:41:33.160 --> 00:41:37.480 Kim doesn't just bring them out to the recycling facility they can go to a home 00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:41.760 chemical collection they can go to the composting operations at Dino Dirt and we 00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:45.240 also offer tours of the drinking water plants and Kim is able to coordinate all 00:41:45.240 --> 00:41:50.520 that so it gets them you know out of this out of the school room but it gets 00:41:50.520 --> 00:41:54.440 them out in educated and getting a little bit more knowledge about different 00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:59.360 city operations as well and they also do the Denton Sustainable Schools program 00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:05.120 there's the school challenges so they offer a recycling audit challenge and 00:42:05.120 --> 00:42:10.440 then a sustainability challenge and basically this school right here this is 00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:15.120 Cohen School and they were the winner for both the recycling audit challenge 00:42:15.120 --> 00:42:19.320 and then also the sustainability activity challenge and so they were 00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:24.120 awarded not with money or anything like that we gave them the option of doing 00:42:24.120 --> 00:42:29.640 pizza parties, popcorn parties, raised beds, stem kits and so they chose to do 00:42:29.640 --> 00:42:35.320 another raised bed and also they chose stem kits and something about Cohen 00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:40.720 School this one specifically Kim wanted me to mention that the stem kits were 00:42:40.720 --> 00:42:44.360 requested by other teachers so they heard that you know that they had won 00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:48.880 this challenge and they you know other teachers reached out to the other 00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:52.640 teachers to see what they needed and they were like can we please get some 00:42:52.640 --> 00:42:56.220 stem kits so I think that's a great opportunity for the Denton Sustainable 00:42:56.220 --> 00:42:59.480 Schools program to be able to fill providing that education not just for 00:42:59.480 --> 00:43:04.360 recycling but other other forms of sustainability and here's some cool 00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:10.160 pictures of them at work so right over here on the left is Hodge and this is a 00:43:10.160 --> 00:43:13.320 picture of them doing their own recycling audits so they're actually 00:43:13.320 --> 00:43:19.240 going out to their recycling dumpsters they're looking inside they're looking 00:43:19.240 --> 00:43:23.320 at what's in there and they're making sure the signage is updated and they're 00:43:23.320 --> 00:43:28.480 tracking the contamination that's in there and for them also it's plastic 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:31.960 film so there's a lot of confusion about plastic film that second picture is 00:43:31.960 --> 00:43:36.640 Cohen School one of their sustainable activities that they did and then on the 00:43:36.640 --> 00:43:43.260 far right we have I believe that's Hodge as well where Kim did a presentation 00:43:43.260 --> 00:43:48.400 there and went over a reuse activity so this reuse activity is where kids can 00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:55.240 make dog toys out of old t-shirts and so we don't just talk about recycling we 00:43:55.240 --> 00:43:59.760 talked about reducing, reusing and different parts of sustainability as 00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:10.720 well I'm sure you guys see some familiar faces there so in the center was JT 00:44:10.720 --> 00:44:16.120 before he left which makes me sad but tabling out in the field and doing that 00:44:16.120 --> 00:44:20.720 education what's really good with some of the tabling right over here on the 00:44:20.720 --> 00:44:25.560 far left this is Karen that's us out in the field at a apartment complex and so 00:44:25.560 --> 00:44:28.360 with me building some of those relationships with the apartment 00:44:28.360 --> 00:44:33.280 complexes through the multifamily education we're able to also tag team 00:44:33.280 --> 00:44:37.280 and bring her into some of those things where we do like sustainability 101 at 00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:41.280 apartment complexes and they've been really receptive to that while I give 00:44:41.280 --> 00:44:50.840 them pizza so and then of course JT at UNT I think that was at the earth it was 00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:56.720 it was a sustainability event and then on the far right we have Dan who was 00:44:56.720 --> 00:45:01.200 doing a program at one of the libraries so using libraries using what we have is 00:45:01.200 --> 00:45:07.120 really important so that we can educate everybody wherever wherever they are 00:45:07.120 --> 00:45:11.040 some of the highlights for the previous fiscal year include some awards that we 00:45:11.040 --> 00:45:16.100 received so we received an award from Tila which is Texas environmental 00:45:16.100 --> 00:45:19.920 leadership awards we received the exceptional recycling partnership award 00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:24.040 due to our relationship with our recycling facility practical industries 00:45:24.040 --> 00:45:28.760 and then we got an honorable mention for outstanding public outreach and then 00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:34.320 there JT is with his Arlo and Aaron North Texas where we received an 00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:39.280 outstanding outreach award and we got the award for an Arlo ambassador as well 00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:43.680 one of the bigger awards that we won was the resource recycling conference 00:45:43.680 --> 00:45:48.040 program of the year award for a small community which highlights some of the 00:45:48.040 --> 00:45:51.120 education that we were doing through the cart tagging program and many other 00:45:51.120 --> 00:45:54.240 things like the dense sustainable schools program but how it all kind of 00:45:54.240 --> 00:45:59.600 comes together to have a really good program that's making a lot of different 00:45:59.600 --> 00:46:04.840 strides some of the presentations that we did we spoke at Tex wanna and then 00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:07.840 also star as well 00:46:09.600 --> 00:46:13.440 when it comes to sustainability education some of the topics that we 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:17.520 cover our water gene water and energy conservation but it also includes some 00:46:17.520 --> 00:46:22.240 of the workshops that we do to be able to educate different people and so you 00:46:22.240 --> 00:46:26.240 know we have workshops on water conservation tomorrow we're going to be 00:46:26.240 --> 00:46:32.240 having a home weatherization class at North Branch Library air quality you know 00:46:32.240 --> 00:46:37.200 we have classes like air quality 101 for local food and we recently hosted a 00:46:37.200 --> 00:46:42.600 preserving the harvest class over at the MLK Center for some nature-based classes 00:46:42.600 --> 00:46:48.000 we have birding basics that we've done gardening on the go you know those fun 00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:52.240 classes that we get to do will also be at Clear Creek this Saturday for the 00:46:52.240 --> 00:46:56.720 outdoor expo if you guys see us something that we've tried recently was 00:46:56.720 --> 00:47:01.440 some of the pop-up events and so those have been you know popping up or doing a 00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:06.320 table pop-up at libraries the senior center rec centers where we kind of set 00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:10.840 up around lunchtime and do handouts or answer any questions and kind of see 00:47:10.840 --> 00:47:19.440 engage the engagement that's that's there for the fiscal year 22 2023 we 00:47:19.440 --> 00:47:24.000 performed outreach to over 11,000 people a lot of that was that tabling events 00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:29.840 through presentations do tours and activities and meetings we ended the 00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:35.920 year with 9,140 social media followers and again we managed the social media 00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:41.000 for the sustainability page but also the solid waste and recycling page as well 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:46.680 here's some of the locations for where we had some outreach and so you guys can 00:47:46.680 --> 00:47:50.840 see that there's some some dense sustainable schools right over there down 00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:56.620 in Lantana and then also in Paloma Creek where those schools may be part of the 00:47:56.620 --> 00:48:00.860 dense sustainable schools program due to the fact that they have a recycling 00:48:00.860 --> 00:48:04.400 container there we may not service them residentially but we service them 00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:08.960 commercially so that education is being done at the schools you can kind of see 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:13.440 that you know we're not favoring just one location for education we're trying 00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:17.680 to serve on all of them equally 00:48:17.680 --> 00:48:21.560 here's some upcoming events that we have so like I said before the outdoor expo 00:48:21.560 --> 00:48:24.940 will be there tomorrow home weatherization class will be tomorrow at 00:48:24.940 --> 00:48:31.640 3 p.m. at North Branch Library I have a recycling tour with a retired community 00:48:31.640 --> 00:48:35.840 the Good Samaritan Society some other events as well and then there is a link 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:43.280 down there for the city event calendar and then we'll do a quick recap of the 00:48:43.280 --> 00:48:50.360 outreach that we performed from October to December 2023 where we had 1600 over 00:48:50.360 --> 00:48:54.160 1600 people in attendance a lot of that education and outreach was done at 00:48:54.160 --> 00:49:04.680 tabling events and then presentation and then we've had some tours and activities as well. Any questions? 00:49:04.680 --> 00:49:15.600 Yes, I have a question. Thank you. Very thorough presentation. So, the plastic bags, grocery plastic bags, are still a problem. 00:49:15.600 --> 00:49:22.920 Yes. Is there a possibility to discuss this with the grocery stores and see 00:49:22.920 --> 00:49:29.240 what we can do to reduce the contamination? Everybody knows that we have a 00:49:29.240 --> 00:49:38.080 microplastic problem. Yeah. So I know for me that when I've had people come to the 00:49:38.080 --> 00:49:43.200 recycling facility they had no idea you know that plastic bags were an issue 00:49:43.200 --> 00:49:47.560 because they have a recycling symbol on them and so they see a recycling symbol 00:49:47.560 --> 00:49:51.720 and automatically place it in their recycling cart and so that leads to a lot 00:49:51.720 --> 00:49:56.160 of confusion and so I know that there are some you know states that are trying 00:49:56.160 --> 00:50:02.680 to move forward with labeling and what we always remind people is whenever 00:50:02.680 --> 00:50:06.280 we're educating them is you know on the little label I should say to please take 00:50:06.280 --> 00:50:09.960 back to a store always check with your local municipality on when they what they 00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:13.000 accept because just because we don't accept it doesn't mean you know another 00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:16.680 place doesn't. Plastic film is one of those that a lot of people don't don't 00:50:16.680 --> 00:50:20.920 accept curbside and you have to take it to a store and then I do get a lot of 00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:25.280 questions during my tours is also where where is it located so where is the 00:50:25.280 --> 00:50:30.600 drop-offs located and so many people don't know that they can take it to a 00:50:30.600 --> 00:50:34.680 store and that it's located sometimes near the shopping cart area and so 00:50:34.680 --> 00:50:37.520 people are still learning and we're still trying to educate them on that 00:50:37.520 --> 00:50:42.520 that's something that we definitely have to be consistent about it's consistent 00:50:42.520 --> 00:50:46.320 education and then I'm sure in the future we'll look at opportunities for us to 00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:54.040 start you know possibly collecting it at a drop-off location. So maybe if you use 00:50:54.040 --> 00:51:00.800 some visuals on microplastics I mean I know they're everywhere they're on TV 00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:06.600 they're even in the printed media but maybe when you do your outreach your 00:51:06.600 --> 00:51:11.760 education is good to start with that and make people aware the consequences of 00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:20.640 this and then something else I would like to mention I've noticed that Kroger 00:51:20.640 --> 00:51:27.440 does not have those pins anymore I checked last week so I don't know if 00:51:27.440 --> 00:51:34.200 they put them out from time to time or they gave up on recycling the bags that 00:51:34.200 --> 00:51:42.840 people bring back. They may have moved them because I know some during COVID they pulled the containers all together where they 00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:51.000 collect them but they may have moved them in or they may be emptying them out. Both stores that we have in town, they do not have them as 00:51:51.000 --> 00:51:59.200 you said by the entrance where the carts are. I didn't see them. And I have one more thing about the 00:51:59.200 --> 00:52:05.980 sustainability challenge activity that you bring schools. Is it up to them what 00:52:05.980 --> 00:52:10.720 they want to do or do you have a list for them? Yeah it's a little bit of both so 00:52:10.720 --> 00:52:15.960 there is a resource guide that's available to the schools and they're 00:52:15.960 --> 00:52:20.400 able to choose and submit based off what they what they would like to do. 00:52:20.400 --> 00:52:24.960 That can include things like if they do a presentation or if they ask for us to 00:52:24.960 --> 00:52:29.560 for a presentation that could count as a sustainability activity challenge. 00:52:29.560 --> 00:52:34.160 Another thing could be if they want to do any kind of garden workday or 00:52:34.160 --> 00:52:40.760 volunteering that can also serve as like points for that challenge as well. 00:52:40.760 --> 00:52:44.800 There are resources for them. 00:52:44.800 --> 00:52:51.640 Yeah thank you Julie. So I think the work you guys, your team does is really 00:52:51.640 --> 00:52:56.600 important and I appreciate you always doing a good job. I've kind of asked this before but not 00:52:56.600 --> 00:53:00.640 very well so I'm gonna try again. I understand a big part is meeting people 00:53:00.640 --> 00:53:04.400 just to put the right stuff in the right bins and to reduce the contamination rate 00:53:04.400 --> 00:53:09.640 and that's really important. Once it's at the Murph and it's let's say it's a 00:53:09.640 --> 00:53:17.720 clear bin, no contamination in it, with our plastics are we confident those are 00:53:17.720 --> 00:53:22.920 going and actually being recycled somewhere and being turned into 00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:30.200 something else and not just landfill right? Yeah so Pratt Recycling is the one who's in 00:53:30.200 --> 00:53:34.520 charge of sorting, processing, and baling that material. They are the ones who are 00:53:34.520 --> 00:53:38.440 gonna find those end markets but they are baling that material and sending it 00:53:38.440 --> 00:53:42.520 out and that's that's information that we have as well. 00:53:42.520 --> 00:53:47.800 Yeah do they track it and can you get you know kind of where it goes like where 00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:52.880 does a powerade bottle go next on its life cycle or that's maybe too 00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:56.320 granular but you know what I'm saying like yeah you so you see the pallet go 00:53:56.320 --> 00:54:05.680 away but it is going and being recycled somewhere. Okay. Yes. Now where they like me 00:54:05.680 --> 00:54:11.000 myself I may not know the exact location but for example our I know our glass 00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:15.800 goes down to Houston I know our plastic gets made into new bottles things like 00:54:15.800 --> 00:54:20.360 that solid waste may have more information regarding the tonnage but 00:54:20.360 --> 00:54:23.760 they do have tonnage in regards to how much is actually leaving the plant in a 00:54:23.760 --> 00:54:29.680 bale on a truck to a destination to be recycled. Okay I asked sorry to keep it 00:54:29.680 --> 00:54:33.920 going but I asked because I'm trying to learn about this and it seems like the 00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:41.160 the US overall recycling rate for plastics is low. I've seen figures five to 00:54:41.160 --> 00:54:46.160 nine percent at best and I'm trying to figure out and I know this is beyond the 00:54:46.160 --> 00:54:50.960 scope of demand. Is it just because everybody struggles with getting people 00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:55.520 to put stuff in the right bins or is it because even if they put it in the right 00:54:55.520 --> 00:55:06.520 bins sometimes there's just not a market or both. I myself so I think what I've 00:55:06.520 --> 00:55:10.280 seen a lot of it is just making sure that like you said putting in the right 00:55:10.280 --> 00:55:14.560 material so bagging your recyclables like placing it in a black bag or a 00:55:14.560 --> 00:55:18.440 kitchen bag that makes it very difficult for the staff at the recycling facility 00:55:18.440 --> 00:55:22.040 to be able to know what that item is and so to keep their staff safe they're not 00:55:22.040 --> 00:55:26.080 going to open those bags and so we want to make sure of is that you know you're 00:55:26.080 --> 00:55:28.840 keeping it empty clean loose and dry and then you're only putting items that are 00:55:28.840 --> 00:55:32.600 accepted in the program so plastic bottles and plastic jugs that's what's 00:55:32.600 --> 00:55:36.480 accepted and that's what's being sorted at the recycling facility and so that's 00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:40.560 what we want to make sure of and you know reducing your you know use of 00:55:40.560 --> 00:55:45.560 plastic as well also helps but yeah there's there's a lot of different 00:55:45.560 --> 00:56:05.560 things that go into it. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate it. No questions, just congratulations. It's clear from your award-winning programs you're really driving them to be ahead of the game and so congratulations again for all of your achievements this past year. It really seems like you guys are doing really great work. 00:56:05.560 --> 00:56:29.560 I just had one question. I was just wondering if there are any aspects of the sustainable education program that deal exclusively with climate change. Yeah, there are. We've had Girl Scouts that reach out in regards to doing climate change presentations and we've definitely taken the help on that. 00:56:29.560 --> 00:56:38.560 Okay, is there any way that we could get us in depth report on that as we get on the recycling? Oh, yeah. 00:56:38.560 --> 00:56:44.560 Like, bring that up to you. I'm going to. Yeah, in the next item. Thank you. 00:56:44.560 --> 00:56:58.560 Can I, can I just. Oh, go ahead. Just piggybacking on your question. So I think for the outreach with kids in schools we probably need to do more on the conservation 00:56:58.560 --> 00:57:07.560 and restoration and especially of native pollinators and their importance for our food. 00:57:07.560 --> 00:57:29.560 I don't know how many kids in school know about that, but at the DW we have two gardens, two pollinator gardens and we do outreach, but I would really like to see more in terms of schools. Once upon a time I was trying to give them, have a little bit of a garden. 00:57:29.560 --> 00:57:45.560 So maybe, maybe educating kids on conservation that is part of sustainability and answer some of the questions about climate change as well. 00:57:45.560 --> 00:58:00.560 Back to her question or your presentation about the bags and yesterday we don't take them, but you can take them here to the grocery store or Walmart or whatever. So, do we know where they go? 00:58:00.560 --> 00:58:17.560 So, I feel good, right? I've got my bags in this box. Are they just taking them into the back and throwing them in the trash? I hope. Like, have we, before we recommend that that's what they do, like, do we know exactly what they're doing with them? 00:58:17.560 --> 00:58:37.560 It will depend on the location that they're taking them to. So, I know that specific grocery stores partner through, I believe it's Trex and Keep That Beautiful last year or two years ago, they did a plastic film collection where they took that plastic film, provided it to Trex and they made it into a park bench. 00:58:37.560 --> 00:58:54.560 And so, it depends and it varies depending on who, like, what business it is and who their hauler is for that. So, it may be a hauler like Trex, for example, and they may be making them into park benches, but it's going to be dependent on the location. 00:58:54.560 --> 00:59:16.560 And I know, I know that our main goal is reduced, right? Reduction, not using these plastic bags. That's going to make the most difference. But if we can't, we're trying to get them into the right place. But to Adam's point, I also hear and see people even commenting, some random comment, like, it doesn't matter if I recycle. It's not getting recycled. It's going to the trash. 00:59:16.560 --> 00:59:44.560 And so, for you to know and when we have, you know, we'll know this goes here, I think it might be useful when we're doing these outreaches to have, like, a little, like, map. So, okay, here's where it starts and then here's where it goes with a little picture of, like, what it turns into, just to kind of have that visual, like, it really is going somewhere and doing something, maybe, you know, on our end, what we can't control and what we do know. 00:59:44.560 --> 01:00:11.560 I mean, I know as far as the grocery stores, we don't, but it just might be helpful in that outreach. Or, you know, for us to have that knowledge in hand, so when somebody comes up to us and says that, we can say, well, no, this is actually, that's not true. This is, this is true. 01:00:11.560 --> 01:00:33.560 >> Thank you so much. That was very helpful. And congratulations. I see that your numbers have increased really good. And also, I see visually out in the community everywhere now where, you know, a few years back didn't, so it's very good. That's good to hear. Yeah. Thank you. 01:00:33.560 --> 01:00:49.560 >> I'm going to leave. Is it the schedule? >> Okay. Let me go ahead and open the item D, receive and discuss proposed meeting calendar for 2024 calendar year. It's open. I know you need to go. Are you good? 01:00:49.560 --> 01:00:58.560 >> I'm good with one that was listed. >> Okay. >> It's already in my calendar. >> Yes. >> Maybe just let me know if you need this while you discuss it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you all. 01:00:58.560 --> 01:01:27.560 >> Anyone else have comments about the proposed dates? >> I'm fine with it. >> Good. Are you new? >> It's summer. I'm not here, so I don't know if there is a possibility for Zoom. >> Okay. >> But May, June, July may not be here. >> Okay. We'll bring that up with Catherine. I know we've been able to do that before, so. And we've done that with Mr. Stevens before, so. >> Okay. >> It should be okay. But everything else is. 01:01:27.560 --> 01:01:46.560 >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. So do we need to take a vote or is it just consensus that everything is good? It didn't say. >> It's just a discussion. >> Yeah, just a discussion. >> Okay, so yeah, we're good with the things going forward. 01:01:46.560 --> 01:02:02.560 >> Okay. And then our last item, the staff reports, green sense updates, EV charging, and the matrix. Does anyone have any questions on those that were in our backup? 01:02:02.560 --> 01:02:20.560 >> Hi. >> So I was gonna, I know this was supposed to be Catherine's item to discuss, and so I don't want to put any undue pressure on you, Julie. I just wanted to note, I think we had initially budgeted about 50K in our original plan for the sustainability fund for the EVEC program and we're inching up to about 37K. 01:02:20.560 --> 01:02:35.560 And I just wanted to double check that there's an ability to put in additional funding programs should they reach their max or I know that process probably worked. We would recommend an increase and then council or see if we would approve it. I just wanted to get a feel for that process. 01:02:35.560 --> 01:02:52.560 >> Sorry, what program? >> So the staff report was about the green sense updates, the rebates. Some of them were inching up to the green cap that we had allocated. So I was curious about the process, if there was an avenue for additional funds to reach some of those. 01:02:52.560 --> 01:03:03.560 >> Thank you. >> And if you don't have an answer, I totally understand. >> That's a good question. We'll make sure that capping doesn't. >> Okay, thank you. 01:03:03.560 --> 01:03:15.560 >> My question on the green sense was that I saw that 54 applications were rejected. Was there a common theme among those or were they just all different reasons or? 01:03:15.560 --> 01:03:41.560 >> I am going to be typing away your answer. >> Okay, yes, all right, thank you. I guess, is that it for, does anybody have anything on the matrix? >> I do. >> Okay, good. >> Almost a year ago, as of February 4th I think, I requested an update on the Denton renewable resource plan. 01:03:41.560 --> 01:04:07.560 Which is being updated. And I've heard nothing. And I wondered if we could at least get a progress report. Also, I'd like to add to the matrix the discussion of a climate change education program. 01:04:07.560 --> 01:04:35.560 A market strategy, such as we have with the very successful sustainability program or recycling program. And basically just have an opportunity to discuss various avenues of getting the message out. 01:04:35.560 --> 01:04:54.560 I think that's it for now. Thank you. >> Do you have anything for the matrix? >> Similar to Ed's, just sort of a status update. The chair and I have both requested information about, or a discussion from development services regarding on street parking and some other transportation code developments. 01:04:54.560 --> 01:05:10.560 So far as they relate to our climate action plan. And I knew that was scheduled for, the parking plan got pushed maybe twice over the last year. And so I just wanted to make a comment that that is an item that I'd like to keep progress on. 01:05:10.560 --> 01:05:38.560 If that can be scheduled, if there's any update on when we can hear about it and help council maybe reach some decision making about that parking plan. >> Do you have anything to add? So at this point in our meeting, if you had something that came up or something that you wanted to get a presentation on, is when you would bring it up now and then she would write it and it would come back to us at a later date. 01:05:38.560 --> 01:06:03.560 All right, Ed. >> Yeah, I have one more thing. Also, under to be scheduled on the matrix, I brought up on February 24th of last year a presentation on current city green building codes. And I would like to get that presentation. Thanks. 01:06:03.560 --> 01:06:26.560 >> Okay. I think we are good. Any concluding items? No? All right. We will close the meeting at 2 10. Thank you everybody for your presence today. I appreciate it.