REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of November 12, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Mike Roberts, Public Works Director/City Engineer SUBJECT: Spring 2025 Composting Event
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
City Council receive a report on a proposed community composting event scheduled for Spring 2025.
BACKGROUND:
Earlier this year City Council directed staff to look into conducting a community composting event. Since that time, City staff have met with various parties who could potentially participate in a composting event as follows:
Republic Services - The City’s franchise waste hauler who own and operate a composting facility for the curbside waste they pick-up. Republic provides compost for give aways in other communities they service at no cost and could do the same for this event.
Recyclemore – West County’s post-collection recycling joint powers authority, which the City is a member agency of. Recyclemore has an outreach team they like to pair up with Republic’s compost give aways. The outreach team disseminates information on the benefits of curbside recycling and back yard recycling as well as the benefits of composting in general. They also offer the 3-gallon kitchen pail as well as heavily discounted backyard composting bins which can be purchased on-line.
Hercules High School – Based upon discussions with the High School principal, students could volunteer for the event, though volunteer credits are no longer a requirement to graduate. Depending upon the level of interest, students could volunteer a few hours on the day of the event or have a much more involved role such as serving as co-lead of the event, teamed up with a City employee. In addition to advancing a cause students feel passionate about (i.e. environmental stewardship), receiving recognition from the City such as a certificate of participation would help them build their portfolio for college admissions or their resume for employment.
ANALYSIS:
At this time the event is envisioned as occurring in April, after the High School open house on March 20, where the event could be advertised, including having a stand-alone table promoting the event.
The composting give away would be located in the back end of the parking lot of the Community Center, which has plenty of space and good traffic circulation. It is very close to the High School, within easy walking distance for the students. Parents currently park in the parking lot and along the entrance to the Community Center and wait to pick up their children.
If the event occurs on a weekday, parents who pick up their children could receive compost at the same time. It’s also possible that donations could be made for a High School program, which would attract more people to the give away that want to support the program. High school students could assist with bagging and loading the compost into cars, tracking inventory, etc.
Republic could deliver the compost and Recyclemore would attend the event to provide outreach on curbside and backyard composting.
With all this in mind, a composting event seems viable and staff recommends more detailed planning occur in February 2025 for the April event.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The fiscal impact for this event is thought to be minimal at this time, only for the cost for the bags. There is sufficient appropriation in the General Fund to absorb these costs.
ATTACHMENTS:
Recyclemore Educational Materials