Clean and Green Commission - Regular Meeting

Council committee meeting for January 13, 05:00, and we will have roll call.

Here. Members of meeting?

Presented.

Chair Andrews?

Here. Thank you. And we'll open the floor to public comments. Are there any public comments? Yes. You can go for Sandra Fox. Okay.

So because this is the sustainability committee for our city and we're concerned about the environmental issues at SkyWest Airport, several of us have been kind of gathering to share our concerns and to visit the site, and it's really astonishing what's happening at SkyWest. It's been closed or abandoned since the golf course closed down and the park district, you know, left. And I think the biggest con do I have, like, three minutes? Two minutes? Yep.

Okay. The biggest concern now is that the monarch butterflies are losing their overwintering habitats, and they love it at SkyWest. They're overwintering in eucalyptus trees and, even more so than they have been doing in, like, Monterey County and in San Leandro. And, there's several of us here that wanted to talk about SkyWest. And I was speaking with Councilwoman Roach about is is this the appropriate forum to talk about our environmental concerns, you know, this being the sustainability committee. So I just wanted to give a heads up about the species that are returning to SkyWest.

Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other public comments? Well, I

am also here as a just strictly as a concerned payward citizen also about SkyWest and would like to support and echo what Sandy is saying. Having visited the site and taking walks out there since it has close to the public, it is an amazing green space, and there are people in the surrounding community that are using it for walking and like, riding. And, I'm not sure if that's actually legal right now. It's not. It's closed.

Okay. Well, anyway, given that I, you know, I can imagine how complicated it is with the the city owning the land and that it's, you know, right next to the airport, the airport expansion potentially happening, you know, balancing economic growth with our environmental issues, I'm sure, is always a juggling act. But I I'm definitely, kind of here with the hopes and dreams of preserving more urban green space. And when I look at the map, the bird's eye view of where SkyWest exists, it is in a prime location that where it borders our, marshlands or wetlands. When we're talking about sea level rise, it's it's connected to that.

It connects to our right into the heart of our community. And Hayward is the heart of the bay, and I almost see that as the heart of the heart of the bay. It's an opportunity in my eyes to have an amazing serving grain space, and I could see potentially economic viability there with possibly, organic farms or things that educational opportunities. You know, a lot of I have a lot of ideas, so I'll leave it at that. But I would hope that maybe the city would really consider keeping a a portion of that space at least greener rather than we're not completely developing it with commercial or industrial space.

So that's my my personal hopes and opinion. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Could we Thank you. Your name, please? I'm sorry. Melissa Milliman.

Melissa Milliman.

Thank you.

Thank you. Also, chair of Green. Okay. Sandra Frost also would ask for Schulenberg. Yes. Any other public comments? Yes. We have our board director, Rick Asher.

Yeah. I I am here just representing the the public, so I'm not know, but it's hard to take off the hard hat in any time. But I just was commenting on some of the that were on your past agenda. And and in overlooking, I have not attended this committee. It's been quite a while.

And, you know, areas such as, you know, EV charges in common areas, artificial turf, shade structures, big belly, you know, trash factors in our parks, you know. There there's I just I I was telling them, you know, I I wanna tighten things up. You know, I wanna be able to kinda know what you guys are working on and, you know, how you're doing it so we can work together. Obviously, we have so many partnerships and so much of our staff, you know, is already engaged heavily with the city. And so I, you know, as a as a director, you know, I I I just wanna continue to to foster this, and I'm here to thank you guys for the work that you're doing because, you know, we're we're in challenging times.

I think it's with challenges come great opportunities. And I think this is really a great moment for us to, as I said, kinda tighten not only just our relationship, but, you know, we're working on EVs. We're working already on so many concepts that the city is obviously working, you know, and clearly, you know, aware of. So I just, you know, as you know, I asked if, you know, is there any hard staff coming to this meeting? And I I don't think regularly. No. And again, it just becomes a great opportunity. So I just I don't have any specifics because I wanna hear and listen what you guys are working on concerns that are are are being brought up of our common spaces and also look at these awesome solutions that we can work on together.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tiffany.

Any other public comments? Okay. Think we have that all. Okay. Go ahead. Speak. Mimi. Yes.

Yeah. Can you hear me? Hello?

Yes. We can hear you. Go ahead. Okay.

I can't I couldn't hear anything. Alright. My name is Mimi Dean, and I'm speaking as myself, not as, Oraloma Sanitary District. And I would like to say that, I am a big fan of preserving SkyWest, the former golf course, for the community, the Northwest Hayward community, which is really a very marginalized community that has very little open space and definitely is far below the recommendations of the Quimby Act. So I know that there is tons of monarchs there.

We have the most monarchs there, more than Monarch Bay in San Leandro and more than Bardenwood in Fremont. We also have western pond turtles there. And I don't know what other species we may have. I know we had golden eagles two years ago and a bald eagle very close to SkyWest. This is what I'm thinking.

I would love it. I know when Hayward was looking at all the two thirty eight parcels to kinda figure out what to do with all that, they did city sponsored tours taking elected officials and community members and other interested parties to look at those parcels. And I would really like to encourage the city of Hayward to please let's do some tours of SkyWest, and let's get a look at all the beauty that there is in SkyWest and preserve this beautiful open space for future generations. It's just absolutely amazing, and I would love to be a part of that team that takes people walking down there. So I hope that we can make this work, take some tours of SkyWest, and, I appreciate your time tonight.

Thank you so much.

Okay. Just a reminder for the public, this this location is actually closed, so please contact the city staff, regarding information about this location. You can reach out to Alice and Mary if you have any questions, but I just wanna make sure just for safety, because there's a security issue that we are not touring without staff, and and and staff have to approve any access to the location. Okay? Thank you. Alright. Any other public comments?

Chair, just wanted to mention that you have a full agenda, and we have timed it. We should be done by 06:20. There is a youth commission meeting here scheduled for 06:30.

Okay. Sounds good. We are three minutes behind the line. We're gonna catch up. Alright. One question from council member Rook. Yes. Just really quickly. I just

wanted to address if this if any plan comes up for the SkyWest property, assume that's gonna originate in the council council of infrastructure committee. Is that right? Yes. Because because the airport is with version to that. Yeah. I I just want everyone to hear that because that's probably where it originated kind of plans that come forward. Mean, maybe in the future, we do talk about some sort of environmental impact on the plan, but Absolutely. But I I I'm not sure. That might just go straight to council after that. Right?

Okay. Yeah.

So we would have to go to just one. Yeah.

Okay. And then to council.

Yeah. So Mhmm. Yes. So, myself, council member George and mayor Salinas, they are on that committee. So that's why. Alright. Next item, we're gonna close public comments. Next item is approval of the minutes. Do I have Second. Alright. Item's been moved. Seconded. Aye. Aye. Sorry. And it's passed. Next item is existing building electrification road map.

Madam Chairman, I'll ask for information on this, and Eric Pearson, internment is here. Perfect. So tonight,

we have a few people presenting on this item. Stephanie Dumont is our sustainability specialist, and she's gonna take the lead. And then we have a couple of former students from CSU East Bay. So

yeah. Go ahead, Edward. Good

evening, committee members. Will be presenting an update of the existing building electrification road map. During the adoption of the cap, two pieces of feedback were received from the public council and the planning commission. They were concerned surrounding the cost of building electrification and equitable outreach to all of Hayward's residents about electrification resources and assistance. This presentation will provide an overview of the most recent on existing building electrification and go over technical assistance options available through a technical assistant voucher program that would help us analyze the cost for building electrification.

A little bit of background. Natural gas in existing buildings account for over a quarter of Hayward's greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing emissions at this sector is is addressed in the updated 2024 climate action plan cap through six building energy measures and 53 actions supporting those measures.

As

mentioned earlier, two important pieces of feedback we received during the CAP adoption process were concerns surrounding the costs, public awareness, feasibility of existing building electrification, and concerns over conducting sufficient outreach to all members of Hayward during the creation of the cap. I wanted to call out three actions in the cap under measure two. Measure two is to electrify existing single family residential buildings in order to achieve a 100 thirds per person per year by 2030 and zero thirds per person by 2045. For some context, residential natural gas usage is about a 112 therms per person per year. Measure b e two aims to decrease each person's natural gas usage by about 11% per year by 2030 and a 100% by 2045.

The first action is CAP action BE 2.5. It is to develop a single family residential building electrification feasibility study with detailed existing building analysis and electrification cost analysis to understand cost implications, identify potential equity concerns slash impacts, and develop strategies to electrify existing buildings such that natural gas usage in single family residential buildings is reduced by 10% by twenty third. Task number two, cap action b 2.8, conduct engagement efforts for general public and targeted to low income communities of color during developments of the electrification strategy to understand the community's concerns surrounding electrification. And CAP action BE 2.1, Identify and partner with local community based organizations with connection to low income communities of color and development of the electrification strategies. In order to satisfy all three of these actions, we are preparing the electrification road map, which would cover equitable electrification behavior, benefits of electrification, community concerns, cost and technical analysis, education, incentives and potential requirements, recommended actions for residents.

The existing building electrification roadmap will apply to single family homes and smaller multifamily units. Larger multifamily and commercial buildings will be addressed in the building performance standards. In alignment with cap action b 2.8 and b 2.1 and the CSU recommendations, the city partnered with the Department of Public Health at CSU East Bay and Global Clean Energy Alliance, LCH, in 2024 to collect equitable feedback from residents of built in electrification by providing outreach and education to human community through in person surveys and focus groups. The students and LCA members are here today to provide their methods and outreach results. Fernando and Jesse, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, Stephanie. Hello, everyone. I'm Fernando Sanchez. I'm the energy democracy organizer with the Local Clean Energy Alliance. I led the Hayward Equitable Electrification Project alongside my classmate, Jessica Taylor, CSU East Bay student and Internet Local Clean Energy Alliance.

As Stephanie mentioned, this project was a collaboration between Cal State East Bay Public Health, City of Hayward, and Local Clean Energy Alliance. The goal was to understand better how much Spanish speaking Hayward residents know about electrification. This project began in October 2023 when the local the local clean energy alliance recruited six filing move Cal State East Bay students to engage with residents. From November to January, the entrance into one training reviewed survey materials and found out outreach efforts that began in February and continued through April. At the end of the training, we set a clear goals for our community outreach.

Our target were to survey a 100 Spanish speaking resident and to host two focus groups after the outreach was completed due at the April at the locations were City Hall in this room and then a Weeks library in the Tennyson area. Students were compensated for their time and survey participants received the gift card as a token of appreciation provided by the city of Hayward's environmental department. Next slide please. As mentioned, our goal was to reach a 100 surveys and we're happy to report that we achieved that. As you can see on this slide, we asked residents general questions about electrification. Great. Yeah.

As you can see, the pie chart on the top right shows the breakdown of the types of homes our survey participants lived in. They're either renters, homeowners, or others, such as room rentals or mobile homes. The pie chart at the bottom represents residents' awareness of electrification. And as you can see, most participants were unfamiliar with the concept. Next slide, please.

After completing the surveys, we contacted 20 participants to invite them to be a part of a focus group. To make it more accessible, we held two separate groups on two different dates at two separate locations. Mhmm. As mentioned previously, City Hall here and the Weeks library. The purpose of these focus groups was twofold.

First, to educate Spanish speaking residents about the electrification, process, and second is to listen to any concerns, questions, or feedback they had. On this slide, you could see that some key issues raised during the focus groups were, for example, insufficient support from landlords or property management concerning unit maintenance and repairs. Second, participants voiced frustrations regarding landlords' reluctance to address repairs promptly or their imposition of restrictions on tenant initiated improvements. Lastly, both of these focus groups were conducted entirely in Spanish to ensure accessibility. Thank you, Stephanie. Back to you.

Yeah. Thank you, team. In the next few months, staff will continue to work on CAP action b 2.5, which is to prepare an existing building electrification feasibility study. In March 2023, the CSC recommended funds from the energy efficiency and conservation block grant, eCVG program, be used to help prepare the existing building electrification roadmap as you convert street lights to energy efficient LEDs. Of the $197,000, approximately half is being used for technical assistance for the roadmap.

The Department of Energy, DOD, selected the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL, to provide technical analysis for the existing building electrification. Is the recommended scope of work for NREL. Item one, a study on replacement cost differences. Working with a local community organization, NREL will validate the average upfront cost of installing electric versus natural gas appliances. For example, induction stove and electric or heat pump hose dryer.

This will be done for a variety of scenarios. For example, a simple replacement compared to a replacement that would require an electric panel upgrade. Item two, a study on operating cost differences. Working with a local community organization, NREL will validate the average operating cost between electric and natural gas appliances across various scenarios. For example, weekly usage or appliances used by different occupants.

And lastly, create creating a case study flyer or video video. NREL will assist in creating case studies from existing homes that have already installed electric appliances. The study will examine energy costs before and after the installation of electric appliances along with a follow-up interview with the owner. The studies will focus on homes within Hayward or those comparable to homes in Hayward. The proposed cost analysis and case studies will not include water heaters and furnaces.

Water heater and furnaces will be regulated through the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. For the project, our next steps include working with NREL on their recommended scope of work, continue to work with LCA and CSU East Bay to conduct outreach and education while incorporating information from NREL studies, And with the gathered information, we will continue to work on the existing building electrification roadmap. Staff recommends that the committee accepts public comments, reviews, and comments on this report.

Thank you. First, we'll go to questions from the committee. Any questions? Councilman Roche? I

have two. Go ahead. Yep.

Thank you. Thank you for being here for the report. Really helpful. I because, mean, obviously, the issue is gonna be cost, both of converting and then, you know, the cost of energy. Like, one thing, I also want us to look at is, you know, I mean, different organizations offer grants for some of this conversion, but the grants are never enough, and it's so expensive to replace these items.

And so I think, you know, you're looking at people just not doing it. Everyone will just sort of crunch along as long as possible with what they have. That's what we've done. So, you know, like, if we end up with some pot of money to to convert or replace, you know, what what is the impact if we were just to go ahead and pay the cost for, you know, a small neighborhood's conversion versus smearing grants all over the city. You know, like, what impact would that have?

Because, you know, it's one thing to offer a thousand dollars for a $5,000 job versus, you know, a smaller amount of people getting, like, full replacement. Because I think that's gonna be more useful, especially for our low income because, you know, that, you know, 1,000 for I mean, I don't even know how much it costs. You guys probably do. But I'm sure it's a lot more than 1,000. So I would like to look at once we if we if we've got we get all the information and we know sort of the best way to do this and we end up going up for grants to help us with this, what impact would that have to simply replace like, you know, it's not a grant.

It's a it's actual the like, free replacement versus, you know, just a portion of the grant. Yeah. One one question I had. And then the other thing, I'm glad you brought up the area air quality management because I understand they have this new rule now. They are gonna be regulating water heaters and furnaces, I think you said. So so we're all we're just looking at what, like, dryers and what are the items we're looking at for not looking at furnaces, which is natural gas.

So right now, we'll be sorry. Okay. So right now, we'll be mainly looking at induction stove and electric or heat pump sliders. Okay.

Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. That's all for now.

Doctor. Two

quick ones quick ones. Will the grant receive allow us to complete the road map, or will we need another grant?

So internally, we'll we will be working on the existing electrification roadmap. Okay. But the studies will assist us in understanding the cost of Okay. Actually establishing electrification within the city of Hayward for existing single family homes and multifamily as well. Eric?

Yeah. If I could have I I her intent is to take the technical analysis from NREL, and then staff would wrap that up and complete the actual road map document. Alright.

So when okay. Alright. And the next one, how do we continue this program? So I like it. Wanna make sure that either more grants, city money. I'm not sure we'll have city money, but maybe more grants.

I mean, think that's part of the road map is gonna be identifying what resources are out there.

Good. Yeah. Alright. And I do have some comments, but that'll come later. Thanks.

K. Council member Roach? Yeah.

I just wanted to ask one more thing about you know, I feel like, you know, cost of electricity are so volatile. And so sort of under you know, getting the information from people and what they're nervous about, you know, why they're why they might be nervous about converting. That unknown seems so hard to even investigate. I mean, this seems so unplayful. But I'm wondering when you were doing the studies where is that was that a big concern for people? Like, will this cost me more? I mean, I guess it's

Yes. For the for the most part, people would mention, oh, my electricity bill is already increasing month by month. So why would convert like, switching over to electrical plants to sell? So we're gonna have to explain something at first. You know, you have to address the other factors regarding electrification, making sure the home is energy efficient. Then, you know like I said, my first is gonna be expensive, but over time, you see that everything will balance out and it'll be lowered. But you have to address, like, the other, you know, like, weather stripping to make sure that, you know, the heat or cold air is not escaping the house. So make sure the thermostat doesn't run continuously, make sure the house is insulated, you know, repairing, you know, any holes, you know, those little factors. You know, we had to explain that to them. And, you know, for the most part, they had positive feedback.

It's just the majority of those people's concern is that since they're renters, the landlord or property management doesn't wanna invest any more money into the into the home. And if they wanna do something themselves, they're very restricted. So it's like, they're, like, they're stuck in, like, in a they start to they're stuck in the middle. They don't know what to do. Yeah. Exactly. And if well, some people, not all of them, you know, they're they're worried about their status here in the country. So they'll they're they're afraid to voice out. Yeah. So that's what we had to kinda encourage them, you know. All this is, you know, is anonymous. You know? They're not gonna know who you are because, you know, coming to voice out. Your concerns, you know, that's gonna help the process, you know, to better understand, you know, what's needed to address the barriers.

Thank you. Yeah. That's helpful. And I guess I guess this is this is all a sort of data collection exercise right now with this money. Right? So we'll use that to Okay. Thank you. Thanks,

Alright. I just have a couple questions. When is the analysis due, I guess? Is there a due date timeline?

Should be done in the next two, three months.

Okay. And then customers may already ask about continuing this program. I know we talk about electrification, but I'm also curious. I know this sounds really out of the box, but underground utilities. Is that something that is being discussed as something that people have talked about because of what we're seeing in the climate change and down power lines and contributing to

Not as part of this project. Uh-huh. But as you have heard, PG and E is emphasizing the branding of utilities. For residential? For safety. Yeah. Mostly for commercial areas, but some residential areas that are in wide land and fire interface and so on. Okay. Yeah. It's very, very expensive.

I know. Because that's I'm also thinking about that as something in the future that we probably need to start discussing if it gets really bad. Possibly. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. And then are you all partnering with Conservation Corps or EOP as potential incentives? So if they do a survey, maybe they could do an assessment in their apartment about how you can reduce energy. They also give outlets, surge protectors, those and change light bulbs or those kinds of things to instead of a gift card I mean, you can do a gift card in addition to this, but have you guys talked about having those assessments when they give free incentives as part of this survey? Like, is it reward for doing this survey, or you can now trying to do it?

Yeah. We haven't really talked about that, did we, Harry? No.

But but we have worked with Is

it Rising Sun?

Yeah. Rising Sun has done and it's primarily in the summer when they have students doing the the greenhouse calls. So

Yeah. I

But that's maybe something we can look into.

I think people would definitely do a survey if

they can get free,

light bulbs and out, like, surge protectors. I think it would be a good incentive and and at the same time reduce their energy. So we would have had that. Okay. Alright. Are there any comments? We'll go with you first.

No. Just comments. It's a good program, and it's actually good for that you're partnering with other folks. I think that's tremendous. So it's I love it. I wanna continue it. Make sure that you do continue it. The idea of the forming partnerships is actually I would recommend a thirty second video as opposed to a flyer just because it's more livelier in thirty seconds to a minute. It's it's quick and, you know, do something snappy snazzy. The roadwork is fine, so keep working on it. And thank you for the roadwork. Thanks for doing this.

Thank you. Doctor. Roop? Yeah. Sure. I'll I'll be so interested to hear about the outcome of the survey. I just wanna thank the local Clean Air and Energy Alliance and for your partnership on this. I think it's gonna help all of us to get, you know, real data from people and what they're concerned about. Like, you've done like, they can't even get to worry about electrification, right, if they're going about things. How we combat that and still move everybody in the

same direction towards sustainability. So thank you.

Thank you. And I would say you might want to, if you have capacity, partner with the schools, you unified, the the private charter schools, because some of those parents, they feel comfortable when they see information come from their school because it's it's a trusted resource because their kids are there. So you might wanna partner with with those entities and then also consider working with the library on posting information just so people are aware because a lot of people use the library as a resource for the patients too. That's all. Thank you. Oh, public comments. I'm sorry. I skipped public comments. Any public comments on this? I'll make a Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Guadalupe. I'm with the Local Clean Energy Alliance. First, I just wanna I'm very proud of Fernando and Jesse and all the other students that worked with with us and really appreciative of Chandra Ganesh, who's the director of the public health department over at at East Bay. And so, yeah, I just really appreciated. This was a very exciting, you know, endeavor for us. I was stoked when Chandra hit me up and said that there was an opportunity for funding, and we were immediately accepted into the program because of the innovation,

the innovative and equity approach of our work.

One thing I want to I have a lot of questions and a lot of things to say. I'm not gonna do that. But I wanna emphasize your question about undergrounding. Undergrounding is very expensive, as you said, Alex. But guess who pays for that?

That gets baked into our PG and E bills, that infrastructure, and we would we're on the hook to pay for it indefinitely. So one of the things I wanna uplift is that Cato Community Energy has a unique position to build localized microgrids, to be able to power, the local East Bay and San Joaquin area in a more affordable way that doesn't rely on PG and E and their expensive infrastructure. And I invite anybody who wants to have a conversation about energy, and electricity. One thing we are concerned about, though, is that when people start to transition to electrification, those left on gas are gonna experience higher prices in terms of gas. And so we really have to find a way to do this, for low income folks and folks of color in the communities because they're gonna be the ones left behind.

That's it. Thank you. Power to meet people. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other comment? Just really quickly to add to the

point about rising sun. I actually did that program to someone who's got well, a different program. They are a great resource. And I actually know folks there if you want some information. But also, PGD, speaking of they do also have a program to help people, get free weather stripping and stuff like that, but it's for senior citizens only. But it we actually did it

in my mom's home, I mean, at least it's something that they do to give that to the community. That's all.

Thank you. Any other public comments? Yes.

Alright. So I'm just gonna make a public comment for my family members over here in Haiti. So just to mention what she said about PG and E offering, like, little, you know, incentive for weather stripping and stuff like that. My aunt was given the opportunity to get her appliances replaced for free because of her energy bill was so low, but she was denied by the property management and landlord. Mhmm.

So that's, like, a big issue because she lives in the low income apartment housing and the lower tenants in apartment. So we're talking about, you know, like, inequity, that's like an inequity and, disadvantage that those people face. And then on top of that, you know, they suffer a lot of, I'm gonna say mismanagement with the property management repairs. You know, there's mold in those housing for ventilations. You know, every time someone puts a work order, you know, they change the company maybe the following week. So, you know, a lot of people are dealing with, you know, issues within the home. So, you know, just because wanna make a little comment out there, like, some of the barriers that people are facing within the community.

Thank you. You can always report that to the housing division so they could follow.

They already passed on that information. Okay. Great. Awesome.

Alright. Any other public comments? Okay. One last well, go ahead. Go ahead.

Yeah. I just wanted to talk about a lot of the experiences that I've had with Hernando talking to people in Hayward. A lot of these people felt underrepresented, their voices weren't really being heard. And a lot of these people lived in subpar conditions and were often, you know, ignored by their landlords and were fearful that if any arrangements were made to the home that the cost would be pushed onto them. So I think there was a real lack of communication between landlords and services available for these people that that do need them.

I think that's important for the sustainability committee to focus on. It's just really expanding those connections that people require in these moments. As Jessica mentioned, you know, as people are moving towards, electrification, a lot of these, vulnerable populations are gonna be left behind, and we'll have to pay increased gas prices and ultimately live in even worse conditions in their home because a lot of these natural gas appliances do seep into the home, and these people do breathe in those hard chem harmful chemicals. And these type of things will happen in the long term. So it's best that we are studying them and focusing on them now before it gets worse.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Alright. We're gonna oh, any comments online?

Sorry?

Any comments online? Okay. Move on, and we're gonna I have to move the item. So is there a motion?

Oh, is it an action item? I have an

action on here. Is it a No.

Information on it.

Think we were just kinda looking for any key direction. Yeah. You know, in terms of

just review and call this meeting, basically.

Oh, okay. It says item type action on this list. But if it's informational Getting the Okay. Go to move on then. Okay.

Yeah. And we received your comments. Okay. Great. Thank you.

Alright. Next item is linen receptacle requirements for new development.

So you have expressed a lot of concerns over time regarding trashing new development, and this is the report on waste.

Yeah. Jeff Crump, our solid waste program manager.

Is that the side? Okay. Well, up to it. So this is a report on potentially adding a requirement for the receptacles as part of the permitting process for redeveloping a review. And this report is in response to concerns that the committee had expressed about the new sprouts raising canes in and out, center and if there were enough cleaning receptacles required by the city and if that center would generate litter.

The litter abatement efforts are a concern for the city. They fall under the strategic road map priority of enhancing community safety and quality of life, and so it's appropriate to look at that. And the city, currently dedicates significant resources to, abating litter. There are several city full time employees that collect litter, address illegal dumping, perform street sweeping, clean the storm drains. We have the key favorite cleaning the dream task force that hosts several events a year to collect litter.

There's the city of Earth Day, citywide cleanup event, and then we have stormwater inspectors where addressing litter is part of their regular inspection process. City also pays a couple of contractors to collect litter. There's the downtown, streets team, which, has been working with the city since 2016, and they collect litter downtown along the Tennyson Corridor. And then there's the downtown Hayward Improvement Association, where they not only collect later downtown but perform beautification efforts. You can see in the slide some of the planners that maintain downtown.

In addition to that, the city is installing more public litter cans around Hayward. As part of the contract we have with waste management, a certain number of new big belly style cans are added each year. You could see the schedule for the next eight years. There's gonna be cans installed every year. Despite all these efforts, litter still remains an issue in Hayward.

And most of these efforts are picking up litter after it exists. But one thing the city does that's kind of preventative is when property comes up for development, there's conditions of approval that could be put on the permit. And these conditions listed to the right of this, this image is of a Burger King on the Hispian. And for fast food restaurants, staff usually puts conditions of, litter needs to be picked up between 300 feet of the property perimeter. It needs to be picked up daily, and the property needs to be kept litter free.

And conditions are kinda high level, and the city doesn't ask for specifics. But most developers are good players, and we don't have a huge amount of issue with litter. But if there's a bad player and the receptacles aren't put in and it's not maintained, then it falls on the city to take responsibility for addressing the issue after the fact. So the committee had asked that staff look into adding a requirement for a certain number of litter receptacles, particularly a style can with a chute on it, and that mainly drive through facilities. And so the Stallican with the chute is a little small, on the right hand photo, it's basically a tube that the driver of the car can put trash in and not leave the car.

And in creating this report, it was asked, at a drive through, why does the driver need to get rid of trash when they're just getting the drive the the food? They haven't had time to eat it.

Right.

Well, what happens is often people go through the drive through and they have like their Starbucks cup in the cup holder already. And you gotta make room for the new drink. And so these pictures have to both be a Burger Kings and Hayward. And you can see the cans are pushed to the curb next to where the driver would be. So they're already the establishments know that this happens where people would throw trash out the window or endanger themselves by leaving the car to run a Red Cross and and put the trash in the proper receptacle.

So having these containers is a good thing. And here's some photos. The only another thing I wanted to point out, these photos were taken in December that the area is pretty clean. There's not a lot of litter. This is of the Sonic on mission.

And Sonic's a different example because it's designed to have cars people stay in their car. And it's hard to see in these photos. They had an ample number of litter receptacles, and they're all turned away from the benches where people could sit. They're meant for people to be in their car and put the the trash through the holes in the receptacles, and they're up against the curb. Here's a photo of the In N Out down with the new development of Harrier Mission.

And In N Out didn't have any of the cans for the drivers to throw trash in. I just had this photo here to show how clean this it is. The staff is good doing a good job of keeping the area free of litter. On the left is the raising canes from that same center. Again, they didn't have any receptacles for the drivers to toss trash in, but it's being kept clean.

And on the right, that's the frontage of the sprouts and the Ross Dress for Less. And although there were no specific requirements in the conditions for approval for this property about the number of litter cans, there's a nice looking stainless steel can with the three different streams for organics, recycling, and trash about every 50 feet across the front of that that center. So this is a good player. And so here's a closer look at the chute style can. And certain staff members expressed concerns that this style of can was required, the chute could possibly get clogged, which may clog cause extra work for the restaurant employees, or maybe some of the restaurant owners just don't like the look of this style of can.

So staff doesn't recommend requiring a specific style of can at the point you permitting. But something that can be done is to add some requirements to development permit application checklist. This is a list that applicants have to go through and address items when they're applying for a permit. And currently, the only solid waste requirements are for showing where your trash enclosure would be and how many bins you'd have and showing the access that the trash truck would need to use to service those cans. So adding a couple of checkboxes to show the number and location of litter cans, it wouldn't be very difficult.

And this list gets pretty specific. They ask for the number of trees and where they're gonna be located, the number of street lamps. So it's not unreasonable just to add a couple of requirements for litter cans. And so that's what we're suggesting. The next step be on direction from the committee, the staff work with the planning division to update that checklist to include a couple of items for public.

Thank you. Alright. We'll open up for questions for.

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for bringing this back because it's obviously an ongoing issue. And it it is really interesting. Because so, you know, you're right. Like, at that spot you're talking about, it is clean and right in front of In N Out and front of raised caves. But if you go in the middle of a parking lot, there's, you know, In N Out litter all over because, you know, there are no trash cans throughout these parking lots, which I that's what I would like to see happen because I mean, you know, putting aside the point of what is wrong with people that they just open their door and put their trash in the middle of the parking lot, which is what's happening. I was just there this morning. There were In N Out. You know, the cardboard trays, like, littered in several spots.

So so because they're not gonna get out and walk back over to the restaurant, unfortunately. So I am interested in creating more teeth in the COAs for for either numbering them. So, yes, please, on number you know, making people number what the, how many trash cans and where they are located. But as far as the development, I mean, I still think, like, large parking lots like that that clearly that have fast food, that have restaurants, and have, grocery stores, like, they need middle of the parking lot receptacles, I think. I mean, I've seen that in other areas where it seems to work successfully.

I know that means it's on now the some property want somebody in that ownership to clean those. But I think that's what we're asking them to do. Like like you said on the chutes. Are you Oh, sorry. Okay. Sorry. It's question. I'm sorry. Thank you.

Thank you, Cher. You're right.

This is just question. So I I guess I was on the comments. Okay. I I guess so maybe it's not a question because I am all for adding that. I I okay. So here's my question because I did have it in my I did have it in me. What can we do to add more teeth to the COAs? So besides, you're saying put put this in the checklist. But if if you said most are most people are good actors, but we still have a huge trash problem in the city, can we sort of assume the worst instead and put more teeth in the COAs on this as far as fines or fees. And then the good actors don't have to, you know, face that consequence.

But otherwise, like you said, if it's up to the city to go and check it out, like, we don't have the resources and the time. Right? So maybe it's better that it's an automatic fee if they're not complying with something in the COA. So maybe that's my question to you. What could we do to make this stronger?

And discuss with planning division to see what options are available to us. Great comment.

And and because along those same lines, I I know in the past, you know, I saw from the staff report that we we did talk about a fee, and that was shut down because we didn't wanna dig small businesses, which I understand. But I I am more interested in the people that are really putting the trash on the streets with which is the large you know, the the drive throughs, the, you know, the coffee places. I mean, it's a huge huge piece of what we see there out in the streets, and I think that they should be paying the fee that it's gonna take to either put in more trash cans or or collect it or or whatever we need to do. So I would I would like to see us revisit a fee maybe only on the large contributors. I'm done. Thank you. Sorry. No.

Can

it include thank you. Good report, by the way. I like this. Thank you very much. Can we include in this is it possible to include that a garbage can must be placed in the parking lot itself and then outside the door of the business? So this will be cover the parking lot and you cover the outside of the door. When you're leaving any of these places, you probably have some liver, so dump it there. And I noticed that Starbucks doesn't have garbage cans outside of their doors. They have them inside the shop. So that's some of the Starbucks that I visited.

So maybe look into that. Let's see. And that is it as far as this goes. But the idea is a very good one. So to continue it. Yes. Well,

are other jurisdictions that have requirements just like you're talking about that that can ask to be within 10

feet of the. So hoping it can be included. Alright. One question.

Yeah. Just one question that I wanted to ask maybe because you have or should we say here? That that can it are are any jurisdictions basically counting the trash that's coming in and maybe looking specifically at plastic coffee cups? You know, it is such a huge part of our waste that if our local, you know, collector of that is able to using AI is able to sort of identify, okay, some huge amount of this trash is specifically from this restaurant, you know, that that would help us assign fees and consequences to that. Is that are other jurisdictions doing that? I mean, maybe you can

I am not aware of that? The only thing close to that that I saw in some legislation from jurisdictions was that they require each restaurant to label every piece of disposable food where they distribute with their logo. Mhmm. So you can tell where it's coming from.

Mhmm.

Wasn't any follow-up that every

piece is cumbersome for some of

our businesses. Not this one. Yeah. Stop Waste has done they recently did a new, waste characterization study where they actually look at what what the waste is made up of. But I don't think it get down to the level of detail of, you know, cups versus other

Yeah. I mean, just finding a way to identify who the major you know, I was I was talking to Jason. Sorry. But about this this documentary buy more, which is sort of about this idea that, you know, that these manufacturers will sort of, like, admit they create all this waste, and they they don't care what happens at the end. And and I and I know there is, I guess, the right I heard there's some state legislation that they're working on to try to make manufacturers more accountable.

And I think I'm looking to see I want us to put the onus on the people that are putting this out there in the community rather than the consumer. Because I think if, you know, if if the manufacturer is dinged for this on some heavy find, they're gonna find a a more cost effective way to do it or be more efficient with how they collect it. And so, yeah, I mean, if we I would like to see us if you were to be bullish on that. Good. Thank you. Question?

Yeah. We gotta speed it up.

Thanks for coming. Just a quick comment. Oh, suggestion. Your list of people or places or folks who collect garbage, the list, it's it's missing volunteers, the resident, because we do have a large man resident. Top of the list is Tom Ferreira. They're out there, and the folks who have adopted the streets. So they're they also need to be including that list. Thank

I have a question. For this application review, what about the street vendors who are actually permitted? What's the requirement here?

I could tell you.

It's not a lot of requirements when I'm driving by. But

Not not permitted. They're not permitted.

Well, she didn't.

I don't. If I remember correctly, like, they're required to have at least a safe gate trash receptacle on their in their cart. Yeah. According to the ordinance, but Okay. Alright. Yeah.

Alright. And we'll go to public comment, and then we'll go to council member comments. Any public comment on these items? This item? Yes, ma'am. What's what's your name?

Matt Critcher.

Okay. I've been at

Schibald College for seventeen years. That's from here. I'm now working on sustainability projects with Schibalda City's Community College District. And my question is, given s b thirteen eighty three, why not three stream receptacles required for new commercial developments? They are. Oh, they are. Okay. I just thought kept hearing litter for like yeah. We're talking

about litter like, public litter cans. Oh, the cities

So some you're talking about three streams in the public litter cans, not just one can in the public litter? Because in the restaurants and businesses, it's three stream, but you want it on out for a public use.

I was

just asking. We're talking about parking lots, and we're talking about sidewalks.

I just thought

Yeah. SB thirteen eighty eight three doesn't require it for public litter cans. We like, the big belly cans we have around town, they have the two streams. And big bellies, actually, I when I've opened them up, I'm surprised at how clean the recycling is, but I wouldn't put a lot of faith that a organics bin would be very clean.

Push t shirt.

Yeah. Any other comment? Right. But now we'll go to councilor comments. Yeah.

I'll be quick. Thank you for the report. Sorry. I mentioned this adding to the checklist. I would really like to look back at fees, and I would really like to look at adding some teeth to the COAs sort of assume the worst actor to make it easier on the city, you know, not having to sort of go back after. And and in those COAs to be more prescriptive about how many trash cans each kind of facility should have. Like, yeah. Right? Every Starbucks should have at least one can outside it. And you're right. So many of these places have removed their trash cans. McDonald's removed some because they don't wanna empty them. So I would I'd really like us to be more, specific. Thank you. Councilmember Zermaid?

Good job. Thank you. Keep at it.

Alright. My, actually, I should've asked this question. Can conditions of approval include adopt a block for other businesses? Is that something that we can Any condition then to adopt a block? Like, if they can if they noted, does that help them in some kind of way they adopt the block? That's Good points. We can Like, some brownie point.

Oh, okay. Brownie point.

Okay. Do

do do condition, you know, that they pick up litter in the surrounding within a certain radius of the property on a regular basis. So it's similar.

Okay. Yeah. I'll be interested in that. And then also, I agree that they can throughout the lot because people they go through the drive through, but then they park 20 spots away to eat, and then they dump their trash. Or they are driving on harder. And I've seen I've seen a lot of Raisin Canes food on the in the medians.

Yep.

So they're literally throwing out their bags of trash after they get their new bag of Raisin Cane's or whatever it is. I'm not truck blame, just Raisin Cane's. But any fast food restaurant, I've seen it, and I've also seen it in the mixed use developments offering Super Experian. Even though they're not drive through, people are taking the takeout, and they eat in their car, and then they leave the trash in Target parking lot, for example. So I I will be interested in adding more cans.

And as far as the the chute receptacle, I I I understand it's more work for the worker, and I'm very sensitive to that, but these are major corporations who can pay the worker to figure it out. And these corporations are literally trashing our communities, literally. And so if it's a candidate they just have to maneuver, spend more time, pay the employees to take the time to clear them out. It will help reduce litter in our community because right now, we're spending months throughout the year organizing volunteers to clear corporations trash. So they should pay for this.

So I would like to shoot trash cans anyway even if they are difficult.

Trying to get anything else.

Oh, also adopt the storm drain as part of adopt the block because the trash is getting into the storm drain. So if that's something that you can also add, that'd be great.

Alright. So so what are we what are they supposed to do with the storm drain?

Well, if they wanna adopt the storm don't we have adopt It's

like

No. Yeah. It's part of the topic.

I've heard other cities do it. I thought it's not

Mother city.

They don't it's either city. Tell me. Tell me what's up.

Basically, it's adopt we do not have an official adopt a storm drain. Some cities have specifically adopt a storm drain. We do not. We have adopt a block, but we encourage people to take care of the storm drain Yes. That is on their block along with their name.

How do they do that? So just to make sure, like, to look at your storm drain. If there's somebody's junk piling up, they need to clean it up just, you know, as as well as the rest of the block. Maybe it's visual inspection reporting. Yeah.

I do that to my storm drains.

Yes. We do. Pick up water out

of it. Basically, cleaning the herbicide.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's how it is.

Yeah. No. They don't necessarily go into the

drain and clean anything. You can't do that. But just to keep an eye on the drain itself, things are piling up. Because as rain washes things or water, can stay

We're cozy.

An eye out for people dumping paint into their storm drain. You can you know, that's Okay.

So they get obligation. So Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. Great. We're gonna close that item. Next item, solid waste and recycling franchise agreement. Okay.

Okay. We are running late. Yes. So this is a report. Okay. We have performance of our ten year franchise agreement with waste management.

Okay.

I think Ben Ben Jeks is our recycling outreach fellow. He's gonna invent this report, and, he'll probably have also a few representatives of waste management and. So

alright. Ben? Good evening, council. Wanted to give you an update on the recycling franchise solid waste and recycling franchise agreement. Just a quick bit of background.

The city has an exclusive franchise agreement with waste management for solid waste recycling and organic services and a subcontract with TriSED for residential recycling. The elements of the agreement help to reduce litter, send less waste to the landfill, and help Hayward comply with SB thirteen eighty three, a recent recycling on organics law with requirements for. Excuse me. Those requirements include mandatory organic sorting. So all residential and commercial customers are required to subscribe for recycling and organic service.

Our commercial customers may be eligible for a waiver if there is a lack of space for those bins to go or if the business generates a minimal amount of waste. So you'll typically see that in an automotive business where there's just not enough to warrant that. Other elements include, enforcement. So this includes customer compliance, making sure that all of, the businesses are signed up for it, monitoring for contamination of those waste streams, and, also public education and outreach, both specifically for those and for the public at large. There's been a lot of changes, for recycling in California over the last decade, and it's important that we let everybody know what those are.

Some of the things that we learned about that come from the waste characterization study that stop waste conducts every couple of years. They just conducted one recently that revealed overconsumption in the county as well as contamination of the recovery streams, for recycling and organics. The recycling, for example, half of all plastic in our waste streams is film plastic. So that's your cling wraps, your plastic bags, shrink-wrap, pallet wraps, stuff like that. And it's a problematic material because it gets caught up in machinery.

It's difficult to remove from recycling in organic streams, and especially you don't want it in organics where it can end up in agriculture. It's resource intensive to recycle, and it's not a particularly valuable material either. So it's definitely something that we wanna be reducing and putting into the landfill instead of those other streams. We wanted to make a note that film plastic bags are actually a small component of of that type of material and will continue to be a lesser component as California's plastic bag ban has been updated and goes into implementation next January. The other thing that they recorded was that half the organic stream is successfully being diverted.

So this is your lawn put things, your food scraps, stuff like that. But half of it's still going to the landfill, which is a big problem because when it is in the landfill, it's not able to decompose properly, and it emits, methane. So it's highly potent but short lived. So if we can curb that, it gives us more time to transition our economy to be green. Excuse me.

So part of what we do is public outreach, and that includes targeted thirteen eighty three outreach for our commercial businesses. We do this with our partners at, Waste Management and Stop Waste. And in the last year, we contacted 1,200 businesses, bringing our total recycling organics compliance, amount to 92%, which is an additional 16% from the previous year. At this rate, we're looking to finish contacting the rest of those businesses within the upcoming year. We also do general outreach to the public.

This is done through mailers sent by Waste Management, and is in addition to tabling that staff and voice management does at public events like the Cinco de Mayo festival, the downtown street parties, the Mariachi festival, and the new South Hayward Market. We are also running digital ad campaigns. So in September, we started a bulky waste campaign. So this is your furniture, appliances, mattresses, things like that, through online ads and as well as in the waiting area of the DMV. In addition to this, stop waste and waste management also have their own social media accounts to reach the public in places where they're engaged.

This, program that we're running for the bulky campaign specifically has had a high volume of impressions and conversions, and it's performing pretty well. Staff also writes the leaflet, which is our newsletter that's sent out every other month. We have a smaller circulation than the stack. We're about the tenth of the size, but our engagement is twice that. So we have 40% of people who are mailed engaged with the newsletter.

So we're hoping to continue to find an engaged audience but grow who we're speaking to at the same time about sustainability in Hayward. Another requirement of s b thirteen eighty three is for jurisdictions to buy material from that organic stream in order to create a viable market for it. So the city of Hayward purchases compost for public distribution. This year, we distributed 10,000 bags across two events. This is up 5,000 from the previous year, and it's a very popular event.

We we had 2,000 people attend these events. And in the coming years, we're working on continuing to tweak the distribution so we reach a wider variety of Ingrid residents. One of the things we mentioned was contamination. Overage is also a problem that we're monitoring. The trucks that Waste Management and Triaset operate were equipped with monitoring equipment in 2023, but Triaset's trucks were only recently equipped.

So we don't have any information from that quite yet. But it does help to identify, when there's contamination in a improper bin and if it's overfilled. You'll see in the bottom right there that, that can on a street is an example of an overflowing bin. This is pretty problematic because it'll create a

lot of litter

as wind or homeless populations come through it. So warnings and fines are given to businesses with these and residents, with, contaminated or overflowing bins in order to incentivize a behavior that doesn't create that letter and and keeps those streams separate. Those fees are shown on that table on screen as well. So for the contamination rates and for the overage rates, you'll notice that residential are quite low, and commercial is significant in both categories. It's about twice as much contamination as there is overage incidents, but we'll also note that, these have been lowered since the start of the program in 2023.

We also have the Hayward landfill diversion rate, which is the amount of trash, that we're able to divert from the landfill compared to what it was, I I think, per capita in the past. We started at about 50% in the year 2000, and we're currently up to about 70%, today, and we're hoping to continue to divert more as we go into the future. So the next steps for, staff in our in our program is to continue aiding customers with s p thirteen eighty three compliance. We wanna make sure that all of our all all customers and residents have this service. We also wanna make sure once we get to that point that everybody's using it properly.

So continuing to work on contamination, filming out screen plastic, reducing it where we can, properly sorting organics. And then also in some cases, we've had, incidents where a customer will have, one of these streams but not use them, which isn't very helpful. So we wanna continue working on that as well. In addition to improving, litter and, sorting those in our two stream system. And at this point, we'd be happy to take any questions from the council and the public.

Alright. We have thirteen minutes. So Question. Okay.

I have been so efficient tonight, but I'll try. What do you think the biggest barrier is to the getting the number up for the compost? Because you said we saw 50% that should be going into compost. From

personal experience, I think it's just a lack of knowledge that it's a problem. I think that a lot of people don't realize that it's not supposed to go in the landfill and that it causes these methane emissions, which are quite serious, and and that that's a everyday impact that you can have in your own community to just put that in the proper can. So I think public education is probably the biggest barrier to that right now.

Yeah. Great. Mean, I agree with because maybe most people are thinking like, oh, it'll be great if I put it in the compost, but there's no harm if it goes limbo. That's a good point. Education on that one. And then the other thing is that films that you're talking about. I think so much through these days, you know, to take out an art, you know, the that we get these meals. Like, there's the film you can peel off, and then the receptacle itself or, you know, the container is recyclable usually. Right? If it's like a Okay. Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, maybe that's another education piece, I guess, because I can see people, like, barely pull it off, and then they put the whole thing in the recycling. So I can see why this

Yeah. I I know two quick things about that. The waste characterizations, study mentioned that a lot of the waste that ends up in the organics bin is still in its plastic container as well, which is a problem. But I think that we're all hoping that SB 54, which is addressing the the packaging on on food to change that to compostable and reduce the amount in total. We're hoping that that can make a big impact over the next decade as well.

Thank you. Thanks for the report. Thank you. Sure.

When would we when would we finish replacing the garbage cans? Do we have a time spare this year, six months, two years? Slow the time. That was your third point on the next steps. Yes. I believe

that we're finishing replacing the existing cans over the next few I'm not sure the specific

You mean the color matching the color? The color requirements?

One of your last slide.

Finish replacing all public waste bins. What? He's talking about when we're adding the new Big Bellies every year. We said we're increasing the number of cans, but at the beginning here, we're focusing on getting rid of those beat up aggregate public litter cans and some of the other ones that are problematic. Okay. So that's one.

So we're looking at probably in the year or six months?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I would say another year, maybe two years. We Okay. Got rid of all the the old ones and

Very good.

We the aggregates that are in good shape will keep in service and obviously. But

Okay. Alright. Thanks. Good report. Thank you.

Alright. Any questions for public comment in the card? Public comment. Alright.

I I wanna just get a comment also. I I wanna be really mindful of your time. So quick quick comment is that Sure. I was really curious if you've identified the line spots to people not understanding the composting program. And and what I see is that there needs to be more garden spaces around Hayward so people can actually make their own compost, bring their own food waste. And that that's like a jump start for community education on composting. I live in an apartment complex, and people totally don't understand decomposition of organic matter. And and I'm the only one that's composting in one of these green bins like myself. And it's so heavy now that nobody nobody picks it up. Nobody can move it.

And and it's like, you know, help. Help. And and then she she has a comment over there too.

Alright. Carmen? Yeah. I'm just gonna say that you invest What's your name? Sorry. Virginia Harrington from Waste Management and Freight Report. We're just gonna counselor Roshio asked about, like, why people don't, you know, use organics. I this is my very technical term called the factor, and it's the food waste. I think in the single family home, you might have yard clippings to put your food waste on top of in your green container, but we do hear from people in multifamily complexes that, you know, they might just have a few food scraps, and it's more convenient just to put it into the trash. I don't have a solution for this yet, so I think a public education can help. But that is an issue. You know, someone's in an apartment, they just have a

few food scraps. It absolutely public education. You just wanna do is layer it with paper and scrap cardboard and, like, you know, and you can alternate the greens and browns. And it it's just educating people about it. And then you have if we had garden spaces, then people will purchase the city compost to build out their gardens, but they'll also be able to deal with their kitchen waste. Yeah.

Yeah. We can't talk about the.

I'm just

gonna wait to the car in the rear.

Sure. My comment is in regards to the the new TriSet trucks. This is Jason Toro with with with TriSet Community Recycling. I got you. So so we had significant delivery issues with the trucks, but they're finally all in.

And so we we we had to wait in for all the trucks to come in in order for us to install the the third eye, the the the camera system, because the company is coming from out of state and we didn't want them to come multiple times. So we we finally got the camera system up, and now we're we're in the pilot phase, and there were some address issues with with with with multiple addresses being being associated with the same contamination. Mhmm. But we've through this pilot project, we've we've been able to address it, and there's gonna be a new update to the system that's gonna be happening this quarter, q one, and we should be up and running officially and and and collecting fees by July 1.

Great. Any other thoughts, though? Yes.

You know, contamination, and we've heard that word so many times with this with the organic compost. And it's the key thing.

It's not that the city, the

counties, and the the agencies aren't educating. Like, how do you get that message through? So this next meeting is the Hayward Youth Commission. You know, the kids can teach the parents. I think it goes back to, like, who is the messenger of this contamination issue? So I'm gonna bring it up in the Hayward Youth Commission to say possibly a presentation from the city in regards to, you know, when I came back from college and as a kid, I would take a pair of some recycling and compost. They didn't believe it until it actually got done. So that's, you know, the messengers is the the youth is really important.

Alright. And then about Yeah.

Quick thirty seconds. We're we're excited to announce that we're getting ready to to have a 5 and a half million dollar upgrade to our MRF, which will be adding a lot of automation. What

is MRF?

Material recovery facility, which is where all the sorters are at, sorting all the material and getting ready to be shipped out as commodities. So this is gonna significantly improve our our our our diversion. Mhmm. I'm super excited. Good. Thank you. We we invite everyone to come out for a tour once we get it all.

Got it. Pinet? Oh, any comments? Alright. So cast member comments.

No. I'm good. Thank you

for all of all you're

doing there. I'm glad to see the progress, and let's just keep trying. Alright. Keep at it.

Thank you. Thank you. Comment?

We mentioned stop waste a couple of times. Let's invite Tom Burrows to come present present stop waste so that everybody can meet here and talk about this program. Thank you. He's a good guy. He's very knowledgeable.

That's why Rosha is really pumped.

Yeah. I just wanna thank all of our partners for being here. Thank you. I know, like, all of us working together, maybe we can, you know, make and thank you for cleaning green. We can all make an impact on this and hard. Thank you. Yeah. Cal State Hayward. Is. Thank you, everyone.

You're welcome. And then I just had a couple of comments. You know, I just wanted to say that both waste management and TRISA did excellent presentations to keeping their work clean and green. It's okay. I don't know if those presentations are available.

Just at least the PowerPoints would be great for us to review in the future sustainability committee and figure out how to make that more for public consumption in a way that's digestible through the leaflet. But it did talk about how the sorting should be and things you think are recyclable and not recyclable, things you think are not. So if we can figure that out, that would be great. And then also agree with the garden spaces and figure that out in the future, but it was a feature, topic that we could talk about. And then, also the, the leaflet conversion rate considered catchier subject lines. Maybe that would help. Maybe.

Also,

just just an idea. Okay. We're gonna close oh, yes. There's a hand raised on Zoom. Oh, have a comment? Zoom? Speak. Go ahead, Mimi.

Yeah. I've had I had my hand up for the last topic as well. So I just wanna say that I'm really glad you guys are doing something about composting. I think it's our most important thing we can be looking at as far as our trash, our recycling, or our composting. I think public education, especially through children. You know, Oro Loma used to have a really great program, and it really got the families involved. And I think Hayward has the ability to implement some really fantastic programs and make our dream of being green really happen. So that's about all I have to say on this topic. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. We're gonna close this item. Next item, agenda planning calendar.

Looks good.

That's yeah. Sounds good.

I think we're good. Right?

Don't move. Let me

give this one.

I've got a few slides, but I

Let's do the calendar slides. It's the public.

It's on here.

It's on there.

Does. It's on the calendar. That's right. Perhaps

add stopwaste.org presentation by Tim Burrows.

Council member. Tim Burrows is also on the s p fifty four advisory committee. Yes. Yeah.

So these are some future items here. Our next meeting is March 10. And are there any questions from the committees? Alright. Public comment? No? Okay. Comment? No? Okay. We'll close the item. And staff announcement?

It's it's an it's an action item, so I moved. Oh. I moved the item.

I'll second. Move the item. Second. Okay. Aye. Approved. Aye. Aye. Okay. Alright. Close. Next item, staff announcements.

I'll save my items for next time.

Any items for the committee? There will be a toiletry drive for the So Cal wildfire One. That is happening. So January 14, which is tomorrow through the twenty fifth, you can go to Brick by Brick Toys and drop off. You can go to Stack Records, and then also LIUNA on Mission. If you have questions about it, you can go to Toiletry Drive Hayward at Gmail if you have any questions. And then there will be an event at Southland Mall, January 25 from two to 5PM outside of JCPenney's. So it just all came together today, so we're still sorting things out. That was gonna end for this next week and a half. K?

Thank you. Thank

you. Good meeting.

You got minutes to spare. Alright?

Invading a nerd.