Inforrmation about Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Hello,

I am posting a transcript of my comments regarding the EPR resolution that the City Council considered this evening as well as the resolution itself and other informational materials.

Please contact me if you have questions or comments!

Best,
Rebecca

I would first like to thank Lynne Pledger of Clean Water Action for coming before the Public Safety Committee on two separate occasions to educate the council and members of the public on Extended Producer Responsibility and its principles.

EPR is simply a way to make manufacturers responsible for the recycling and management of their products and in effect, lift the burden of high costs associated with management and disposal off of the municipality and its taxpayers.

By shifting the responsibility for management and disposal onto the manufacturers, we incentivize product innovations that extend the life of the product or make a product easier to recycle or refurbish.

For example: electronic waste is difficult and costly for municipalities to manage- they are filled with toxic components and computers, televisions, printers and so on, typically end up in our curbside trash pick up.

We pay a lot of money per ton for curbside trash and once those products end up in a landfill they pollute our environment.

On the other hand, we make money on the amount that we are able to recycle.

So, by establishing a program that helps producers increase the both number of collection sites and types of products that we can recycle, we can dramatically decrease the amount of trash tonnage that costs the city money to dispose of while increasing the amount of tonnage going toward recycling efforts.

Not only do we save money on trash disposal, but we actually make more money for increased recycling.

The legislation that tonight's resolution supports will help reduce the amount of dumping happening on our city streets and alleyways.

It will also help create jobs by expanding existing recycling centers and creating a demand for new collections sites and recycling centers.

The Patrick Administration and the State DEP are fully supportive of comprehensive EPR legislation and since they have targeted Holyoke as the site of the near-coming Green High-Powered Computing Center, I believe that with this resolution we can continue to signal to the state that Holyoke is ready to think green, act green and ensure future green investments in the newly emerging green industrial economy.

I am fully in support of this resolution and I hope that my colleagues will join me in building Holyoke's reputation as a leader in the green economy.

Thank you.


/EPR%20overview%20pdf

/Resolution%20for%20Holyoke

/Patrick%20Administration%20press%20release

Holyoke City Council considers use of city-sanctioned e-mail system

By Michael Plaisance

January 22, 2010, 4:03AM

HOLYOKE - If Holyoke is to be a center of computing technology, some city councilors say it makes sense for councilors to be accessible in a city-sanctioned e-mail system.

But other councilors say they would avoid using a city system because such correspondence is subject to public-disclosure laws, which could discourage constituents who want to discuss something in confidence.

The City Council on Jan. 5 referred the e-mail proposal to the Public Service Committee.

Councilors also will seek an opinion from the Law Department. They want advice about disclosure requirements of municipal e-mail systems and issues related to the Open Meeting Law if multiple councilors happen to exchange e-mails on an issue, said Councilor Rebecca Lisi, who filed the e-mail proposal.

“I think that constituents really want to be able to have that quick communication,” Lisi said on Tuesday.

The discussion comes as a regional task force has been discussing the potential benefits of an $80 million high performance computing center. A partnership consisting of the state, colleges and private companies plans to build the center along the canals in a project supporters say could make Holyoke a research hub.

Councilor Aaron Vega said it is important that people looking through the city Web site have access to councilors by e-mail. A councilor can always tell someone who wants to discuss a private matter that they can speak by phone, he said.

“Keep in mind if we are to (be) home to (a) high speed computer center and to an innovation district I believe we need to embrace new technologies and ideas that move us forward,” Vega wrote in an e-mail.

The Holyoke Gas and Electric Department operates the city’s Web site and e-mail services for department heads and others. Adding e-mail accounts for city councilors would be a minor adjustment, department Manager James M. Lavelle said.

Councilor Kevin A. Jourdain has a Web site and e-mail access, but it is a private account. He wants the public to feel free to contact him without worrying the discussion might have to be made public because it occurred on a municipal e-mail system, he said.

“This way, if a citizen e-mails me, if they want that confidence, they have that knowledge that they will have that confidence,” Jourdain said.

Courts have debated the disclosure requirements that public officials face regarding use of e-mail and other electronic communication. For example, according to Reuters news service, the U.S. Supreme Court said last month that it would decide in its current term whether privacy rights covered a worker’s personal text message on employer-owned equipment, hearing a case about an Ontario, Calif. police officer who sent sexually explicit messages from his department-issued pager.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the state Supreme Court ruled in November that private e-mail communication to and from government employees don’t qualify as a public record. The Associated Press had sued to gain access to the correspondence.

John P. O’Neill, who is the Ward 7 councilor here and a lawyer, said he believes city business that a councilor discusses in any forum should be subject to public disclosure.

“In other words, if we’re conducting public business on our private computers, I don’t think we can get around the Freedom of Information Act,” O’Neill said.

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Councilor Vega and I filed this order at this year's first city council meeting. We will work to keep you informed about how the issues progresses through committee.

Historic victory feels 'awesome'

By Mike Plaisance

mplaisance@repub.com

Source: Sunday Republican (Springfield)
Sunday,November 8, 2009

Being the first woman is important, but Holyoke's new mayor is not losing sight of the issues.

HOLYOKE - The woman who would be making history in less than an hour sat in her kitchen and pulled a black shawl around her.

"I shouldn't hug anyone tonight," said Elaine A. Pluta, who had been fighting a cold.

But supporters either didn't know about her cold or didn't care as they lined up to hug Pluta, a city councilor, shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday as precinct results poured in showing she had been elected the city's first female mayor.

She defeated Daniel C. Boyle, by a comfortable margin, 4,794-3,245.

Pluta, 66, will be sworn in in January to replace Mayor Michael J. Sullivan, who has been mayor since 2000 and didn't seek re-election.

Making such a historic mark obviously matters to Pluta, who described the feeling of becoming the first female mayor with words such as "fantastic" and "awesome," but she also was dwelling on concrete matters.

There's the large number of Holyokers in poverty, many of whom speak little or no English, who need jobs, she said.

"We have to get those people involved," Pluta said.

Another big issue is the new-horizon potential awaiting the city with the planned $80 million high-performance computer center, she said. The project is being planned for the canal area by Gov. Deval L. Patrick and a team that includes the University of Massachusetts, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Prominent women and others here discussed the meaning of Pluta's election.

"Of course, she is an inspiration for many other women," School Committee member Gladys Lebron-Martinez said.

Lebron-Martinez listed Pluta's trajectory. She raised a family, spent 14 years on the City Council, worked four years as Management Assistance Program director in the 1990's, got a bachelor's degree in politics with a minor in urban studies from Mount Holyoke College and is on leave from her job as an aide to U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst.

"It is, for those of us who know her, like me, it is an inspiration," Lebron-Martinez said.

Suzanne L. Parker is executive director of Girls Inc., a nonprofit here that offers programs for girls of ages 5 to 18. Pluta's election as mayor fits with the organization's vision to help girls be strong, smart and bold, she said.

"We're always looking for women out in the community that are doing things that you don't necessarily see women doing," Parker said.

Pluta and her husband of 46 years, Theodore A. Pluta, have two sons and a daughter, all grown, so she said she understands the importance of an adult setting an example for young eyes.

But she said she also gets it that becoming her native city's first female mayor makes her a role model.

"It is a big responsibility. You have to be better than average. You have to remember that you're a role model and you always want to put your best foot forward," Pluta said.

She was born on Columbus Avenue and her family moved to Dwight Street when she was 2. Now, she said she is preparing to meet on Monday with Sullivan and on Tuesday with Gov. Patrick and other newly elected mayors on Beacon Hill.

Vanquished campaign foeDaniel C. Boyle criticized Pluta for being unfriendly to new businesses looking to locate here.

Pluta said as a councilor she has voted in favor of more than two dozen businesses. They included the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside expansion, the Holyoke Crossing plaza that includes Barnes & Noble and purchasing the hydroelectric dam, the key being the business can't be more harmful than helpful, she said.

Pluta's ability to manage a budget will be tested soon into her term. Most of Holyoke's $119 million budget consists of state funding and Patrick has warned that massive cuts loom.

City Councilor at Large Rebecca Lisi said the danger in assessing the election of the city's first female mayor is to dwell on that at the expense of positions Pluta has taken that matter to people, at least as much or more than her being a woman.

Examples include Pluta's emphasizing economic development that is "green," or environmentally friendly, and re-establishing a vibrant downtown, Lisi said.

"I don't think that her 'femaleness' was something that was driving voters toward her, but I do think that what it signifies for us, as a community, is we were open to sharing power among diverse groups," Lisi said.

Councilor at Large Kevin A. Jourdain said it is important that the city has its first female mayor. In Pluta, people can expect someone who is not only willing to listen and compromise, but will say no to someone if that's best for the city, he said.

At her home at 72 Berkshire St. on Tuesday, Pluta noted it was nearing 7:30 p.m. Polls would close - and results would become known - in a half hour.

"We should get going," Pluta said. "Time to face the music."

At her post-election party at the Wherehouse? restaurant on Lyman Street, Pluta's friend Helen F. Norris, a former city councilor, summed up the election.

"It's historic, and Elaine couldn't have been a better choice," Norris said. "She's cool and she's thoughtful."

Councilor Lisi wins re-election at-large and welcomes 2 newcomers to the council- Aaron Vega and Brenna Murphy

Remember to VOTE! November 3, 2009