A wide assortment of topics were brought up during the Solid Waste and Environment Committee’s latest meeting on February 5 in their latest efforts to help Londonderry residents minimize their waste, reduce their tax burden and protect and beautify their local environment.
For starters, committee members discussed their continued work on producing a series of educational videos to train residents on different environmental matters, including the burning of paper logs and where they can properly dispose of pharmacy sharps. But their upcoming video, which discussed the Household Hazardous Waste Day, took front and center. While the video already has a script established, several members offered tips for how the information on it could be more accurate, as well as note how essential it was to keep the writing casual and charismatic and feature local residents that viewers could associate with.
Secondly, members went over the next idea they have for their bimonthly environmental columns that they do for the Londonderry Times, in conjunction with the Conservation Commission. Members of the committee felt that they should try to address plastic recycling in one such article, discussing the likes of taking advantage of used plastic bag stations, what types of restrictions are currently placed on the production of plastic bags and the general process of properly recycling these bags. However, members did not that this may present some problems for residents, as not many used bag stations seem to exist in Londonderry outside of Home Depot.
Third, members were forced to address the issue of the “Welcome to Derry” sign on Rockingham Road being destroyed for the second time in four years. Although they were not entirely sure as to what caused the destruction of the sign, some theorized that it was due to a combination of the elements from the latest series of winter storms and snow blower trucks hitting the sign with snow and causing it to collapse. In order to help prevent this from happening in the future, members suggested reinforcing the back with marine-grade plywood in the future.
Finally, members discussed what they felt needed to be a major overhaul of the signage for the town’s drop-off center. Although replacing the dilapidated signage is one matter, the bigger matter was changing the name of the station. Although no new name was agreed upon at the meeting, members felt that they needed to change it to something more attractive in order to encourage more residents to use it, while not making it too fancy and risking confusing residents over its purpose.