Ms. Pearthree explained that the Regional Plan interacts with many other City plans, and sustainability interacts with all the plans. It addresses the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County, must be ratified by voters every 10 years, and addresses land use, policy-making, 100-year water supply designation and transportation planning. 

Currently, the plan is in Phase 3 of the 2045 update. A 60-day public review is coming up from October 20th through December 19th. The last meeting of Regional Plan Committee before the draft goes out to the community is September 30th at 6 P.M. Ms. Pearthree will let Commissioners know soon if any comments they provide will be accepted as private individuals or as a Commission. Four Regional Plan workshops are scheduled to go through the chapters, for November 13th, 14th, 15th, and 18th).   

Sara Dechter from Comprehensive Planning will lead the discussion of the Regional Plan at October’s Sustainability Commission meeting. Ms. Pearthree noted that Ms. Dechter will share a matrix of comments from herself, Director Nicole Antonopoulos, and Climate Section Director Jenny Nieman, and where they were implemented, as well as priority areas for sustainability.

Commissioners expressed frustration about knowing what is recyclable and what is not and questioned why the City cannot pressure retailers to accept reusable items back from their customers (such as markets accepting plastic egg cartons that are not recyclable in Flagstaff), for example, with an additional tax to dispose of their waste. Mr. Beckett replied that it is not our place to require or even request that retailers accept reusable packaging.  

He said fundamental improvements are needed, for example, to reduce emissions in the current recycling process, as well as more outreach to and education of the public. What the City can and cannot do is greatly affected by recycling industry factors beyond anyone’s control. As a nation, we need to invest in the process with the industries producing the products. After China abandoned the U.S. recycling market, the industry provider for Flagstaff's hub in Phoenix went out of business because there was no longer demand for our recycling. Fortunately, there was only a seven-day gap in City-provided recycling services. The Flagstaff recycling plant was decommissioned thereafter due to its aging facilities, and our product now goes to a transfer facility in Phoenix. 

Although recycling is not profitable, it is high-value from a community investment standpoint. According to Mr. Beckett, the best available path forward is efficiently transporting the product to the most sustainable location, encouraging the public to use less, and educating them on how to dispose of the rest properly. There are limited resources to accomplish these ends. Solid Waste is seeking a recycling professional to come onboard with the Division; however, there are currently only 44 staff members.   

Rather than the phrase, “when in doubt throw it out,” Commissioner Konkel likes to promote “use less and recycle what you can.” 

Vice Chair Metzger thanked Mr. Beckett, Mr. Overton, and all those who sustained the recycling program, saying many cities stopped recycling. 

Mr. Overton (Public Works Director) said the percentage of contaminated recycling diverted to the landfill was fairly low, around 15 percent (whereas in many places it is closer to 30 percent).   

R. Crawford suggested the MRF (Friendman Recycling Materials Recovery Facility) have a reuse room similar to the one at the Hazardous Products Center but for non-chemical items; Mr. Overton replied that while reuse diversion at a private thrift store might be a good idea, it is difficult and costly to license a second City facility to do this. 

Ward Davis shared a video he created explaining what is and is not recyclable and how and where to recycle in Flagstaff, including pay-for-recyclable options: 

Cans must be empty and reasonably clean. 

Steel can go to the recycling company on Route 66. 

Aluminum can go to Isaac Recycling ($.20-$.50/pound). They also pay for brass and copper, including power cords and wiring. 

Almost all paper and cardboard, including window envelopes, cereal and corrugated boxes (but not waxed, plastic-coated, or contaminated paper) is acceptable. 

White office paper can be shredded at Elevated Shredding, with the exception of colored or glossy paper. 

Bottles, jugs and jars are recyclable, but no films or plastic bags. 

All items can go in the same container with the exception of glass, which must be sorted and picked up/dropped off separately. 

Bagging trash in plastic is good, however bagged recycling is not. 

Ms. Rapacki said she believes in circular economies, proximity, keeping things local, and that there is no one answer to recycling, and her job is to communicate that. She worked at Zero Waste at ASU, where she learned about producer responsibility and not to put all the pressure on the consumer. She also worked at an organic farm and is interested in food systems. She is involved in events such as the Willow Bend vermicompost event, the Compost Council and new Community Garden Advisory Group, Community Garden composting, the Pumpkin composting dropoffs (November 4th, then again in December),Treecycling with Solid Waste, Dropoff Day (October 26th), FixIt Clinics, collaborations with NAU and local youth, Innovate Waste, the Zero Waste Ambassador program, and Neighborhood Sustainability Grants.  

Commissioner Carlson, who is a member of the Community Garden Advisory Group, mentioned they discussed food waste reduction promotion and scaling composting pickup, and Ms. Rapacki added different community drop-offs allow citizens to compost without having to do it in their homes. Steven Thompson said the Carbon Neutrality Plan requires sustainable consumption and reducing waste because it overlaps with emissions (i.e., fewer trash trucks picking up waste). 

Commissioner Carlson said he is new to Flagstaff but has worked with the NAU Climate Resilience Corp and now with the Forest Service Watershed. He has served on various nonprofit Boards and has a background in earth science and IT. He loves native plants, gardening, and climate resilience and mitigation. 

Commissioner Born grew up in Flagstaff and is raising his family here, so he explained he deeply cares about the city's future. He just graduated from NAU with a degree in sustainability and a minor in community engagement. He also serves on the Friends of Flagstaff’s Future Board. 

Josh Morse works at Rooftop Solar and said he has a great interest in sustainability and so he has volunteered as a review panelist for the Neighborhood Sustainability Grants. 

The application deadline is September 30th at midnight. Ms. Hatton said the various workshops and support hours provided were attended. She discussed the importance of Commissioners adhering to the scoring criteria and rubric to prevent biases. She offered prerecorded training from the Regional Arts Commission for their grant review panel. She emphasized that scoring projects should focus on the project rather than the applicants' personalities. 

To minimize bias and keep scoring consistent, Commissioner Konkel encouraged reviewers to read through several applications before scoring (not to say every reviewer should/will have the same score). Scores will be tallied into a spreadsheet at the combination November/December Commission meeting, where review panelists will further examine projects with the most disparate scores across reviewers.  

Together, the Commission looked at the scoring evaluation criteria with an old application as the example; discussion and clarifications ensued. Conformity with grant goals has to be explicit, although panelists determined it did not necessarily have to be described in this section to receive credit as long as it is in the application somewhere. Commissioner Konkel discouraged point inflation because it makes choosing grant award recipients even more difficult. The bonus point in this section can be given even if the score is below a 6. Ms. Hatton pointed out that the bonus point incorporates new equity goals for this year. She requested that all panelists have a record of their comments so the Commission can provide helpful feedback to applicants.  

Ms. Hatton told Commissioners that grant proposals would be distributed late the following week and to please take personal notes for every grant and category while reviewing applications since there will be weeks between individual grant reviews and group discussions of the grant applications. Also, panelists should note any recommended changes in application wording/questions. Applicants will not see these personal notes however the feedback columns will be shared with them. Application review assignments will be randomized, with at least three Commissioners per application. 

Commissioner Carlson requested that the public health and sustainability of the rail line be added. He can provide relevant backgroung materials. 

Commissioner Born suggested discussing the Pinyon Plain Uranium Mine on the Navajo Nation.