REMARKS
Council Member Sandy Nurse discusses e-bike battery disposal, single-use plastics, and waste characterization studies
0:06:28
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3 min
Council Member Sandy Nurse addresses three main topics: the need for a network of e-bike battery disposal sites, a study on single-use plastics, and the importance of waste characterization studies. She emphasizes the urgency of addressing e-bike battery disposal due to safety concerns and the need for state-level action on various waste management issues.
- Nurse stresses the inadequacy of current e-bike battery disposal options and suggests creating disposal sites in each community district.
- She discusses the pervasiveness of single-use plastics and the need for better data to inform interventions.
- Nurse expresses support for continuing waste characterization studies and suggests including commercial waste in these studies.
Sandy Nurse
0:06:28
Thank you, chair.
0:06:29
I also wanna apologize for being late this morning, but thank you for hearing our bills.
0:06:35
Good morning, everyone.
0:06:37
So I have I I go a little off strip because I I got a chance to look at your testimony.
0:06:44
Intro number 351 with regards to rechargeable batteries, particularly ebike batteries.
0:06:50
I know that this requires state action.
0:06:53
I believe, last year or might maybe it's this year.
0:06:55
Honestly, time is escaping me right now.
0:06:58
But I'm pretty sure the council passed a resolution asking the state really to include the ebike batteries in its exchange program.
0:07:07
Or as part of the kind of EPR that already exists, and and we agree.
0:07:11
Like, we want the state to take action.
0:07:13
But I think, hopefully, when that happens, that's you know, that will complement what the bill intends to do, but we still need to create a network of disposable sites for these ebike batteries given how how they have proliferated in the city and how much damage they're causing.
0:07:34
I don't think there's enough education I know education is this constant need for education around everything around waste, but I think in particular, this issue is really deadly.
0:07:45
I know that council has really tried to take action on it.
0:07:48
There's there's just, like, needs to be a saturation of systems to collect this information and also let people know the dangers of it.
0:07:55
So, you know, I'm open to hearing any feedback, but I completely agree that, really, this the state needs to take action, and then we also just need a network.
0:08:04
The garages aren't enough.
0:08:05
The the the one off events are not enough.
0:08:08
Council members paying for e waste events with discretionary funding is just not enough.
0:08:12
You know, we really need, like, a e by disposable site per community district or something like that because there's just too many on the street.
0:08:23
And it's dangerous.
0:08:25
The single use plastic study, this was a bill that was requested when I first came in by advocates.
0:08:33
You know, I got single use on my desk right here.
0:08:36
It's all around us.
0:08:37
I agree that some of this can be captured in the waste characterization study.
0:08:42
I'd love to hear a little bit more today in the conversation, like, how exactly that's captured in terms of the pervasiveness of it.
0:08:51
Agree, this is also where the state needs to kick in.
0:08:55
Really wish the state would find the courage to pass the packaging reduction, the EPR version of this at the state level.
0:09:04
And hopefully, we can do it this year, and maybe the plastics industry will get out of the way for everybody's sake.
0:09:12
But would love to see how the the waste characterization study actually can really do what the bill wants wants it to do so that we can actually try to pinpoint areas of intervention.
0:09:25
And then the waste characterization study, you know, that was in collaboration with you also.
0:09:29
We would love to see it move forward.
0:09:31
But I think one other piece that has come up in conversation with people that I've had is the commercial waste if there's ability to capture that in the study as well.
0:09:42
So, yeah, just looking forward to the conversation has always wanna work in collaboration.
0:09:47
Thank you.
0:09:47
Thank you, sir.
Shaun Abreu
0:09:48
Thank you, council member nurse.
