July 19, 2016

Dear Tivoli Village Board,

For years, the Village of Tivoli Department of Public Works (DPW) has picked up Village residents’ grass clippings and leaves and taken them to be composted. If this material is contained in plastic bags the bags must be torn apart manually by DPW workers. The activity of breaking apart the plastic bags and extracting the organic material for composting takes a significant and substantial amount of time on the part of the DPW workers, at a cost to the taxpayers of the Village of Tivoli. Furthermore, the residue of torn plastic bags is not recyclable and must be gathered and sent to a landfill.

Therefore, the Tivoli Green Committee is in support of the resolution, effective July 1, 2016, that the Village of Tivoli DPW will no longer pick up yard waste in plastic bags. Instead, we encourage residents to buy appropriately sized compostable paper bags to contain their leaves and grass clippings. We also recommend that residents choose paper bags that consist of a significant portion of recycled paper.

The Tivoli Green Commitee Village applauds this step toward making Tivoli a greener and more sustainable community.

Mara Ranville

Chair, Tivoli Green Committee