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  1. The compost tumbler is back!

    The compost tumbler is once again available for drop-off at the National Soybean Research Center! A few reminders:

    • Drop off organic material only, including food scraps (remove stickers!), coffee grounds, paper towels/napkins, and tea bags.
    • Compostable ware (cutlery, cups, etc.) cannot go in the tumbler.
    • Please refrain from putting in extremely dense or packed material. We'd prefer not to have excessively dense or heavy materials. 

    To prevent bad odors and flies, please also put in "brown" material, including leaves or paper towels, and give the tumbler a turn. If you encounter any issues, please contact Meredith Moore at mkm0078@illinois.edu. Thank you!! 

  2. Archived Info - Previous Project Description

    Associated Project(s): 

    This project will improve the waste process around the outdoor campus areas and increase recycling participation. It will do this by increasing recycling bin visibility with improved bins and signage, co-locating waste and recycling bins, and improving the overall layout of waste and recycling bins on campus. There are currently 372 concrete trash bins on campus and an additional 60 made of other materials. Facilities & Services initially proposed to remove all 432 of the bins and to replace them with a total of 133 dual bins. Marya Ryan, an Academic Hourly at F&S working on Zero Waste projects, mapped the existing bins for the full University District and turned her maps over to the Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling (PWR) SWATeam for their recommendations on locations for dual bins. PWR SWATeam student member Fangxing Liu wrote an initial draft recommendation for the consolidation of dual bins outside. Additionally, one sample dual bin was installed by F&S Grounds at Altgeld Hall near Wright Street to test durability. In the fall of 2018, CEE students assessed additional bin locations throughout all areas of campus.

    During fall 2018, CEE students Junren Wang and Wen-Chi Chen worked on a project to clarify locations and review estimated costs. They mapped the future dual bin locations for the campus, with a total of 161 bins to install. The cost of the first pilot dual bin was about $4,000, so the initial estimate for all of them is about $625,000. The students recommended installing ten dual bins in various locations spread around campus. The student report was submitted with the Fall 2018 Semesterly Report to SSC.

    Morgan White and Brent Lewis met with F&S Grounds leadership, Superintendent Ryan Welch and Foreperson Isaac Williams, to initiate the installation. On June 18, 2019, Grounds ordered 30 bins for 15 dual bin locations, using the SSC funding. The material and shipping cost for the bins is $18,523.56. Installation materials and labor will be additional costs. Grounds will confirm the ten locations identified by the CEE students and select an additional five locations. Also, MCORE is installing dual bins at the new bus stops on Green Street with University funding. Additional bins are being installed outdoors during summer 2021 with the first being at the Northwest corner of E-14 and the North side of the Main Quad. Waste Management Intern Sydney Trimble will assist in the systemic updating and organization of the campus-wide rollout to take place this 2021 summer into the fall semester.

  3. Archived description

    Associated Project(s): 

    The MCORE project requires the CUUATS partners to monitor the pedestrian and bicycle counts following the completion of the project. This requirement is to understand the increased waking and bicycling activities at the twelve predetermined corridors. CCRPC collected pedestian and cycling counts at these locations before the MCORE project. These twelve corridors are listed in this project update.

    The University has identified other locations on campus to add pedestrian/bicycle counters as well, other than these twelve MCORE corridors. In March 2020, the first Eco-Counter pedestrian/bicycle counter was installed at the Illini Union location on Green Street. The University is also working with Obama Energy to get IntelliStreet light poles for pedestrian/bicycle count collection.

  4. Archived Info - Previous Project Description

    This project creates an aquaponics system that will work as a demonstrative unit on campus to spread sustainability awareness and illustrate the effectiveness of aquaponics in a small area. The goal of aquaponics is to create a closed ecosystem in which both plants and fish benefit and grow. Aquaponics has the potential to produce large quantities of both vegetables and fish with minimal inputs and nearly no negative outputs. The project teams' desire is to establish a base system from which the possibility to expand exists. This project is student-led and contains an educational element on aquaponics. This proposal is linked to the student sustainability course GCL 127.

  5. Archived Title + Description

    Old project name: ADA Transition Plan

    New Project name: ADA Transition Plan and 2017 Supplement

    The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) identifies facility requirements to meet the needs of persons with disabilities.  This University has a very strong history of support for persons with disabilities, and that is reflected in many of the campus facilities.  One example is the new Tim Nugent residence hall with the Beckwith program in Ikenberry Commons.  Sidewalks, traffic signals, construction zones, and buildings are designed to meet ADA code requirements.  In 2012, the City of Urbana published an ADA Transition Plan to survey and upgrade all curb ramps in that city's jurisdiction.  A similar survey and plan needs to be developed for campus walkways.  The vast majority of sidewalks on campus are already ADA code compliant, so this will identify the locations lacking proper facilities and prioritize those locations for correction.

  6. Archived Info - Previous Project Description

    Associated Project(s): 

    Illinois Enactus’s mission is to contribute to sustainable development goals by developing collaborative business ventures that work towards social, economic, and environmental equality in all communities. Illinois Enactus is an official chapter of the worldwide non-profit organization, Enactus. Enactus exists in more than 39 countries and has more than 1,600 teams across the globe. Being a member of Enactus means that you are a part of the largest and most prestigious business network on the planet. Our Enactus team partners with large corporations, local businesses, student organizations, non-profits, public schools, and entrepreneurs to execute our projects. Every project we implement requires us to consider the relevant economic, social and environmental factors to effectively empower people in need by applying business and economic concepts in an entrepreneurial approach to improve their quality of life and standard of living. In other words, instead of just doing philanthropy or service events, we create sustainable solutions to everyday problems so that people have the power to help themselves. Enactus projects apply the skills we learn in the classroom and have proven to be extremely relevant in prepare for a future career. Our team consists of students from a wide variety of backgrounds, so no matter what you are studying in school, you will be able to apply your knowledge and gain valuable experience. These skills are so valuable that numerous companies across the country only recruit Enactus students for internships and full-time careers.

  7. Archived Info - Previous Project Description

    The iCAP 2020 objective 6.3 is to "Launch an undergraduate Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) that includes two week-long residential intensives, pre-professional workshops, visiting speakers, and field trips to Springfield and Washington, D.C." The responsible campus unit for championing this objective is iSEE.

    iSEE is developing an Undergraduate Environmental Leadership Program.  

    • Professional skills
    • Nexus between research, policy, advocacy, and government
    • Networking opportunities with leaders in the environmental field
    • Pilot workshops in Spring 2021

    Be interactive and engaging for participants; Have a balance between the pre-professional component of the program (practical career skills and networking), as well as its environmental leadership/knowledge component

    The main objectives of the Environmental Policy Workshop are to help participants communicate better environmental issues that they care about and to increase their awareness of ways to advocate for such issues. As such, this workshop would include sessions that would target environmental communication and policy advocacy skills.

  8. Archived description: MCORE porject

    The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD), City of Champaign, City of Urbana, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are partnering to improve mobility in our communities core through a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant. The $35M MCORE Project is unprecedented in our community’s history and will have a transformative impact.

    MCORE Project construction is anticipated to start in September of 2016 and continue into 2019, covering five separate project areas to improve key urban transportation corridors.

    Enhances Mobility Choices


    The goal of MCORE is to provide a balance between all modes of transportation. Transportation choices address pedestrian access routes, bicycle lanes, transit efficiency and vehicle flow; and reduce potential conflict areas.

    Improves Infrastructure


    MCORE will improve the condition of the existing pavement and bring the streets of these core transit corridors into a state of good repair while redesigning them into complete streets to accommodate all users.

    Promotes Sustainability


    MCORE will encourage sustainable development that is located and designed to be compact and contiguous to existing development and have limited environmental impact; provide streetscape improvements for an enriched built environment, sense of place, and quality of life; emphasize all modes of transportation while decreasing the use of single occupancy vehicles, thereby reducing congestion, traffic hazards, and carbon emissions.

    Improves Critical Linkages


    The completion of the MCORE Project will provide better connections between the downtown centers of Champaign and Urbana, the university, the area’s major employers, health, and social service organizations.

  9. Feedback requested: EJ Focus Groups

    Kimmy Chuang sent the following email to the Environmental Justice Committee, requesting feedback on conducting focus group interviews. The draft questions and contact group documents are attached.

    =================================

    Hello EJ Committee,

    Meredith and I have compiled a draft list of interview questions for small focus groups and we’d like to hear your input. A large number of questions are adapted from the Providence RI Climate Justice Plan -- which you can read here -- as well as other local surveys I’ve researched. 

    As mentioned during our last meeting, if you could please (1) approve each question (2) suggest any edits and (3) rank them in terms of priority. The full set of standard questions will be asked to the focus group. On the second page, you’ll find some other questions that we’ve been considering but aren’t sure whether to include as part of this list or only ask if time permits. If you think there is a question missing, please leave a comment. The draft questions can be found here on Box and are attached.

    As we’re finalizing these questions, Meredith and I were also thinking of starting to reach out to the people we’d like to interview. We propose hosting five focus groups for each of the constituency groups: Neighborhood Associations, Community Organizations, Government, Social Justice Groups, and Relevant UIUC Advisory Groups/Personnel. We plan to ask for one representative from each entity to attend the focus group interview (see contact list attached).

    We’re thinking of sending a Zoom invite for 12-2pm, but do you all think there would be a better time to convene the focus groups? For example, if usually people involved in Social Justice Groups or Neighborhood Associations work during the day, would it make more sense to host their focus group later from 4-6pm? With the interviewee’s consent, we will record these meetings. 

    We would love your participation in the interview process as well. We propose two or three of us per focus group interview, though are open to your thoughts. Our suggested dates for the interviews, based on our schedules, are: 

    Monday, July 26

    Tuesday, July 27 (afternoon only)

    Wednesday, July 28 

    Thursday, July 29

    Friday, July 30

    Please send me and Meredith your feedback on our draft list or interview questions and your thoughts on how/when we should convene these focus groups. We request your feedback on the interview questions by next Wednesday, July 14. We would like to contact the groups and send out the Zoom invitations as soon as possible; please send us your availability/thoughts on participating in the interviews by Monday at the latest. 

  10. Archived background

    Associated Project(s): 

    Between August 4, 2011 and March 9, 2016, there were 373 bicycle thefts reported to the University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD).  This number is beleived to be a low estimate, due to under-reporting, and because some bike thefts on campus may have been reported to the local Champaign or Urbana city Police Departments. 

    That is an average of 82 reported bicycle thefts a year!

    A map of these theft locations can be found here:

     

     

     

    Top areas of bike theft from August 2011-September 2013 (two years):
    Area Number of Bikes Stolen
    1010-12 W Illinois (ISR) 15
    201 N Goodwin Av (Seibel Center) 15
    College Court Area (PAR/FAR) 10
    405 N Mathews (Beckman) 8
    1005 W Gregory Dr (Allen) 7
    1005 S Lincoln Av (LAR) 6
    205 N Mathews (Newmark) 6
    1110 W Green Street (Daniels Hall) 5
    1401 W Green St (Illini Union) 5

    Source: UIPD 9/17/13

  11. Project Update Request

    Associated Project(s): 

    Avery Maloto reached out to Lowell Miller asking him to update his project "Root to Roof Program" on the iCAP portal. Lowell replied explaining he will edit the project in the beginning of August, therefore Morgan archived the project description/background until Lowell had the time to edit it.

  12. Addition to the original description: Keys to reducing bicycle theft

    Associated Project(s): 

    Keys to reducing bicycle theft:

    1. Never leave your bicycle unlocked!
    2. Always lock your bicycle to a bicycle rack! Learn how to properly lock your bicycle Lock Your Bike Right (LYBR) video from 2019.
    3. Register your bicycle and install the registration sticker (529 Shield) to your bicycle. Learn more at Bike at Illinois' Register Your Bike page or go.illinois.edu/mybike
    4. Report a bike theft to UIPD immediately at (217) 333-1216.

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