On January 9, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

Attendees: Shawn Patterson, Aaron Finder, Pete Varney, Bryan Johnson, Marty Kaufmann, Meredith Moore, Steve Breitwieser, Jen Fraterrigo, Thurman Etchison, Daphne Hulse, Julie Wurth, Tony Mancuso

Agenda:

Spring 2023 Overview:

• Don’t Waste Campaign

  • “Don’t Waste Wednesdays”

    • • Split contribution: iSEE, F&S, Housing/Dining, Illini Union, DIA each take one Wednesday per month

      • Task: units share initiatives/success stories on their social media platforms

      • Purpose: establish a shared social media presence around waste initiatives/sustainability

        • Concept of waste can be applied in many contexts: Illini Lights Out (energy waste), Grind2Energy (food waste)

• Meeting cadence with Coca-Cola:

  • Once a month, end of the month, Tues-Thurs, early afternoon

  • Can increase the meeting frequency ahead of events

• Big Ten men’s basketball game: next zero waste basketball event:

  • Target date: February 23 (Northwestern) or March 2 (Michigan)

  • F&S: Daphne to lead coordination/execution, F&S CR&C to assist with publicity

  • iSEE: tap into student volunteer network (75-100), assist with publicity

    • Jen: ahead of the game, strategize with Coca-Cola + Daphne on metric tracking (beyond diversion rate). What else can be measured?

  • DIA: venue logistics

  • Coca-Cola: digital/physical signage, giveaway items, t-shirts (tap into sustainability funds, ~$3k used last semester for shirts)

• On the horizon

  • iCAP Zero Waste Team: creating a football tailgate recycling roadmap for fall 2023

Discussion:

• Determining the revenue of water bottles sold at Athletic events:
  • Athletic kiosks should have transactional knowledge of what is sold.
    • Marty can figure out how sustainability can communicate for purchasing data,
• For Athletics social media for the Don't Waste Wednesdays campaign, Leigh McGuirk oversees it.
• To host another zero waste game in spring, we need to be cognizant of the Orange Krush, Krush Cancer event which will be one of the Big Ten games.
• Athletics can support us doing the recycling event at least on the operational side,
  • We probably cannot have the extent of support as we did the first time: Orange Krush area/t-shirt toss won't happen.
• Think about sorting after the fact - can we get that recovery rate, or is the lift too high?
• Athletics stance on bringing in reusable cups: you can bring a clear plastic water bottle (empty) into the facility.
  • Seems like its an issue of communication. tim knox had said its 50/50 possibility of getting it in. it’s because they really rely on their door security which can be interpreted in different ways (supposed to be clear, and unsealed. some people brought vodka in).
  • Incentivize bringing it in, but it depends on how much athletics can get that message out on top of everything else.
  • The clear bag policy is sent out when you purchase a ticket from athletics (SFC), but its a question of whether people actually read through it.