Below is an email exchange between Morgan White, Jennifer Fratterigo, and Daphne Hulse:

Hi Daphne,

Per the discussion this morning in the Sustainability Sub-council, please work with Aaron Finder to identify the UIUC concession revenue related to bottled water sales for Housing, the Union, and DIA.

We would like to have this information in advance of the Sustainability Council meeting on 12/13, if possible.

Thanks,

Morgan

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Hi Daphne,

In addition to determining the revenue for bottled water sales, we also discussed collecting information about tipping fees for Housing, the Union, and DIA. These fees could be an offset for potentially lost revenue if water bottle sales were reduced. It would be great if you would send information about tipping fees before the Sustainability Council meeting.

Thanks,

Jen

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Hi Jen,

I have reached out to Aaron to remind him about this request J

For the tipping fees, could you detail more what this would look like? I remember it mentioned during the meeting, but I don’t think I’m fully understanding what a tipping fee is. Is this similar to a tax of some kind?

Thank you,

Daphne

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Hi Daphne,

Thanks for contacting Aaron to refresh the request!

Tipping fees are the fees paid to send trash to the landfill. I assume DWS charges a fixed rate per pound of trash. The units are responsible for paying these fees for the amount of trash they produce. Shawn should have this information, but I don’t know to what extent the fees are broken down by unit. I would like the finest resolution available, as I can always aggregate it to the level that is most useful.

The thinking is that, if revenue declines because we reduce demand for beverages in plastic bottles, then waste generated may also decline (assumes most bottles are being thrown in the trash rather than recycled). This in turn would reduce the tipping fees a unit pays. However, I have not yet figured out how to estimate the change in weight and thus fees if fewer bottles are sold. We would probably need to make some assumptions about how many are thrown in the trash. Or maybe we can estimate based on waste audit data. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on how to estimate the potential change in fees.

Thanks!

Jen

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Hi Jen,

Thank you for the explanation! In principle, a fixed rate per pound of trash is exactly how we want to operate. It creates tangible incentive for campus buildings to recycle (a service we do not charge them for).

Our current operations only charge buildings by the size of their outdoor landfill receptacle. It wouldn’t matter if the receptacle had a single piece of paper in it, or if it was filled to the brim with concrete. We would charge the building the same price. This is because there is no difference in the fixed cost of paying for drivers or trucks to visit the site. The problem is apparent when once all the trash has been collected for the day and we haul it off to the landfill, the landfill charges us (F&S) per ton of trash. There’s a discrepancy between F&S charging buildings by size, and the landfill charging F&S by weight.

This will be a longer process to reconcile, but it’s something on our radar. And something recognized as important to address. One of our receptacles (“front-load”) already has the technological capability to weigh the material within it, we just need to restart this program (got derailed by many things, especially COVID). The other process is updating our waste rates to become weight-based, which involves lots of entities on campus who would need to review and approve.

I hope this has shed some more light on how waste operations work. I’m always happy to discuss in more detail with you, too.

Thank you,

Daphne