RE: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

 

Great – thank you all for your thoughts and connections.  I’m moving Madhu and Bob to bcc and can loop them back in as needed.

 

Jennifer, Morgan and Daphne, can you please share your interest in joining a call along with your availability for the last 2 weeks in June?  I’ll get a call scheduled with Seema so that we can explore a possible collaboration.

 

Best,

Amy

 

Amy Fruehling, MBA

Senior Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations

College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

1301 W. Gregory Dr.

Urbana, IL  61801

 

217.265.4045

afruehli@illinois.edu

 

From: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 12:06 PM
To: Schooley, Robert Lee <schooley@illinois.edu>; Khanna, Madhu <khanna1@illinois.edu>; Fruehling, Amy <afruehli@illinois.edu>
Cc: White, Morgan <mbwhite@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

Amy,

 

Bob is correct that campus no longer has a battery recycling program. I would be interested in following up about how we might restart the program. Colleagues in Facilities & Services, including Morgan White and Daphne Hulse, Zero Waste Coordinator, might also be interested in joining a call.

 

On a related note, the alum may be interested in an initiative to recycle components of EV batteries (among other types) for reuse in Europe that leverages a partnership between industry and academia.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news-archive/2019/new-project-launches-focusing-on-the-sustainable-reprocessing-of-rare-earth-magnets

 

Best,

Jen

 

Jennifer Fraterrigo (she/her)

iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability and
Professor of Landscape and Ecosystem Ecology
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

University of Illinois

W-423 Turner Hall, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave.

Urbana, IL 61801

jmf@illinois.edu
ph 217-333-9428

https://fraterrigolab.nres.illinois.edu/

 

 

From: Schooley, Robert Lee <schooley@illinois.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 9:27 AM
To: Khanna, Madhu <khanna1@illinois.edu>; Fruehling, Amy <afruehli@illinois.edu>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; White, Morgan <mbwhite@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

Hi Amy,

 

Campus had a battery recycling program but it was discontinued in 2015 due to lack of funding.  It is now left to units to fund recycling programs if they want.

https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/battery-recycling

 

I also thought of Jen Fraterrigo for discussing potential partnerships on campus.

 

Thanks,

 

Bob

 

Robert L. Schooley
Professor and Head
 
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
W-503 Turner Hall | M/C 047
Urbana, IL 61801
217.244.2729 | schooley@illinois.edu
nres.illinois.edu
 

 

 

 

From: Khanna, Madhu <khanna1@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2023 5:24 PM
To: Fruehling, Amy <afruehli@illinois.edu>; Schooley, Robert Lee <schooley@illinois.edu>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; White, Morgan <mbwhite@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

Hi Amy

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This sounds interesting.  Would you know what kind of batteries she is interested in building a recycling program for?

I am ccing Jen Fraterrigo and Morgan White to let us know if we have any current program for this and get their thoughts on potential opportunities for battery recycling on our campus.  

 

Best

Madhu

 

 

Madhu Khanna

Pronouns: she, her

Alvin H. Baum Family Chair & Director, Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment

ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics

Co-Director, Center for Economics of Sustainability

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

 

Office: 1101 W. Peabody, Suite 336, M/C  635

Urbana IL 61801

 

email: khanna1@illinois.edu; phone: 217-333-5176; fax: 217-333-5538

 

http://ace.illinois.edu/directory/madhu-khanna

https://ceos.illinois.edu/bio-khanna

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LPH4gbUAAAAJ&hl=en

 

https://illinois.zoom.us/j/2173335176?pwd=Ri8rTzQ0S1RxZHpiY2tEWVdaSlhtZz09

 

 

From: Fruehling, Amy <afruehli@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2023 5:13 PM
To: Khanna, Madhu <khanna1@illinois.edu>; Schooley, Robert Lee <schooley@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

Madhu and Bob,

Checking in to bring this request to the top of your email again.  I’d like to get back to our alum contact at Redwood Materials this week. Did you have any thoughts on her request below, or are there others you’d suggest that I reach out to?

 

Thanks!

Amy

 

From: Bollero, German A <gbollero@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2023 3:18 PM
To: Fruehling, Amy <afruehli@illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

I will let Madhu and Bob to respond to this.

Thanks

GB

 

From: "Fruehling, Amy" <afruehli@illinois.edu>
Date: Monday, May 22, 2023 at 2:54 PM
To: German Bollero <gbollero@illinois.edu>, "Khanna, Madhu" <khanna1@illinois.edu>, "Schooley, Robert Lee" <schooley@illinois.edu>
Subject: Campus Sustainability - Redwood Materials

 

Hi Bob, German and Madhu,

 

Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla co-founder, JB Straubel, is a renewable energy company that focuses on making batteries sustainable and affordable by localizing the battery supply chain and producing components in the US from recycled batteries. A fantastic Gies alumni and former student that I worked with, reached out and is interested in creating a battery collection program at Illinois.  She referenced the campus-wide recycling program with Coca Cola.  While I think this could fit nicely into the Campus Sustainability program, I think that we could discuss possible research, project or funding collaborations that would enhance a program of this nature and support an academic partnership.

 

I am reaching out to you given your roles in the college and campus sustainability initiatives.  Are there any programs within iSEE, NRES or that campus is working on that might align well?  Are there others within your units that you recommend that I pose this question to?  I’d like to have a follow up call with the alum, Seema Nilakhe, to share some options, and then can bring others into the conversation to hopefully begin talking about how to move forward.

 

Thank you for your thoughts,

Amy

 

Amy Fruehling, MBA

Sr. Director of Corporate Relations

217.265.4045