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Project Updates for collection: Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects

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  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, had a strong and busy finish to the end of last week. I think the student population is making its way back in advance of the new academic year.

     

    Last week I ordered the light sets for Light The Night, although a snag has just been brought to my attention. I spoke to the customer service representative at Dero on Friday and beyond his giddy reaction to the squirrel problem, he told me that they have on-order a new all-metal pump head that will withstand all the abuse (and squirrels) that our campus can muster.

     

    This week is a TBP Members’ Meeting. I’ll also work on resolving the issue with the Light The Night order, scrap more bikes in advance of the Big Clean as well as begin rounding up some volunteers to help out for the event.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 87

    Memberships: 5 for $150

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $330
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $105
    Tire/tubes: 6 for $29

     

    Sincerely,

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Added Glove Recycling Locations to Project Locations Map

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    Several locations that have been participating in glove recycling were missing from the project locations map. Marya Ryan added them on July 29. They are Florida Avenue Residence Halls, Ikenberry Commons, Illinois Street Residence Halls, Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls, and Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Halls.

  3. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are last week’s updates on zero-waste activities: 

    • The glove recycling program participation web form is now live and posted on the iCAP portal.
    • The glove recycling drop-off instructions have been updated to show the new location of the trailer at PPSB; the new instructions are posted on the iCAP portal.
    • La Casa Cultural Latina is a new glove recycling participating site and has been added to the locations map on the iCAP portal
    • I learned that Jonathan McClintock, who had been our Kimberly-Clark contact, has moved to a different position. Jordan Powers of Fisher Scientific has promised to send me the name of the new contact in a week or so, once the new person is in place at K-C.
    • In response to a request on the CURC LISTSERV, I sent some photos of the conveyor belt system at WTS that Morgan passed along. The LISTSERV message bounced, and I have a note to the moderator to see if they can help get it through.
    • I sent an inquiry to CURC to see whether the results of the spring campus recycling survey are available yet. We participated in the survey. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  5. Webform Now Available for Glove Recycling Participation Sign-Up

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    A web form is now available for departments to use when signing up to participate in the glove recycling program. Program participation instructions on the iCAP web page for the program have been updated to include the link. The form is to be used instead of emailing the zero-waste coordinator directly.

  6. Updated Glove Drop-off Site

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    The location to drop off gloves at the Physical Plant Services Building (PPSB) changed in the summer of 2018. The map showing the location was updated accordingly. It is still at PPSB but in a slightly different location there.

  7. BER Volunteers Identified Department Contacts for Outreach

    Associated Project(s): 
    Glove Recycling

    In July 2018, BER student volunteers identified contacts for about 15 departments that purchase significant quantities of nitrile gloves but do not currenty participate in the glove recycling program. In the fall, volunteers will follow up with the contacts to inquire about interest in participation.

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was slow, for the most part. Felt like we got a lot of donations. Trained a new staffer, waiting on clearance to train one more. Still building and scrapping bikes on the regular. My checklist sheet for shop builds is working—for the most part. There are still detail things that the staff don’t really notice, a slack chain on a single-speed for example, or cable ends are too long. Overall, I think it’s helping but the details matter and very much can still result in an unsafe bicycle. I’ll look at revising it a bit this w eek.

    This will be Dennis’s last week here (I think, will check on this). He has been a great staffer and we’ll miss him!

     

    This week I will begin prep for our big clean out/purge at the beginning of August. I’ll poll the staff for availability and iron out the details for how many days we’ll be closed (best-case scenario: one day). We’ll begin August 6th. We’ll be pulling all the bikes out and moving furniture around to give a solid, deep clean, and toss out the junk that has accumulated. We haven’t ever done a big clean like this during my tenure here and it’s wholly overdue. While we might lose a day or two of open hours, the end result will be a better functioning and cleaner/easier to navigate space.

     

    This week I will also be getting in touch with Lexco about ordering PB Blinky lights for LTN 2018!

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 75
    Sales: $724
    Memberships: 7 for $210

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $220
    Tire/tubes: 11 for $88

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. archived info - previous project description

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing

    The University has been approached many times by students and others about the possibility of implementing a bike sharing program, and the 2010 iCAP included a goal to create a bike sharing program by 2012.

    The University conducted a feasibility study in 2011 and 2012 (attached below) to assess whether the campus could truly sustain a bicycle sharing program. That study recommended the Campus Bike Plan be implemented first, in order to improve the conditions of bicycle infrastructure across campus, before a public bike sharing system be considered.  In Fall 2013, it was decided that there have been improvements made on the bicycle network so bike sharing was reopened for discussion.  A graduate student was hired to work with departments in trying to implement a bike share within the University, while creating discussion within the local community about a community wide system.

    In addition, the study also suggests a few interim programs to serve known needs of providing bicycles to University employees for work-related trips on an hourly basis, and providing bikes to visitors, conferences and classes for daily rentals for group tours, etc. The University is working to develop both of these programs now, and will continue to explore options for making communal bicycles available to students and potentially to the general public. 

    Background

    Although the community bike sharing costs too much, which means community bike sharing is not feasible in the recent years; some departments have developed their own bike sharing programs, staffs and students can rent a bike daily, monthly, even yearly. It is really convenient and increases the usage rate of bike around the campus. Now, a promotional campaign is being conducted to encourage more departments to participate, with the goal of increasing the number of departmental shared bikes from the current level of 15 to a goal of 60 by FY20. Additionally, campus still continue to work with community partners to explore the implementation of a communitywide public bike-sharing program.

    Minnesota has a nice ride which sharing bike among all people. It started from 2012 and since 2014, the cumulative trip exceeds 500,000 per year, whose net assets are $62,469 in 2015, which means with the contract, sponsor and rental fee, there is not much economic stress. Maybe in the next several years, it will work for us, too.

  11. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    [This past week, there were] just a few emails, including one from the BER student volunteers. I had sent them a spreadsheet showing departments that were not yet participating in the glove recycling program but had $2,000 or more in nitrile glove purchases this year. They identified contacts for each department and will do some outreach when the fall semester begins. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  12. Capacity of Solar PVs for shed roof

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar PVs at Idea Garden

    The solar PV design for the rooftop of the Idea Garden shed is 12 panels with 340 Watts each, which is a total of 4.08 kWdc. The construction estimate is in progress at F&S, then an interconnect agreement will be needed from Ameren.

  14. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, a nice and generally manageable number of visitors to the shop this week. 2-3 people working on shop builds and some fix-a-flatters in every day.

    I rode down Green St last week and that was a delight. Great new markings!

    Thanks to Todd for grabbing the scrap pile over the weekend.

    This week I will be contacting the Dero bike pump people about the problem with the Altgeld pump: squirrels keep chewing off the pump head, rendering it unusable. I’ll check with them to see if they’ve got any solutions.

    I will also be setting up a meeting this week with a student group who are looking to solve bike waste on campus.


    Numbers:

    Visitors: 88
    Sales: $777.45
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $160
    Bike (B-a-B): 2 for $158
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tire/tubes: 23 for $123

     

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  16. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Zero-waste activities for the past were 

    • Prepared and sent a scope and timeline request to SSC for the zero-waste projects. The request was granted, so we have one more year (through July 31, 2019) to spend the rest of the SSC funding on outdoor dual bins (geNng estimates and using remaining funds for the bins themselves)
    • Drafted a spring 2018 semester report for SSC and sent it to Morgan for review.
    • Investigated bounced email to our Kimberly-Clark contact, Jonathan McClintock. I’m seeing if he still works there and is still our contact for RightCycle. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  18. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, pretty relaxed week here. The construction on Pennsylvania is in full swing and will probably adversely affect how many visitors we get but we’ll see. If the main door is completely or even mostly inaccessibly, a lot more people will be using the back garage door that we open for air flow. In that case, I’ll reorganize the shop to accommodate for that. All told, we’ll probably miss some visitor sign-ins because of it. But I’ll play it by ear and see how people navigate i t.  

    On Monday morning last week I had three folks come in who are going on a mission trip with their church to Malawi, Africa and hoping to teach some bike skills over there. I showed them some basic repairs and gave them some old parts/tools that they could use and advised against buying expensive and specific tools. Their trip is annual so they’ll check back next year.


    I’ve got another interview for a student worker today.

     

    On Friday alone we got like 5 bikes donated. Nice old 3 speeds (like we need more). This morning I arrived to find 3 Walmarters donated in front of the garage. I’ll pull and scrap a few more to even it out.

     

    The numbers:
    Sales: $1,173.25
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Bikes (refurbished): 4 for $695
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $57
    Tire/tubes: 10 for $87

    Sincerely,

     

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are the zero-waste activities for the week: Morgan, Brent Lewis, and I met with Shawn Hopkins of Bigbelly to discuss possibilities for indoor bins. 

    • I responded some emails about styrofoam recycling.
    • I participated in a CURC listserv discussion about conveyor belt sorting systems. I asked Morgan about any pictures, videos, schematics, and data we might be able to share,
    • I drafted a semesterly report and scope-and-timeline change request for the SSC funding to see if they can give us another year and if we can focus the remaining funds on replacing the outdoor bins with dual bins. Morgan has the draft to review. 
    • I responded to an inquiry from La Casa Cultural Latina about participating in the glove recycling program. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

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