Mapping of outdoor trash bin locations under way
Mapping of the locations of outdoor trash bins is under way. Once completed, the maps will be used for installing dual recycling-and-trash bins at appropriate locations.
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Mapping of the locations of outdoor trash bins is under way. Once completed, the maps will be used for installing dual recycling-and-trash bins at appropriate locations.
Hello Tracy,
Here are my zero-waste coordination activities from the past week:
This afternoon, I will continue my work on mapping trash bins around campus and will send you and Morgan as much as I complete today. I plan to fully complete the task over the Labor Day weekend.
Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator
Added the following text to the first paragraph of the project description:
Full instructions for your unit to participate are available at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/rechargeable-battery-recycling.
The SSC Semesterly Report for the Speech and Hearing Sciences Buidling solar PVs is attached.
The Idea Garden committee, with the UI Extension, continues discussions about adding rooftop solar to the Arboretum Garden Shed hear the Idea Garden. Last year, Idea Garden representatives worked with Masters of Energy Systems students to consider potential design plans. The final scope of the desired solar PV project is still to be determined. One likely option is to use solar to power the light in the shed, and use the existing campus electrical grid to provide other power needs, such as winter heating.
The Solar Eclipse had a notable impact on the Solar Farm today.
All, most notable thing last week: Everyone was very good about leaving in a timely manner. Two or three times the stands were empty and staff were cleaning up with a solid 10 minutes left for open hours. That was a pleasant surprise.
The bulk of the LTN lights arrived last week. I will have a volunteer this week get a tally on total units received. Todd, TBP volunteer, came and picked up scrap on short notice, which was very helpful.
Sales were good. Overall: $1,163.50; 2 refurbished bikes for $310; 3 B-a-Bs for $174; 6 memberships for $180; and 12 tires/tubes (used and new) for $131.
This week I will build bikes, work on organization, and did I mention building bikes? There has been a strong demand for them. And while I love selling bikes, the retention rate on B-a-Bs is getting better, I think. The majority still abandon them but there have been a considerable number of people who stick with it and express an enjoyment and interest in working on bikes because of it. That’s a win in my book.
This week I will also meet with Parking and UIPD about abandoned bikes on campus.
Sincerely,
Hello all,
Here are my updates from last week:
Sincerely,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator
This project is ongoing, but all milestones in the SSC grant request have been met. Purchases of additional plants were made in multiple batches, and they have been added to beds on the south, east, and north sides of LAR in addition to the shared courtyard between LAR and Allen Hall. There are a few plants that still need to be planted, but most are in the ground at this time.
All, last week was fairly busy. We had a few days wherein there was extended waiting times for free stands. We had been averaging about 100 people in the space per week but this week we were at 117, and I’m sure there were half a dozen who we missed. As it nears the Great Student Migration we’ll see more and more visitors.
Sales: Overall: $1,661.20; refurbished bikes: 6 for $860; Build-a-Bikes: 2 for $220; memberships: 4 for $120; tire/tubes (new and used): 20 for $117.
On Friday a Bike Project volunteer and I went to the warehouse and picked up about 20 bikes for refurbishment, 3 of which were Neutral Cycle rental bikes that were mistakenly confiscated. I coordinated with their manager to return them. As I was leaving the warehouse two college-aged kids walked up asking if they could “get a bike for $10”. It was a little suspicious.
This week I will process and hopefully build up a lot of the bikes we pulled from the warehouse. With more and more people returning to campus, demand for bikes is ramping up. On the one hand, when we are low on for-sale bikes, it curbs the entitled customer corporate/retail space idea that a lot of people have when they come here. On the other hand, less bikes available for people who want to ride is definitely a bad thing.
I plan to deactivate our “One Free Visit For One Small Repair” policy this week, as demand for stands and space is approaching its yearly zenith. This was successful last year and was agreed upon at the last Bike Project meeting. I’ll reinstate One Free Visit sometime in October when we are no longer operating beyond capacity.
Sincerely,
- Jake Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager
Hello all,
This past week, I
Sincerely,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator
All, last week was pretty relaxed. We only had 87 visitors into the space. Our sales were: $1,072 (overall); refurbed bikes: 5 for $640; memberships: 5 for $150; tires/tubes (new & used): 9 for $38.
This week I have a meeting with a prospective student employee. I will also scrap the deluge of bikes that have been donated. Last week we received at least a dozen junk frames/broken bikes. A rare few of these bikes are salvageable, unfortunately. I will build bikes and continue to organize, clean, and otherwise prepare for the deluge of returning students in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
All, last week was slow at the beginning every day of the week but by around 4pm things would pick up drastically and we’d be “All Stands Full” for the last hour or so. I used to blame the uptick around 4pm on class schedules but it’s summer so now I have no idea why we get busier then.
Visitors count was at 100 even (for the second week in a row, I believe).
Total sales: $1,363.10; refurbished bike sales: 3 for $430; Build-a-Bikes: 3 for $250; memberships: 11 for $330; consumables (cables/housing, tires/tubes): 27 between the four of those, totaling $85.10.
Last week was the conclusion of having Kameron, the high school student, helping here at the CBC. He really warmed up to being here, I think (or so I tell myself) and was much more comfortable organizing and sorting small esoteric bike parts than doing anything bigger like stripping or building up bicycles.
On Friday I made a bike run to the warehouse and picked up 10 bikes. I saw a great number of decent and capable commuter bikes, dotted amongst the majority of WalMart-level junk. It was good to get an injection of new bike blood into the crop of bikes available here.
I also put the final touches on the ECS bike share bikes and outfitted them with baskets.
This week I will process and build some of the new bikes as demand for for-sale bikes is increasing. I have begun to hear back from returning student staffers about possible scheduling, which is helpful, so I will continue to plan for that.
Sincerely,
Hello colleagues. I wanted to take a moment to give you an update on the Illini Gadget Garage (IGG) project and alert you to some upcoming events which may be of interest.
First of all, tomorrow, Tuesday August 1, we’re hosting a group laptop teardown activity from 10:15am-1:00pm. This event is for those who may be curious about/interested in the sort of “do-it-together” repair that is conducted at the IGG, but who feel a bit hesitant to try because of lack of experience, or because they fear they’ll cause further damage to their own device. We have a limited number of matching laptops that were donated as “practice” devices which we’ll be using to lead folks through the process of dismantling. This provides experience with using tools and with opening up an electronic device, so that individuals can feel empowered and more confident about opening a device in the future which may actually need repair. Space is limited, but we do have some seats still available. Sign up at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2JdR7XrJepD16fcJDOM_67D22OaYlbgT1C7ddnrGaLY_dCA/viewform. If there is high demand, we’ll potentially hold a similar event in the near future. The workshop is free, though donations are welcome and can be made at http://www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu/SEIdonation.html.
Also, we’ll be hosting a screening of Death by Design, a documentary on the impacts of electronic devices on the environment and human health. The screening will take place on August 22 at the Champaign Public Library. After the film, I will facilitate a discussion/Q&A session featuring Industrial Design Professor William Bullock and Urbana U-Cycle Coordinator and Illinois Product Stewardship Council member Courtney Kwong as expert panelists. See http://wp.istc.illinois.edu/ilgadgetgarage/2017/07/25/death-by-design-screening-august-22-at-champaign-public-library/ for further information, including a trailer for the film. This is also a free event, with donations suggested and welcome to support future programming.
If you missed last week’s webinar, “What the Tech? Learn Basic Electronic Component Function,” an archived recording and slides are available on our project web site at http://wp.istc.illinois.edu/ilgadgetgarage/archived-webinars/.
We’ll also have booths at Quad Day and the Taste of Champaign next month, as well as having project flyers distributed by our friends at the City of Urbana during the Urbana Sweetcorn Festival. So hopefully we’ll see a new wave of potential volunteers and clients coming to our workshop to learn about ways to keep their products in service longer, and out of the waste stream.
We’re currently seeking sponsors to help keep our services free to the campus community, and to allow us to offer free-to-the public pop-ups in the broader, off-campus CU area. Additionally, we are offering a new “employee engagement event” service for businesses and organizations seeking a unique way to get their employees involved in sustainability discussions and efforts. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MYVVfo5KygTXhBT1h6MXlWbzg/view for more information.
As some of you may remember, we experienced some setbacks with being able to be open to public, as our workshop required renovation to be ADA compliant. Thus, we have only be officially open to the general public since last fall, but we’ve still managed to have a significant positive impact:
We’ve also had students involved as volunteers, participants in UI courses that have collaborated with the IGG, and as participants in the iFixit Technical Writing Project, creating repair guides that are shared on the iFixit web site so the spirit of collaborative repair that we foster is spread beyond our campus, and even beyond our state. See the “Our Impact” portion of our web site for more information.
If you have questions, or would like to discuss potential collaborations, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope to see some of you at tomorrow’s workshop and at the documentary screening on the 22nd.
Best wishes,
Joy
Joy Scrogum
Sustainability Specialist
LEED Green Associate | ISSP-SA
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) | Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
One Hazelwood Drive, Champaign, IL 61820
Hello all,
Here are my updates from last week:
Sincerely,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator
Hello all,
Here are my updates from last week:
Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator
The Water and Stormwater SWATeam recommendation to install a real-time water meter on the greywater pipes in the Business Instructional Facility has been approved by F&S leadership. This project will proceed with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee and F&S Utilities & Energy Services.
The Business Instructional Facility (BIF) was designed for future use of greywater, which is raw (untreated) water. Although the building is fed from the potable water supply, there is separate piping for the urinals and water closets in the building. Utilities does not yet have a greywater system in place. When such a system becomes available, the connection in BIF that serves its fixtures can then be transferred to the greywater supply.
All, last week was abbreviated: first by the weather on Wednesday (95° was the afternoon high, so I did not have open hours for safety reasons); and then on Friday as I was out of town for my grandmother’s funeral. We only totaled 62 visitors for the week. Sales were $368 net for the week. We didn’t sell any refurbished bikes. We sold one build-a-bike for $43; four memberships for $120; 10 tires/tubes (used/new) for $41.
This week I plan to build more bikes, organize parts with Kameron (the high school student), and work on scheduling for the Fall semester. It projects to be very hot the tail end of the week so I will explore options and ways of trying to keep the Bike Center from being dangerously hot so we don’t have to shutter the doors again.
Sincerely,
Student Sustainability Committee and the School of Architecture worked with F&S to move the 2009 Solar Decathlon House from I Hotel grounds, where it was located for seven years. The house moved to the Energy Bioscience Research Farm on Race Street south of Windsor Road. The 695-square foot building, weighing more than 50,000 pounds, was designed by University of Illinois students and took second place in the U.S Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon. Since then it has been used by various campus units, who study the design and construction of the building.