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  1. DRS uses hazardous waste vendor for battery disposal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Battery Recycling
    Rechargeable Battery Recycling
    Battery Recycling

    From: Hess, Stephanie Tumidajski <sthess@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 4:02 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Hill, Landon E <landon@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: DRS battery disposal

     

    Hi Daphne,

     

    A good area to look into. I remember there being battery recycling a long time ago and then was told it was no longer is a thing.

    We do not recycle batteries that come through DRS. Those are disposed of using our hazardous waste vendor. I’ve copied the regulated waste compliance manager on this email. He can probably give you an idea about the volume of batteries that come through our waste facility and answer your specific questions.

     

    Steph

     

    From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 3:54 PM
    To: Hess, Stephanie Tumidajski <sthess@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
    Subject: DRS battery disposal

     

    Hi Stephanie,

     

    A recurring topic that’s come up in sustainability conversations on campus has been about batteries, and we are working to assess what the needs are for this type of specialized recycling and for whom (campus property, personal, etc). In the past several years, battery recycling has been decentralized under departmental programs through companies like Battery Solutions and Call2Recycle for single-use and rechargeable batteries. I also understand that DRS disposes of departments’ unwanted batteries – I am curious, is this a program that is widely used by campus? Do most of the batteries collected under DRS get recycled?

     

    Thank you,
    Daphne

     

    Daphne Hulse (she/her)
    Zero Waste Coordinator
    Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    +1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.edu
     
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    Please consider the environment before printing an email. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

  3. Digital signage for Summer Bicycle Roundup

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    Attached digital signs was shared with several departments on campus with the following message:

    F&S is in the process of removing all abandoned bicycles left on campus over the summer. All bicycles on campus property have been tagged with an orange sticker. If a bicycle still has this sticker by July 5, it will be considered abandoned and subsequently impounded. Bicyclists must remove this tag from their bicycle to keep it active and to avoid impound.

    This sign was posted on 6/22/2023 until 7/14/2023 at the following departments:

    • Illini Union and Bookstore
    • F&S
    • BIF
    • Campus Recreation
    • Beckman
    • Architecture Building (FAA)
    • Law Building
    • CSL
    • DCL
    • ECE
    • Engineering Hall
    • IESB
    • Labor and Employee Relations
    • Loomis Laboratory
    • MSEB
    • Micro + Nanotechnology laboratory
    • NCSA
    • Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory
    • Siebel Center
    • Vet Med
    • CIF
    • Research Park
    Attached Files: 

  4. Redwood Materials: Daphne and Shreya meet with Seema Nilakhe for an introduction

    Associated Project(s): 
    Battery Recycling
    Rechargeable Battery Recycling
    Single-Use Battery Recycling

    On June 21, 2023 Daphne Hulse and Shreya Mahajan met with Seema Nilakhe to discuss Redwood Materials and opportunity for collaboration.

    • Introductions

      • Seema Nilakhe, originally from Chicago suburbs, attended U of I

      • Amy Fruehling was career counselor for Seema during her undergraduate years

      • Dabbling in environmental initiatives

      • Worked at Amazon for supply chain

      • Worked at Tesla

        • Infrastructure projects in North America

      • Wanted to work at start up so went to Redwood Materials

        • Lithium ion batteries

        • Based out of Reno, Nevada

        • Consumer partnerships is Seema’s role

      • Don’t take

        • Lead acid

        • Cadmium

        • Car batteries

    • Daphne notes that the batteries Redwood would be interested in would likely come from university property, which is handled by CMS/Surplus/OBFS

      • Seema can assist with looking into this process

    • Redwood process:

      • Pickup batteries with large OEMs (large car companies that make EVs)

      • Redwood picks up scrap

      • Redwood partners with Call2Recycle

      • Typically you have to pay a fee for Call2Recycle for their services (U of I may have had the service for free?)

      • Collections would be the biggest benefit for us:

        • Cell phones, laptops, smaller devices are high in cobalt and nickel and critical elements that are part of the battery

        • Larger devices would need to be checked for logistics and chemistry

        • Pricing is based on gross weight

        • Collections - don’t provide packaging but suppliers have the drums, crates, or collection mechanism to do that

        • DOT shipping guidelines (Redwood has that and can give us a sample) we have to be in compliance

        • Under 60 watt hours

        • Engineering may have drums that we could use to ship the batteries

        • Gaylords work too

      • Differences between primary and secondary batteries

        • Primaries - non-rechargables

          • Watch batteries

          • Typically lithium ion

      • Have partners which take all of the excess materials that aren’t batteries

        • Secondary - rechargeable

    Next steps:

    • CMS/Surplus - ask if they already recycle batteries, or need an outlet for it

    • Check inventory on drums and gaylords/shipping materials - Seema will send DOT guidelines

    • Event with marketing/public relations

    • Bin in the Union - how do you keep people from randomly throw items in there that are not batteries? Must be supervised

    • Stick to call2recycle for AA AAA alkaline

  6. Explained the Campus Bike Plan update project to students

    Associated Project(s): 
    2024 Campus Bike Plan
    Appropriately Staff Sustainable Transportation Efforts

    Sarthak met with Hrushikesh Chavan (Master of Architecture student) and Nathaniel Nevins (Bachelors in Landscape Architecture) separately to explain the Campus Bike Plan 2024 update. These students will read up the 2014 Campus Bike Plan, the progress reports, and other documents shared with them to learn more and recommend suggestions for this new Plan.

  7. 4 new EVs and new EV charging stations installed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Develop Scenarios for Converting the UI Fleet to Renewable Fuels
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    F&S has received 4 new Ford F-150 Lightnings all electric trucks, bringing the total to 6 Ford Lightnings and 1 Ford e-Transit cargo van for F&S fleet.

    We have also installed another level-2 Ford dual point smart chargers on the south side of PPSB and we are working on the installation on another one. We have 2 more chargers to install. The Charging Stations installations are being done using the SSC funding.

  8. Weekly update: Donations, Illini4K

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Pretty chill week overall. Great weather but not very busy. Got some donations from Champaign Cycle last Tuesday.

    One student worker that just graduated did a bike trip down the western border of Illinois last week and is headed to Iceland for another biking trip tomorrow. He bike-commutes and also did I4K. Great to see folks explore all the different ways to have fun with a bike.

    Another student worker is scaling back here as they were offered more hours at Champaign Cycle. Always good to see staff move on to bigger and better things.

    Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the long weekend.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 28
    Sales: $904.42
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $360
    Memberships: 9 for $270
    Tire/tubes: 7 for $44

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  9. EV support call with Phil Krein

    Associated Project(s): 
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
    Electric Vehicle (EV) Task Force

    Sarthak and Morgan met with Phil Krein to talk about the EV charging support on campus. See attached the powerpoint slides that Phil shared. Following are some talking points:

    • Include Phil Krein to the EV steering committee meeting
    • Type-1 chargers – cheap and better for our campus needs
    • Schedule a meeting with only Maria, MW, and Stacey
    • Morgan will talk to Lowa about why Parking prefers Level-2 chargers
    • Talk to Utilities, which parking infrastructure is the healthiest to support the level-1 chargers and then talk to SSC if we can pilot it.

    See the meeting recording here: https://uofi.box.com/s/o462lbl362rpw9p7jvoet8cmqsgxf7x6

  11. 6-15-23 F&S investigating food truck composting in collaboration with CCES

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Food Truck Certification
    Plan for Organic Waste
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Reduce Foodwaste

    From: Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2023 9:52 AM
    To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>; Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana

     

    Hi Shreya,

     

    Please also contact Susan Monte at Champaign County Environmental Stewards to collaborate on this work: smonte@ccenvstew.com

     

    Here is their website: https://www.ccenvstew.com/

     

    Cassie

     

    Cassie Carroll

    Marketing & Communications Director

    Smart Energy Design Assistance Center

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    1 St. Mary’s Road, Champaign, IL 61820

    217-300-6477

    ccarrol2@illinois.edu

  14. Meeting with Parking to discuss timeline

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    Met with Brandon, Cody, Chris, Jeremy, and Toby from the Parking department to discuss the Bicycle Roundup project and the timeline. Gave them an overview of the system that we are using (ArcGIS Field Maps) and what to look for in the maps. Informed them that we have started the tagging process and expect to finish tagging all bicycles by June 16, 2023.

    F&S TDM will tag and identify the abandoned bicycles, then Parking will remove them and transport them to the West Round Barn, and F&S TDM will inventory the bicycles. F&S TDM will organize the bicycle pick up for students in fall semester.

    Following is the expected timeline for this project:

    Start of the Tagging: 6/8/2023

    End of tagging process: 6/16/2023

    Start of the identification of abandoned bicycles: 7/5/2023

    End of the identification of abandoned bicycles:  7/10/2023

    Parking to remove abandoned bicycles (Start): 7/5/2023

    Parking to remove abandoned bicycles (End): 7/14/2023

  15. News Channel ABC20 coverage of Summer Bicycle Roundup

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    News Channel 20 reposted the F&S announcement regarding the summer bicycle roundup on June 13, 2023.

    University announces summer bicycle roundup, remove tags by June 30 to avoid impounding

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WICS) — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is reminding students about their annual summer bicycle roundup. The university's facilities and services department collects unwanted bicycles on campus after the end of the spring semester.

    All bikes left on university property will be tagged with an orange sticker that reads, 'Remove this tag by 6/30/23, or your bicycle will be removed,'" said the university's facilities and services department.

    They say any bicycle found with this sticker after June 30 will be impounded. If you currently have a bike in a campus rack, shelter, or parking location and want to keep your bike, remove the sticker to ensure it doesn't get impounded.

     

    To retrieve a bike that has been removed, you can contact bike@illinois.edu with your bike information. All recovered bikes need to be registered before being returned. Register your bike here.

     

    See the article online here: https://newschannel20.com/newsletter-daily/university-announces-summer-b...

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Feast or famine over here last week. Beginning of the week we were slammed but slow n’ steady by Friday. TBP held their Members’ Meeting last Monday and I attended. Got a unicycle donated as well as a handful of bikes, including some kids bikes.

    Spent 15 minutes on the phone with a gentleman from a rural town outside Bloomington, IL looking for a bike. Really speaks to the need that we’re getting interest from an hour plus drive away. Or maybe my hyper-local bike-only travel mindset makes that distance seem more unreasonable than it is…

    I was a bit more diligent this past week about tracking non-university visits to better reflect how many folks we’re helping.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 33
    Sales: $1,285.17
    Bikes: 3 for $540
    Membership: 7 for $210
    Tires/tubes: 16 for $166.00

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  18. 6-12-23 F&S looking into local composting options for food trucks

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Food Truck Certification
    Plan for Organic Waste
    Reduce Foodwaste
    Achieve Zero Waste

    F&S is looking into local composting options for the green food truck program.

     

    From: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 2:33 PM
    To: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana

     

    Hi Shreya,

     

    Here is more information about this program.

     

    https://illinoiscomposts.org/commercial-composting-programs/champaign-county-group-receives-funding-seeks-participants-for-commercial-food-scrap-compost-pilot/

     

    Stacy

     

    From: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 1:57 PM
    To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: Compost Bin in Urbana

     

    Hi Stacy,

     

    From our meeting on July 24, you mentioned that Urbana has a compost bin that is designed to take waste from commercial businesses. I was talking with my team, and it would be great if we implemented a system that collected compostable materials and food waste from food trucks. Would you happen to have more information about this site?

     

    Thanks,

    Shreya Mahajan

  19. F&S announcement - Summer Bicycle Roundup Underway

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    Summer Bicycle Roundup

    Sticker Removal Required for Active Bikes

    Summer Bicycle Roundup - Remove the Orange Sticker by June 30 to Avoid Impound

    Each summer, F&S and the Parking Department identify and collect unwanted bicycles on campus after the end of the spring semester.

    All bikes left on university property will be tagged with an orange sticker that reads, "Remove this tag by 6/30/23, or your bicycle will be removed." Any bicycle still displaying the sticker after that date will be impounded. If you presently have a bike in a campus rack, shelter, or parking location, please remember to remove this sticker to ensure your bike is designated as active.

    To retrieve a bike that has been removed, contact bike@illinois.edu with your bicycle information. All recovered bicycles will need to be registered before being returned (https://bike.illinois.edu/register-your-bike/).

  20. Solar Farm 3.0 possibilities on UIUC owned land?

    Associated Project(s): 
    Off-campus Solar Farm 3.0 PPA

    Hi Geri and Anita,

     

    At the Sustainability Council, you said there are University-owned lands that could potentially support our Solar Farm 3.0 goals.  I think you said there is one possibility near UIS.  Is there another location, as well?

     

    I’d appreciate a description of the potential sites and locations, so we can talk with the energy consultant about those sites.

     

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    -------------------------

     

    The UIS farmland adjacent to that campus could be considered for a solar project.  Decisions pertaining to the development of a solar project at UIS would be done through that campus.  Our UIS contact is Chuck Coderko, Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities and Services. There are approximately 256 total acres of which 235 are tillable acres (in crop production) managed by Ag Property Services   UIF has approximately 75 acres near the UIS campus as well.  UIF farmland is managed by Heartland Bank. 

    From my email exchange with Chuck, “several discussions with Springfield’s City Water Light & Power (CWLP), the sole provider of UIS’s electricity, who owns the lines/power grid. They are investing in solar in other areas of Illinois, and after several meetings, proposed ideas, etc., it appears they are not interested in what UIS would offer, and we would be on our own. But the city’s leadership changed a couple of months ago, and future opportunities may exist. Without CWLP or another partner, we would be generating electricity for the campus. We would also like to include other potential entities we could provide power to (Lincoln Land Community College, etc.), but we haven’t gotten that far.  We are looking for opportunities. As we currently stand, working through a P3 or Energy Service Company would be our most likely scenario, but much feasibility research will need to be done. UIS can’t bank a solar farm alone, and I am leery of levying a multi-million dollar debt on the university.”

     

    Ag Property Services manages farmland for the College of Engineering:

    Reifsteck Farm is located in Champaign County.  There are approximately 247 total acres of which 210 are tillable.  There are research projects on a portion the non-tillable areas. 

    VRO Farm is located in Vermilion County.  There are approximately 320 total acres of which 95 are tillable.  The farmland borders timber/woodland on two sides.  The Illinois Natural History Survey may be conducting research in the timber/woodland. 

     

    If you have additional questions, please let us know.

     

    Thank you,

    Anita Million

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