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  1. Bike at Illinois Newsletter: September 2023

     

    Facilities & Services

    Bike at Illinois

     

     

     

     

    Bike at Illinois Newsletter: September 2023

     

     

    Thank you for registering your bicycle! There are a few bicycle related events coming up in the Champaign-Urbana area, and we would like to invite you to participate in them!

    We, also, want to remind you to collect your bike registration sticker (shield) and attach it to your bicycle, if you have not done so already. There are, currently, eight campus and community Shield pick up locations. You will be required to show the Bike Registration Fee payment confirmation email and identification to collect a shield.

    Winners of Bike Registration Raffle will be contacted soon as well!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Upcoming events

     

     

     

    CU Bike Month 2023 t-shirt

     

     

    Bike to Work Day

    Ride your bike to campus on Thursday, September 14, and get a free T-shirt! Welcome stations featuring drinks and snacks will be available from 7 to 10 a.m., at eight university locations. Participants will also be able to interact with other bicyclists and city planners about potential enhancements to the bicycle network and future programming. First-time riders are encouraged to take part and learn more about the C-U bike community.

    You must preregister at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay and bring your bicycle to get this year's shirt (shown). The event will move to September 15, should inclement weather arise.

    Light the Night – Free Bike Light Giveaway

    The 16th annual Light the Night is Tuesday, September 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and the Ikenberry Commons Quad. You MUST bring your bike to get a light set. Approximately 1,100 bike light sets will be available. In case of severe weather, the event will be rescheduled for September 21.

    Remember, bike lights are required by Illinois law when riding at night. Volunteers are still needed for the event.

    Reclaiming an Abandoned Bike

    F&S removed almost 230 abandoned bicycles on campus this summer. If you left your bike and want to reclaim it, email bike@illinois.edu and include where it was located, the make/model, color, and serial number, if possible. Bike registration information or other documentation will be needed to prove ownership (e.g., pictures). More information is available at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/ReclaimBike. If the bicycle wasn't registered, that step must be completed before retrieving the bike. The deadline to reclaim your bicycle is Friday, September 22, 2023. Any unclaimed bikes will be donated to the Campus Bike Center and the Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign to help support bicycle programs and initiatives.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Bike Safety: Always lock your bicycle

     

     

     

     

    For nearly 60 percent of the bike thefts reported in the past year, the stolen bicycle was not locked. Always lock your bicycle to a bike rack to keep it safe. Watch this video on how to properly lock your bicycle. Watch other educational videos created by Bike at Illinois.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Thank you so much for all your support, and learn more about the Bike at Illinois program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Contact us at bike@illinois.edu for any questions.

     

     

     

     

  2. F&S Announcement - Celebrate C-U Bike Month

    Associated Project(s): 

    Join the Others in the Community at Bike to Work and Light the Night Events

    Bike at Illinois strives to offer resources, education, and engagement for a safer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable biking experience on the Urbana campus. As the university celebrates C-U Bike Month, please join students, faculty, and staff in upcoming events and learn more about bicycle registration, safety tips, rules of the road, bike infrastructure, and how to participate in sustainability initiatives.

    Bike to Work Day
    Ride your bike to campus on Thursday, September 14, and get a free T-shirt! Welcome stations featuring drinks and snacks will be available from 7 to 10 a.m., at eight university locations. You must preregister at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay and bring your bicycle to get the shirt.

    Volunteers can also help provide more information about the benefits of registering your bike with 529 Garage’s national database (https://go.illinois.edu/RegisterYourBike). Once registered, owners will get a 529 Shield (registration decal) to help as a theft deter

    Light the Night – Free Bike Light Giveaway

    The 16th annual LTN is Tuesday, September 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and the Campus Bike Center (51 E. Gregory Drive). You MUST bring your bike to get a light set. Approximately 1,100 bike light sets will be available this year.

    Remember, bike lights are required by Illinois law when riding at night. Volunteers are still needed for the event.

  3. Brent Lewis approves 17 more dual bin locations

    Associated Project(s): 

    On July 18th, Brent Lewis approved 16 more sites for installation, and the site on Champaign property was approved on July 6. On September 6th, these 17 sites plus the 7 additional sites sent to earlier this summer on June 7th (the eighth site at Siebel Center for Computer Science was installed on August 1st, so it was omitted from this spreadsheet), were sent to the iron workers for a total of 24 sites.

     

    55 dual bins remain in storage and need site proposals from the zero waste team and approval from Brent Lewis.

  4. Check in meeting from September 6, 2023

  5. Green rolloff for recycling arrives!

    It's here, it's here, it's finally here. Waste Transfer Station purchased a new green rolloff container specifically for recycling. We expect to use it for tailgate recycling, welcome week, and any other event that produces an excess of recycling or would benefit from a container dedicated to recyclables.

  6. Building Services Specialist Cleaning Program Launched This Semester

     

     

    Group photo of building service workers involved in receiving ISSA certification in the Campus Instructional Facility lobby

     

     

    Before the start of the fall semester, the F&S Building Services department launched a new Specialist Cleaning Program in five high-usage campus facilities. Almost 40 BSWs underwent professional development and received training certification from the ISSA, a leading organization for the cleaning industry worldwide.

    ISSA professional development at the university will organize detailed cleaning tasks and deliver many benefits of a more systematic approach that transitions from the current zone cleaning setup, where BSWs perform all cleaning tasks within a specified area. Streamlined processes for color-coding will help eliminate the potential for cross-contamination and promote the more efficient utilization of equipment and supplies.

    The pilot buildings are the Campus Instructional Facility, Talbot Laboratory, Grainger Engineering Library Information Center, Lincoln Hall, and the Materials Science and Engineering Building. These high-usage facilities were selected based on the ability to successfully evaluate and replicate the program in other similar facilities moving forward. A list of departmental expectations is available to help further explain key aspects of this initial effort. 

    For questions about the Specialist Cleaning Program and Building Services Transformation Initiative, contact Director of Transportation & Building Services Pete Varney pvarney@illinois.edu, 217-333-7583.

     

  7. [WUNA-Main] Will Styrofoam recycling continue post-Dart?

    From Kathy's Mailbag in today's News-Gazette:

     

    “I'm wondering if Styrofoam recycling will stop when the Dart Container plant closes at the end of the year. Our community Styrofoam recycling program is one of just six in the state, with the other 5 located in the Chicago area. Will this program be saved for our community?”

    Michael Westerfield, Dart Container Corporation’s vice president for sustainability, notified the City of Champaign that the community Styrofoam recycling program hosted by Dart will remain in operation until Sept. 29.

    Nichole Millage, the City of Champaign’s environmental sustainability specialist, said at this time she is not aware of any other companies or recycling processors in the area that have the equipment (densifier) to recycle Styrofoam. “If new options become available, I will make sure folks are aware.”

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    Hi Morgan and Scott,

     

    Could the city of Urbana or the UIUC buy Dart’s densifier and operate it for the community?

     

    Jeff

  8. 2023 Competition Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    Dear Friend of the Reimagine our Future student sustainability competition,

     

    We are writing to provide a brief update about Reimagine our Future.

     

    As you know, the aim of this competition is to harness the creativity and intelligence of undergraduate students, challenging them to develop ideas and solutions that will contribute to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and encouraging them to feel empowered as engaged problem-solvers.

     

    Registration is now open for the 2023 competition, and we have some exciting developments to report.

    Students from nine participating higher education institutions can enter the competition this year either as individuals or as members of teams. (Students from any higher education institution anywhere may be on a team that enters the competition provided that team is led by a student from a participating institution.) An up-to-date list of the participating institutions is here.

    This year we added two special awards for the best submission dealing with some aspect of climate change and for the submission that went furthest in implementation.

    Also, Mike Yao, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor with appointments in the College of Media and the Gies College of Business, will serve as a mentor to the winning entrants, irrespective of their home institution, as they attempt to develop and implement their proposal.

    The important dates for the 2023 competition are available here.

    If you are an advisor on student projects, you may receive – any time between now and November 19th - a request for advice from one or more students who are planning a submission in your area of expertise or interest.

    If you are a judge, we will ask for a few hours of your time during November 20-24 to help develop the list of finalists.

    Special thanks to those who are playing both roles!

    Our list of advisors and judges includes specialists from various universities, companies, and institutions and from many backgrounds, fields, and disciplines. This broad-ranging list encourages submissions from students in many areas.  We expect to continue to add to this list.

    Thank you again for your ongoing help with this sustainability competition and for bringing your unique background, skills, professional history and more to this project. If you have advice or suggestions about any aspect of the competition, please let us know.

     

    Yours sincerely,

    Leon Liebenberg (Teaching Professor, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, UIUC) 

    Warren Lavey (Adjunct Professor, College of Law, School of Earth, Society & Environment, and College of Medicine, UIUC) 

    Robert McKim (Emeritus Professor, Department of Religion, UIUC) 

     

    (Reimagine Our Future co-founders and coordinating committee)

  9. Monthly meeting with Morgan and Stacey

    Associated Project(s): 

    I met with Morgan and Stacey on 8/30/2023 to discuss the progress of the 2024 Campus Bike Master Plan. The major discussion was about Chapter 3: Goals and Objectives, and I will be re-organizing the goals and objectives under three key goals:

    1. Infrastructure
    2. Programming
    3. Resources

    We also discussed the soft publish date to be 5/1/2024 and a hard deadline of 6/30/2024.

  10. Meeting notes with Ethan Garcia - Capstone project

    Prepare outline for bike audit

    • how to do it
    • What will we need
    • What information do I need
    • What information are we trying to get out of this
    • How are we trying to do this 
    • What resources will we need (GIS)
    • When are we doing the audit 
    • When do we think we can finish it (number of hours, dates not necessary)
    • Condition assessments of bike rack 
    • Looking at rack itself and concrete 

     

    Re-familiarize self with stuff

     

    Black racks are ground mounted, we want bike racks on rails (gray ones)

     

    Only university owned bike racks and paths 

  11. Toner and Ink Cartridge Recycling

    Associated Project(s): 

    Hi Daphne,

     

    Just to confirm, this is toner and not an ink cartridge for printer. We don’t have many inkjet printers, but I don’t want to assume which one you have.

     

    Thanks,

    Brad

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    Hi Brad,

     

    That’s correct – toner is what we are referring to! Apologies for the confusion.

     

    Thank you,
    Daphne

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    HI Daphne,

     

    The vendors we work with for recycling toner quit accepting them. Unfortunately, they have to be thrown away.

     

    Thanks,

    Brad

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    Hi Morgan & Stephanie,

     

    Below is the response I received from Brad re: toner recycling. Sarthak was over at IT recently and noted that there was a box of toner cartridges that the IT team has been collecting for many, many years since the vendor stopped accepting them for recycling. I’ll do some research to see if there’s a solution in this region.

     

    Thank you,

    Daphne

  12. Meeting with BirdBike

    Associated Project(s): 

    On 08/29/2023, Stacey, Sarthak and Hrushikesh along with city planners of Urbana and Champaign had an introductory in-person meeting with BirdBike. The agenda of this meeting was to get a demo of the BirdBike bicycles and have discussion on potentially introducing these bikes on-campus and the in both cities. 

    Meeting Notes:

    1) Membership opportunity

    2) BirdBike facilitating no bike zone in certain areas of campus .

    3) Demo of the Bikes and its parking system.

    4) Safety features and precautions. 

    5) Using GPS and VPS system for tracking and parking.

    6) Helmet Safety feature.

    7) Rider Quiz before every ride.

    8) Wayfinding for campus bike rack parking locations

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