The updates below apply to the week ending Dec. 9, 2018.

Hi Pete and Shawn--

This past week, zero-waste activity focused on a major change to the glove recycling program. Morgan and I spoke with Monica Miller on Friday and heard concerns about the potential for labs (especially research labs) to inadvertently place hazardous materials in the recycling stream. Monica pointed out the complexities of compliance, especially when staff turns over at a lab. The determination was to stop glove recycling at labs. There may be some exceptions that DRS would need to determine on a case-by-case basis.

Morgan is drafting a message to the labs to tell them of the changes, which will take effect Dec. 31. Per Monica's request, I have contacted Serenity Desmond at Noyes and the Chem Annex to ask her to contact Monica about the change. Monica is familiar with ISTC's practices and is comfortable with their continued participation. There is no issue with Dining Services or food venues continuing to participate.

I have contacted the BER students who were trying to find the names of teaching coordinators so that DRS could talk with them under the previous plan. I told them to send the information they have already collected but that they can stop. Morgan and I hope to enlist them to help expand the program in food venues, and possibly to promote RightCycle to restaurants in the community.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan

Hi Pete and Shawn--

Zero waste activities from the past week were as follows:

• I assisted in finding diversion rates for other campuses for a couple of students who had inquired. The AASHE website includes STAR reports from a number of campuses, which include amounts of waste diverted.
• I received email from Jordan Powers, the Fisher representative, about her recruitment of new participants for the glove recycling program. Morgan and I exchanged emails and decided the best course of action is to ensure Jordan is aware that we agreed to postpone recruitment in light of discussions with the Division of Research Safety and to ask her to have the new departments sign up for the program via the web survey we created for that purpose earlier this year. I’ll let DRS know what happened.
• I got information from Morgan and from Shantanu Pai about the glove recycling program in anticipation of a phone call today with Arizona State University’s sustainability coordinator. She is seeking information about our participation in the Kimberly-Clark program to help inform decisions about ASU’s program.

Best regards,

Marya Ryan

Hello Pete and Shawn--

This past week,

• I had emails with the BER students to answer a question about their efforts to identify teaching coordinators for the labs participating in the glove recycling program. We are seeking the information for the Division of Research Safety (DRS) as part of the effort to ensure that biohazards and dangerous chemicals are not inadvertently introduced into the recycling stream.
• Morgan confirmed that she will do additional outreach to Anthropology about the labs/room numbers where they collect gloves. I have a second email out to Veterinary Medicine requesting the same information and also their PI names. These efforts are also part of the information collection for DRS.
• Joey Kreiling expressed an interest in reaching out to the BER students regarding ActGreen's involvement with the Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC). I have emailed him a couple of times for clarification so that I can get him in touch with the BER students, per Morgan's suggestion. I have not heard back from him yet.
• I confirmed with the BER students that we are not yet ready to recruit new participants for the EPS recycling program (they had asked about additonal volunteer opportunites when I met with them the week before last; I said I would check on the status of the styrofoam recycling program).
• I sent Joe Pickowitz an email to see what he has learned about operating costs to run the EPS densifier on campus.

Best regards,

Marya Ryan

Hello Pete and Shawn--

Here are the past week's zero-waste activities:

• I completed a survey from the University of Michigan on campus composting. There was no initial question as to whether our campus composts or not, so I filled in most of the questions with the information that we do not have a composting program at this time.
• I met with two Business in Environmental Responsibility (BER) students to ask them if they could help us identify teaching coordinators for the labs that recycle gloves. This is part of our effort with the Division of Research Safety (DRS) to ensure that labs have adequate guidelines and training to prevent biohazards and/or dangerous chemicals from entering the recycling stream. I prepared a spreadsheet for them to enter coordinators' names and contact information as well as a model message to send to Chris Holmes in the Provost Office and to participating departments.
• I responded to an inquiry from the Illinois Natural History Survey regarding a message to their staff to promote glove recycling. I told them it would be fine to put my name and contact information in the message and cc-ed Morgan to ensure that promotion within an already participating unit does not conflict with our commitment to DRS to refrain from recruiting new units to the program until a decision is made about having additional safety guidelines/training.
• Replied to the iCAP User Experience Portal Questionnaire.
• Reviewed PWR SWATeam emails and minutes.
   

Best regards,

Marya Ryan

Hello Pete and Shawn,

Zero-waste activity for the past week comprised

• A phone call with Morgan to convey what I learned on Oct. 3 about the glove recycling program from Jill Ducker of VWR and Sara Portillo of Kimberly-Clark. Because F&S has not been able to provide transportation for gloves from participating departments to the trailer at PPSB, Kimberly-Clark and VWR have provided alternatives for them. Noyes/Chemistry is working directly with Kimberly-Clark through their Storeroom program; other units are purchasing UPS call tags to have gloves shipped directly from their sites to Kimberly-Clark. I learned from Morgan that these arrangements run counter to what F&S expected when $6,000 was spent to purchase the glove trailer at PPSB. I learned that the purchase was made to support an agreement that Shantanu Pai had negotiated with Kimberly-Clark to provide one free pick-up per year from PPSB.
• An email to convey word of the agreement back to Sara, since she is new to her position and is still researching the agreements Kimberly-Clark has with different departments and campuses.
• Emails to Sara and Jill to let them know that we want departments to bring gloves to PPSB--and that Morgan is looking into a possible option to use one of F&S's "green" trucks to transport gloves to the trailer.
• Email and phone follow-ups with departments that are recycling gloves to learn who their PIs are and what labs/room numbers are serving as points of collection. This is the third round of effort to obtain the information for the Division of Research Safety (DRS). I sent Morgan as much information as I have been able to obtain in three rounds of contacts.
• Updates to Morgan and the iCAP portal with the news that Donovan Lab is no longer a glove-recycling site.

Best regards,

Marya Ryan