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Projects Updates for key objective: No name

  2. Transportation iCAP Team Meeting 4/10/2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Electric Vehicle (EV) Task Force
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan

    The Transportation iCAP Team met on 4/10/2024 to discuss the final draft of the DESMAN study report, progress on the 2020 Transportation iCAP objectives, and potential 2025 Transportation iCAP goals. Attached is a link to the meeting recording.

    Attached Files: 

  3. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - May 3, 2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Agenda

    Discussion/Decisions

    • The idea of Power Searches is popular - will add additional content types and filters. Suggestions welcome!
    • Archiving projects
      • Decided to start with a simple Archived/Not Archived checkbox or dropdown list (do we have better terminology than "Not Archived"? Public and Visible are already used in other contexts). Michael will try it out on a dev site and report back next meeting.
      • Rejected ideas:
        • Add "Archived" to Visibility options - seems distinct from Public/Private, plus we want the option to still show projects publicly, just default to hiding them in most listings.
        • Add "Archived" to Project Status options - this mixes the status of the project itself with whether we still want it to show up on the site; e.g., cannot represent both "Cancelled" and "Archived" simultaneously
    • The Phantom Menace is in theaters this weekend in honor of Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you) and Codie's birthday (5/5)! See it, you will.

  5. iCAP Portal Admin Meeting - April 5, 2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Agenda

    • Project Updates tasks
      • New "To Do Item(s)" field - is this single field what you were thinking? Would a set of multiple one-line fields be better? Or something else?
        • Q: Show field in Pending Tasks listing?
        • Q: Who should be able to view the content of this field? Other task-related fields are restricted to iCAP Admins & iCAP Moderators, but if you want to assign a task to a non-admin or non-moderator, they'll need to be able to view this task field (and the other fields) in order to view the task. Should we expand the scope of who can view task-related fields? At least add iCAP Clerks, or perhaps even all logged in users?
      • Q: Also add field for tagging iCAP Portal user(s) as responsible party for tracking tasks and updating when they're completed? (note: separate from "Assigned To" field which allows free editing and doesn't associate with user accounts
        • Q: What should this field be called?
        • Q: Should it allow multiple people to be entered?
        • Q: Add a My Tasks page where logged in users can view all tasks assigned to them?
    • Recommendations
    • SSC Projects
      • Discussions since our last meeting:
      • Demo of SSC project embedding (TEST site) which includes a map which responds to filters
      • Questions:
        • We've tweaked how we're planning to represent SSC Projects using the iCAP Portal a bit:
          • Allow multiple semesters of funding info to be entered on a project (collections of fields, rather than fields directly associated with a project)
            • Pros: SSC-specific solution; minimal complexity; fairly straightforward way people entering the information would think of it
            • Cons: SSC-specific solution, so not easily generalizable if we want to use it for something else in the future; requires each of SSC's funding projects to be associated with exactly one iCAP Portal Project - is that a concern?
        • How do we handle multiple locations for a project? Show the SSC project at all of them? Just the first one? Have a way to specify? (could this get difficult for projects with SSC funding multiple times, if the locations are different each time?)
    • Archiving projects - deferred to next meeting

    Discussion/Decisions

    • SSC Projects:
      • There was general agreement that the recommended approach will work. Reed affirmed based on his knowledge of the SSC projects, he didn't see a problem with mapping each SSC project to a single iCAP Portal project
      • Miriam encouraged documentation of clear guidelines for handling special cases
      • Locations: don't use all project locations, that will be too many and overwhelm the map. Codie suggested adding a new location field for SSC to specify location(s), typically just the location of the organization receiving the funding
      • Funding: Sarthak reiterated interest in using the funding feature for the Bike Fee. Michael will schedule a meeting with Sarthak to discuss further details.
      • Michael will schedule a meeting with Codie and Miriam to discuss further details regarding locations and funding.
    • Recommendations:
      • The group generally liked the direction things were headed
      • Need to resolve a question about the difference between project(s) that a recommendation is linked to initially (e.g. the project that spawned the recommendation, if any) vs. the project that comes out of a recommendation, if any. Do recommendations ever have both? Do they always have at least one?
      • Michael will schedule a meeting with Miriam and Sarthak to discuss further.

  7. Edu009 - Updating College of Business Course Descriptions - Approved

    Associated Project(s): 
    Inventory Sustainability Courses
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recently approved recommendation Edu009 from the Education iCAP Team to update College of Business course descriptions to reflect the sustainability content.

    This recommendation aligns with Objective 6.2 of the iCAP 2020: Establish a comprehensive online repository for courses and academic programs with sustainability content. 

    The College of Business shared their action plan on completing the approved recommendation (attached).

    This will be followed up on in the fall to ensure the proper implementation of the recommendation.

    Attached Files: 

  9. Corrected project name

    Associated Project(s): 
    Fossil Fuels Divestment - Support Letter

    This project name was "Fossil Fuels Divestment" which is a misstatement because the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign does not have direct authority over the investments at the UI Foundation.  To clarify the goal of this objective in the 2020 iCAP, I updated the project name to be "Fossil Fuels Divestment - Support Letter."  I also provided more details in the project description, and added the full text from the iCAP 2020 document in the background section of this project page. ~Morgan

  10. Discussion about SSC projects in iCAP Portal - March 22, 2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Overview

    Miriam Keep, Codie Sterner, and Michael McKelvey met to continue discussing how to approach embedding projects from the iCAP Portal on the SSC website.

    Discussion

    We discussed several possible ways to represent SSC Projects using the iCAP Portal:

    1. For each Project the SSC funds, create a sub-project for each semester the SSC provides funding (e.g. "SSC Funding for Campus Bike Center, Fall 2023")
      • Pros: uses existing structure with minimal modification
      • Cons: LOTS of new sub-projects with very little information other than SSC details - could be confusing for visitors and cumbersome for data entry
    2. Expand the currently unused Project Funding bridge between Funding Sources and Projects
      • Pros: uses an existing system that's not currently used for anything else
      • Cons: adds complexity with minimal gain, since we don't expect this system to be used for anything other than SSC projects
    3. Allow multiple semesters of funding info to be entered on a project (collections of fields, rather than fields directly associated with a project)
      • Pros: SSC-specific solution; minimal complexity; most straightforward way people entering the information would think of it
      • Cons: SSC-specific solution, so not easily generalizable if we want to use it for something else in the future; requires each of SSC's funding projects to be associated with exactly one iCAP Portal Project - is that a concern?

    Decision

    We decided to pursue the 3rd option (multiple semesters of information added to a project). It seems like the simplest approach.

    Timeline

    Codie would like it ready to go by summer, when he'll have staff who can work on the data entry. Goal of completion by start of fall semester.

    TODOs

    Michael will mock something up for our next iCAP Portal meeting so we can run it by the group and get feedback.

  11. Discussion about iCAP recommendations - March 22, 2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Michael McKelvey, Miriam Keep, and Morgan White met to finalize the discussion of how to structure iCAP Recommendations. We came to an agreement on the structure which we diagrammed online. Recommendations will be patterned after Metrics. If a Recommendation update warrants a Project Update, that will need to be added manually; it will not happen automatically with this approach.

    Summary of structure:

    • A Recommendation can be associated with a Project and an Objective and contains some additional general information
    • A Recommendation can have many "tracking" updates including at least a status, date, and some notes

    Detailed structure:

    • iCAP Team
      • Title
      • Description
      • Theme [references one of our 10 themes, optional]
    • Recommendation
      • Title
      • iCAP Team [references an iCAP Team]
      • Supplanted by [references another Recommendation, optional]
      • Associated Project(s) [references a Project, optional]
      • Objective [references an iCAP Objective, optional]
      • Description / "Specific actions/policy recommendations"
    • Recommendation Tracking
      • Title
      • Recommendation [references a Recommendation]
      • Description
      • Date (M/D/Y field)
      • Status (dropdown list)
      • Internal Notes
      • Public File(s)
      • Private File(s)
      • Next step (dropdown list)
      • Next step due date (M/D/Y field)

    Additionally, we do not plan to use the iCAP Portal to collect Recommendation feedback - a shared Word Doc on Teams is more conducive to this process. Certain fields in a recommendation will be added to the iCAP Portal Recommendation, and the uploaded document will contain more details, including comments.

    Attached Files: 

  12. Communications Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Waste Stream Characterization Study Phase 3

    Daphne, thank you so much for your efforts to wrangle the various building representatives! Did you happen to get a response from the Illini Union yet? Looking through the other polls, it seems as if someone from all the other buildings would be available for walkthroughs on either September 11th or 12th, so if the Union is available on either of those days, we’d like to go ahead and start scheduling appointments for those two days. Having all the walkthroughs on two consecutive days will minimize travel for Zach, who will be coming down from Chicago to participate. If the Union simply isn’t available either day, we’ll just schedule a time after the 12th and plan for me to handle that without Zach.

     

    Speaking of scheduling, might I suggest that we go ahead and plan to conduct the building audits during the third week of October (16th-20th)? Looking at the academic calendar, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for that week to problematic in terms of student volunteer availability. I know maintenance of Memorial Stadium is the responsibility of DIA, not F&S, but I did check the football schedule too. There’s a game on Saturday the 21st, which also happens to be homecoming. If for some reason that makes you think it would be best to avoid audit activities on Friday the 20th, we could alternatively conduct the audits during the fourth week of October (23rd-27th). That week doesn’t seem to have any conflicts with the academic calendar or football schedule. I know it’s still a few months away, but because Zach and Savannah both will be traveling to Champaign for the audits, the sooner we settle on a week, the easier it will be to plan travel and other details leading up to the audits. If you have a preference for the third or fourth week in October based on F&S staffing and schedules, please let us know.

     

    Thanks for your comments on the draft sorting categories! I read through them and accordingly made some slight changes to sorting category descriptions; see the attached file. I also replied to some of your comments or edited a few of the plastic-related categories, explaining my reasoning in the comments. I think this is in good shape! Just let us know if you have additional questions or suggestions.

     

    Thanks so much, and good luck navigating move-in this week!

    Joy

    Attached Files: 

  13. Waste Audit Communications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Waste Stream Characterization Study Phase 3

    Hello, all. My name is Joy Scrogum and I’m a member of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (TAP). ISTC is working with F&S this fall to conduct waste audits of your buildings. Thank you to everyone who filled out the availability polls set up by Daphne Hulse, and to Daphne for gathering this information! I will be using the information you provided over the next few days to send representatives of each building an Outlook invitation for a walkthrough appointment with myself and my colleague, Zach Samaras, so be sure to watch your email inbox for those. Invitations will be for times on Monday, September 11, or Tuesday, September 12th. If the suggested time no longer works for you, please respond with suggested alternative times on the 11th or 12th as soon as possible, and we’ll do our best to accommodate you. Our goal is to schedule all walkthroughs on these two days to minimize travel expenses, so we really appreciate your cooperation. We are tentatively planning to conduct the building waste audits during the third week of October.

     

    Your walkthrough appointment with ISTC will take approximately half an hour of your time for each building involved. We will be interested in viewing the types and placement of trash and recycling bins, along with any associated signage throughout the building, and observing trash rooms, if applicable. We’ll want to fully understand the flow of landfill-bound and recyclable materials in your building, and the processes involved in collection from your perspective. We want to hear about any challenging materials and/or issues with contamination faced within your building, and we’d be happy to hear any suggestion you may have for improvements. We will also describe our audit procedures and logistics related to the collection of samples for the audits.

     

    We realize that building service workers are key stakeholders and are working with F&S to get a representative to share their perspective on operations at your building as well. When you receive your Outlook invitation, if you think there are additional individuals from your team who should be involved, feel free to forward the invitation to them. Please also edit your response to the invitation--or let us know in a separate email--where we should plan to connect with you on the day of the walkthrough (e.g., “just inside the main entrance on the north side of the building,” “outside at the loading dock,” or something similar).

     

    If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. My office phone number is in my signature below, and to assist with communication on the days of the walkthroughs, my cell phone number is 217-979-7345. Thank you in advance for taking time out of your busy schedules to speak with us and show us your facilities!

     

    Sincerely,

     

    JOY SCROGUM

  15. Waste Audit BSW Instruction Sheets

    Associated Project(s): 
    Waste Stream Characterization Study Phase 3

    Hello, All. In preparation for the campus building waste audits next week (Oct. 23-27), attached are instruction sheets for F&S BSWs at buildings that will be included in the study (BIF, CIF, Noyes Lab, & RAL). Separate, similar sheets will be sent to building contacts for those buildings that coordinate their own BSWs (Illini Union, ARC, and Allen Hall/LAR). Daphne had previously suggested sending these to both her and Pete since Pete might be out of the office. Macie, since I see Pete has an automatic email reply indicating that he’ll be out of town through the 30th, I’ve copied you as well; if there’s anyone else who should receive these in Pete’s absence, please feel free to forward the BSW sheets to them. Daphne and Macie, If you or any key stakeholders involved in communicating with BSWs have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. In case you need it during the week of the audits, my cell phone number is 217-979-7345.

     

    The ISTC team will plan to deploy gaylords to all buildings on Monday morning (Oct. 23). We’ll begin collecting samples from those gaylords as early as mid-day Monday—see the attached sampling schedule as well. The goal is to collect samples from each building for at least 2 days (dark green on the spreadsheet) with an optional third day (lighter green on the spreadsheet) if that’s needed to obtain adequate poundage for representative samples (unlikely but built into the plan nonetheless). BSWs are being asked to put trash and recycling into the gaylords first for as long as they’re present at the building, reverting to normal dumpsters/collection containers whenever the gaylords are full. To be clear, if, say, on Monday evening BSWs fill the gaylords up, they should not assume that they can ignore the gaylords on Tuesday evening. In that hypothetical situation, ISTC will have removed samples from the gaylords before Tuesday evening, so the BSWs should find that there’s room in the gaylords on Tuesday evening, and once again, use those first until they’re full before reverting to using the normal dumpsters.  I think we’ve conveyed that on the BSW sheets, but in case any of them ask any of you for clarification, I wanted to point this out. We’ll remove gaylords from buildings once adequate samples are in hand. When the gaylords are gone, BSWs can resume all normal operations.

     

    The trailer is being dropped off at the Waste Transfer Station (WTS) this Friday, Oct. 20th, and it will be picked up on Monday, Oct. 30th, as previously discussed with Shawn. Daphne, although we had asked you and Dan previously if F&S might have a truck we could borrow for sample collection, we were able to reserve one from the ISTC/PRI fleet for the entire week for that purpose. As previously discussed with Shawn, ISTC is providing the gaylords, but for the pallets beneath the various gaylords, we’ll plan to pull from the stockpile at the WTS.

     

    As Daphne is aware, there is a sign-up for volunteers to help with the sort at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48ADAA2DA5FD0-44917798-uiuc#/. Thus far, no one has signed up; students often tend to wait until the last minute to sign up for things. Daphne, have you shared the link with the lists you had mentioned? I noticed that it was not included in the Eweek, so if you submitted it, they didn’t include it in this week’s edition, which would have been ideal. Thanks to Daphne, this did get included in the most recent edition of the iSEE newsletter. I posted it to the waste reduction and recycling Facebook group, to the PRI Sustainability Microsoft Team, and sent it via email to all ISTC staff based in Champaign (our director followed up with his own email encouraging folks to participate). I’ll also see if the Office of Civic Life will post it on their volunteer opportunities page. Please share the link with anyone or any group you think might be interested, especially interns or students involved in campus sustainability. We’ll have all ISTC zero-waste team hands on deck for this (including a new hourly employee we happily just hired) but having some additional volunteers would be helpful. And, because it’s common to have no-shows whenever volunteers are involved, the more we can spread the word, the better.

     

    Thanks to everyone, and our team looks forward to next week’s audit!

     

    JOY SCROGUM

    Attached Files: 

  16. Follow up questions for the UIUC waste audit report

    Associated Project(s): 
    Waste Stream Characterization Study Phase 3

    Hi Daphne! Thanks again to you and Pete for taking time to review the preliminary audit data with us yesterday. As you have time to digest all of that, please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to the FY 2023 tonnage stats for landfilled waste, commodities recycled, and the updated effective diversion rate calculations to include in the report. As promised, I wanted to follow up with some questions our team has as we work on the report:

     

    • How many campus buildings have at least one MaxR bin? https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/metric/buildings-new-waste-bins says 63, but https://sustainability.illinois.edu/icap-update-toward-a-zero-waste-campus/ indicates number is 64. 64 is correct; I had yet to update the number on the iCAP portal by 1!
    • Does campus still send waste to Brickyard Disposal and Recycling, Inc., and is methane capture still happening at that landfill? We plan to note this in our report, as well as the life expectancy of that landfill (18 yrs.), based on IEPA info. No, our current contract with Green For Life (GFL) is with the Clinton, IL landfill which does not have methane capture.
    • Regarding destinations for recyclables (previously shared by F&S):
      • Does F&S take scrap metal to Mack’s Twin City Recycling in Urbana, or Mervis? I know I’ve heard this before but both company names begin with “M” and they’re both in Urbana, so I want to make sure I’m not mixing them up. Mervis is who we use for our scrap metal.
      • Graphic Packaging in Battle Creek, MI was on the list of destinations for cardboard collected on campus. However, that location seems to have been closed (see https://wwmt.com/news/local/battle-creek-graphic-packaging-mill-closes-friday-employees-plant-expansion). Is cardboard still sent to Graphic Packaging, and if so, which location? Good question. I sent an inquiry to our GFL rep who directly works with the mill buyers/brokers who take our recyclables. I will follow up with his response.
      • Novelis in Atlanta, GA was listed as a destination for aluminum, but looking at their website, that seems to be their corporate HQ. Can we confirm the destination location for Novelis? Working on receiving confirmation!
    • Clarifying current practices
      • All auxiliary units coordinate their own BSWs, correct? I know Housing, the Union, and Campus Rec do, but wanted to confirm this is true for other auxiliaries not included in the study. This is correct. Every auxiliary on campus has their own BSWs.
      • Are there any buildings on campus where cardboard is still being placed in the landfill dumpster as standard procedure, to be picked out later at the WTS, or is it the case that all buildings either have a cardboard dumpster or toters for cardboard collection? Yes, this is correct. If the carboard is grouped together and visible in the landfill dumpster, it can pretty easily be grabbed out when it is dumped at WTS. Similarly, are there any buildings on campus with such limited dock space that blue bags of recyclables are being put into the landfill dumpster for later recovery at the WTS? Yes, this does occur because of the limited dock space. In other words, are there buildings without adequate dock space even for toters for recyclables? I believe that was true in the past but want to confirm whether that is happening at all on campus as we work on process flow diagrams. Improvements are being made during new capital builds to include the perspective of waste management (BSWs, truck drivers) in the design process for buildings. We continually face the challenge that there is inadequate space outside of buildings to place more than 1 dumpster. This situation further emphasizes the need for correct color-coding of the bags.
      • When considering the “acceptable” materials list for paper bins, does “Office Paper: All Types” include shredded paper? I assume so but wanted to confirm. Yes, it includes shredded paper.
    • We currently have the following items highlighted under “Current Campus Waste Reduction & Diversion Initiatives” in the draft report:

    Please confirm that we should also add:

    • Recyclopedia Confirmed, let’s add!
    • Pilot transition to new paper towel dispensers (which will help reduce paper towel waste) Confirmed, let’s add!
      • 17 buildings transitioned to the new paper towel dispensers over the holiday break (December 2023 – January 2024). The Building Services team is slated to transition another clockstation or two during the summer break (June 2024 – July 2024), transitioning an additional 40-60 buildings to the new dispensers.
    • Anything else? Should we highlight LeanPath or other efforts related to organics (e.g. exploration of anaerobic digestion) given the amount of food scraps being sent to landfill?
    • If you could point us to relevant iCAP or other online information on additional programs to highlight, and/or provide suggested blurbs, we’d appreciate it!

     

    Thanks in advance!

    Joy

     

    Hi Joy,

     

    Please see in red the responses to your questions in your previous email. Let me know if anything needs more clarification. I will follow up on the questions I didn’t immediately have an answer for. Recyclopedia will eventually be a webpage on the F&S website but for now I have the drafted word doc form to share.

     

    Question for you all – we have started up conversations with Tork/Essity for paper towel recycling in light of the preliminary results you shared with us last week. It’s a very telling story that paper towel recycling would be hugely beneficial for a campus that so heavily relies on the material. Would it be okay with you all for us to share the data with them/the drafted report you walked Pete and me through?

     

    Thank you,


    Daphne

     

  17. ISTC-UIUC Waste Characterization Study: Draft Document Discussion

    Associated Project(s): 
    Waste Stream Characterization Study Phase 3

    Hey, all!!

    Thanks for the great meeting.

    We were glad to hear that Daphne liked the dining glass recycling numbers (130,955lb!), the process flow charts, and the BSW-related engagement section. We're moving ahead with the plan to publish the entire report, and we'll also work on making a clear and concise (1-3 page??) executive summary too. Here's what I got for notes:

     

    Daphne's to-dos:

    • P14. Send GFL Battle Creek info
    • P14. Hear back from GFL on Novelis info
    • P26. Investigate dining's Tin Can recycling??
    • P14. Keep working on Effective Diversion Rate calculation w interns
    • P17. Send public box file on (ordering MaxR??)
    • P43. Send Green basketball rates for March 3+5
    • Recommendation Table:
      • What other ideas do you have?
      • Any existing recs need higher priority/more detail?
      • Provide draft "responsible party" for each
    • Poke Dr. Garg for project updates?

     

    ISTC's to-dos:

    • P6 and P16. Include specific numbers of 245 MaxR bins, mostly 3-bin stations, across 70 buildings
      • Union has 9 with, 7 w/o shadowboxes
    • P14. Add a little more explanation of "auxiliary" -- means it has to "pay for itself," basically
      • But F&S still services external dumpsters
    • P14. Transition to F&S servicing/replacing outdoor bins happened at end of calendar 2023
      • Replacing bins -- currently ~50, but 125 dual bins by Fall 2024.
    • Make executive summary
      • Determine what's important to include
      • Determine how to present it / where to put that information (iCAP portal? ISTC website? Box?)

     

    Have a great Wednesday! We'll plan to meet again soon to discuss these items.

    Betsy

     

    Betsy Ruckman
    Sustainability Technician

  19. Engagement iCAP Team Meeting Minutes 3/22/2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Engagement iCAP Team
    Sustainable Events Program

    The Engagement iCAP team met on 3/22/2024 to go over 2020 iCAP objectives and discuss plans for the 2025 iCAP. The director of the Office of Civic Life, Gina Lee-Olykoya, joined as a guest speaker to discuss her work with engaging volunteerism on campus and in the C-U community. The group also briefly discussed updated on our Comparative Analysis for Residence Halls.

    Attached Files: 

  20. iSEE New Green Event Certifications - February 2024

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)
    Certified Green Chapter Program
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Certified Green Event Program

    The Greener Campus Program would like to recognize the most recent events certified under the Green Event Certification Program.

     

    These events include:

    - Office of the Provost's Student Success Symposium; hosted February 8th, 2024 

    - Office of the Provost's Celebration of Academic Excellence; hosted February 20th, 2024 

    - Sustainable Aviation Fuel Workshop; hosted February 23rd, 2024

     

    Congratulations and keep up the great work! 

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