At the ECBS SWATeam's third meeting of FY17, the members discussed methods for how the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) can become more sustainable. For example, there are lighting opportunities at Irwin Practice Facility and at Atkins tennis center. In addiiton, Mike Marquissee, director of Budget, Research and Planning for energy services, presented a mini-lecture (also attached) to the team on their funding options and predicted budget for FY18. The SWATeam then discussed how the grant cuts will impact their iCap progress, as well as what needs to be prioritized in terms of funding. Finally, updates on programs such as the Green Labs Coordinator and Illini Lights out were presented. 

Here’s a link to Penn State Extension’s Rain to Drain Slow the Flow Youth Curriculum for stormwater: https://extension.psu.edu/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/149/.

For general information about their youth water education programs, see: https://extension.psu.edu/youth-water-education.

Hi Tracy—

Here are my updates on zero-waste activities from the past week: 

• I updated the information on glass recycling on the iCAP Portal page.
• I drafted instructions for units that would like glass recycling pick-up from Housing; they are with Morgan and Housing for review.
• Although no new changes have been made to the battery recycling program, there was quite a bit of correspondence about it during the past week.
• I participated in some correspondence about the best way to wind down the Styrecycle program and transition to decentralized EPS recycling.
• Anna Barnes notified me the previous week that she has time available to work on glove recycling materials, so I re-sent drafts of content I had developed. 

While I’m on this email, I have a question for you that came up in my work on glass recycling. You told me a while back that campus units can purchase blue desk-side recycling bins through Central Stores. I’ve been trying to reach Marcy Wright at Purchasing to see if the larger indoor bins and outdoor toters/bins should be purchased through iBuy. Do you have information on that question? I tried to get in and look through iBuy catalogs on my own, but I wasn’t able to find a way to do so; I think it may require an iBuy login, which I wouldn’t be eligible for, given that I don’t have any purchasing responsibilities of my own. 

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—

Morgan is reviewing a Styrecycle change-of- program message for our participants that I wrote week before last; she will also give me feedback on the updates I made to the iCAP Portal regarding EPS recycling. There were no new activities for me this past week.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—

Here are my zero-waste updates from this past week: 

• Morgan, Micah, Colin Tirakian, Joe Pickowitz, and I met to discuss EPS recycling. For now, we’ll direct interested departments to take materials to the Dart Container drop-off location in Urbana, which they can do free of charge. They will need to arrange their own transport of materials. With the densifier now at ISTC, we’ll investigate whether ISTC can become the drop-off location. 
• I updated the iCAP page on EPS recycling.
• I drafted an email to send to Styrecycle participants. It is now with Morgan for review. She is obtaining a list of participants to whom we’ll send it.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—
Here are the zero-waste activities from the past week: 

• I updated the battery recycling location information on the iCAP portal and sent updated content to Steve Breitweiser for the F&S page.
• I moved content for glove recycling promotional materials forward for Anna to work on.
• I contacted Morgan about a request from a vendor of biodegradable gloves to discuss his product. The VWR representative I spoke with a couple of weeks ago had put him in touch with me. 

Best regards,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

In the second meeting of the semester, ALUFS discussed whom to contact to for data on nitrates and what campus could potentially do to encourage local food processing, as well as the challenges to increase the university's local food consumption.