Hi Thurman,

 

A recurring topic that’s come up in our zero waste conversations has been the desire to track and display more metrics under the zero waste theme on the iCAP Portal. Grind2Energy data was one metric that was brainstormed, as it relates closely to our Zero Waste Objective 5.5, “Plan for organic waste.” Since Dining already tracks that data, it would be easy for us to get it up on the portal. Would this be something that you’d be in favor of us doing? If so, any input on how the data is displayed (by month, or annually)?

 

Thank you,
Daphne

 

 

 

 

Hi Daphne,

 

Fate has it that I will be seeing the Grind2Energy people tomorrow at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago. I would like to see if this is something that can by automatically updated from our system. They may have some functionality for this and if not, it may be some thing they could create and would be a selling point for them. I will find out the possibilities. I would rather that this be auotmatic so that the data is always current and nobody can "drop the ball" along the way.    

 

THURMAN ETCHISON
Assistant Director of Dining - Facilities and Equipment
 

 

 

 

 

From: Holding, Justin Kenneth <jholdi2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 2:50 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Palella, Nikki <palella3@illinois.edu>; Keating, Claire Elizabeth <cek6@illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: Hendricks House and SAAC

 

Hey all,

 

The meeting with Jonathan went great and he is super open to new ideas.

 

Based on my previous meeting and Student-Athlete's feedback, Jonathan decided to buy these reusable containers: https://gfsstore.com/products/310397/ & https://gfsstore.com/products/310378/ (not sure if the oz sizes are exactly the same).

 

He said he had enough budget to buy 500 of each to give to every student-athlete. He has already seen a decline in the styrofoam containers. But deli containers (for things like cereal, yogurt, soup, and small snacks), plastic bags (sometimes), and plastic silverware are still being used. The reusable containers did feel flimsy - especially compared to the Good2Go ones - but they are much cheaper. So I would be worried about durability and scratching/damage if real silverware is used.

 

Daphne was able to join and got some good insight into the entire process. Hendrick House acts as the caterer and does not maintain the space so they don’t have a lot of control over the trash. But for the kitchen, they still put everything in the dumpster (including cardboard). So we have some room for improvement there.

 

Overall - I think we should help set up communication between Varsity and SAAC (or just students in general) to make sure this program can continue for years to come. I think a follow up with Colin and pushing for a sustainability position in SAAC is the best next step. I’ll give Colin a few days to respond to Daphne’s email but I’ll try to set something up again.

 

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

 

Best,

Justin

 

On Apr 7, 2023, at 5:23 PM, Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu> wrote:

 

Wow, this is amazing!! Please count me in for the 4/10 meeting at Varsity Room - happy to join you and continue this great momentum.

 

Thank you,

Daphne

 

From: Holding, Justin Kenneth <jholdi2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 7, 2023 4:47 PM
To: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Palella, Nikki <palella3@illinois.edu>; Keating, Claire Elizabeth <cek6@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: Hendricks House and SAAC

 

Hi everyone,

 

I received this message from Jonathon last week: 

 

"Justin, thank you for your patience regarding this project. I am happy to announce that beginning on Monday, April 3rd Varsity Room Dining will be offering free, reusable, eco-friendly containers to any student-athlete that requests a set. A set of containers will consist of (1) 38-ounce rectangular container and (1) 48-ounce circular container.

Additional individual containers and/or sets may be purchased by student-athletes if they would like.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to meet again to continue our previous discussions.”

This email came as a surprise as I had not received a response to my emails sent earlier this semester. I am planning to visit the Varsity Room this Monday, 4/10, at 12:45 PM to chat with Jonathon about the program. A friend sent me the information they have received (attached) and told me they weren't exactly sure how the program worked. I’m hoping we can bring together our knowledge and resources to create a stable, successful program. 

 

You all are more than welcome to join, otherwise I’ll send my notes and recommendations after. Additionally, I think another meeting with Colin, Jonathon, and everyone else will be important before the semester is over.

 

Best,

Justin

<IMG_0476.jpeg><Screenshot 2023-04-03 at 5.48.56 PM.jpg>

 

On Feb 15, 2023, at 8:48 AM, Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu> wrote:

 

Thanks, Justin. If you are talking with Jonathon, could you also mention food waste and Grind2Energy? It would be great to recruit the Varsity Room/Hendrick House into the program.

 

Jen

 

From: Holding, Justin Kenneth <jholdi2@illinois.edu> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 6:58 PM
To: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Cc: Palella, Nikki <palella3@illinois.edu>; Keating, Claire Elizabeth <cek6@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: Hendricks House and SAAC

 

Hi Jen,

 

Thanks for the information!

 

I haven’t heard from Colin since our last meeting - I’ll reach out to him. I’ll also contact Jonathon Curtis, the chef at the Varsity Room, to talk about the prospect of reusbales.

 

I’ve actually spoke to multiple people at Hendrick House regarding sustainability. So, if we need a little push there, I know who to reach out to. Also, I know they have a good stock of reusable containers as well - I’ve borrowed them!

 

Best,

Justin

 

On Feb 14, 2023, at 5:21 PM, Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu> wrote:

 

Hi all,

 

Hope you are doing well.

 

I am writing to follow up about the prospect of establishing reusable container and Grind2Energy programs at Hendrick House. I met separately with Tim Knox and University Housing and Dining leadership over the past month. What I learned from Tim is that SAAC and student athletes have tremendous influence with Hendrick House and should request that Hendrick House implement these programs. University Housing and Dining does not have enough staff to wash additional containers or sort food waste for G2E, even if Hendrick House were to pay for these services. However, Housing seemed to think Hendrick House has the capacity (just not at the Varsity Room). Housing is willing to be a resource for Hendrick House by sharing information, answering questions, etc.

 

The next step is to convey this info to Colin and SAAC. Has anyone heard from Colin lately? If I recall correctly, he was going to ask SAAC members about whether they support these initiatives. Justin, if you want to ping him, that would be great. Any other ideas about how to keep this moving forward? 

 

Thanks,

Jen

 

Jennifer Fraterrigo (she/her)

iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability and
Professor of Landscape and Ecosystem Ecology
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

University of Illinois

W-423 Turner Hall, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave.

Urbana, IL 61801

jmf@illinois.edu
ph 217-333-9428

https://fraterrigolab.nres.illinois.edu/

Information about how commercial bee keeping functions and its impact to overall bee populations was inquired about by Brent Lewis, Landscape Architect. Below is the response from Adam Donzel, an Assistant Professor in Entomology. 

'Hi Brent,

 

Yeah, there is work on that.  Here are links to couple studies about it:

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep32023

https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/22/1/17/6523145

 

Basically, yes, there are some stresses involved with migratory beekeeping but sedentary colonies can also have similar issues. In some scenarios, migratory colonies could be healthier as they are moved to areas with good nutritional resources all the time, while those left in place have to deal with times of low food availability. In reality, though, migratory colonies do undergo a lot of stress as they are used to pollinate crops and a lot goes into that - the stress of confinement, heat, exposure to agrochemicals, etc. From a beekeeping perspective, this is calculated into the fees charged for pollination (to some extent at least). Right now, beekeepers charge about $200/hive to pollinate almonds for example (the most lucrative pollination event). Big beekeepers manage 20,000-50,000 hives!  "Small" commercial beekeepers usually have 2-5000.

 

Migratory beekeeping uses about 85% of the managed colonies in the USA (incredible!). One big issue with this is that, if a new pest or pathogen is introduced, it will be spread throughout the country very fast. And in big pollination events, like almonds, hives are concentrated at very high densities, which does present a lot of opportunities for spreading diseases. They do mitigate this to some extent, however, as there are health checks required to move bees across state lines, and almond growers usually require checks of colonies to make sure they are healthy.

 

Hope this helps - always happy to answer questions when I can!"