On April 25th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss the State Farm Center Recycling (ZW011) recommendation and brainstorm on the Zero Waste iCAP summary report for the 22-23 FY.
Meeting minutes are attached.
On December 8th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss a new approach to creating recommendations for next semester. During the meeting, the team created subcommittees based on aspects of the key priorities document and provided feedback on an environmental engineering sustainability project.
Meeting minutes are attached.
On November 7th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss DIA sustainability initiatives with Tim Knox and made edits on the Project 4 Less expansion recommendation to be submitted in the coming month(s).
Meeting minutes are attached.
Click here to read the "Our Campus Composts" case review of institutions that compost, per the Composting Council in 2018-2019.
The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, January 27 to finalize the recommendations drafted at the end of last semester, the Water Drinking Behavior Survey and the Water Filter System Tracking. The team also discussed several recommendations they intend to pursue this semester, including: Adopt-a-Highway program, Food Literacy Project, Composting Committee, P Card Training and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.
True food circularity must include waste reduction on the agricultural and consumer sides. Don't miss this third iSEE Congress webinar on "Circular Food Systems," with Brian Roe, Van Buren Professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State; and Tom Theis, Director of The Institute for Environmental Science and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago. Register here >>>
November 3, 12–1 pm • Zoom webinar
Julie Wurth • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment
"How Can We Reduce Waste from Agricultural and Food Systems?"
Roman Makhnenko explains that there are available funds from a SSC sponsored project that can be used to to buy a compost tumbler for the Newmark Civil Engineering Building. Additionally, Roman wants to discuss with Meredith where the tumbler should be emptied once it gets full.
To combat the issue of food waste, U of I Housing collaborated with F&S Utilities & Energy Services, Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, and environmental compliance. The committee researched various food waste options, including composting, pulpers, and grinder systems used for anaerobic digestion -- including Grind2Energy systems.
These operate similarly to an industrial garbage disposal. However, it uses significantly less water than the digester system, up to 90-95 percent less. Additionally, it does not send the waste directly to the sanitary sewer. The food waste is pumped into a 5000-6000 gallon tank located on the outside of the building it serves. A tanker truck empties the waste and takes it to the local sanitary district. The industrial-strength waste is processed in an anaerobic digester, where it undergoes treatment without oxygen. The methane produced is collected and used to generate electricity at the treatment plant.
Read more about Grind2Energy use on campus through the F&S Website or the PDF in the attached files!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In an effort to be more “green” today and every day, we now have a compost tumbler on the west side of the National Soybean Research Center, thanks to SSC funding. This is the first publicly-accessible compost drop-off on campus!
Please feel free to take advantage of this opportunity to sustainably dispose of your fruit/vegetable scraps (without stickers), tea bags, coffee grounds/filters, eggshells, shredded paper etc. While this 60-gallon compost tumbler is housed at the NSRC building, this drop-off opportunity is available to all. Simply unscrew either end of the tumbler and drop your items inside. Attached are several photos of the location and setup, as well as a list of the acceptable/unacceptable items.
The end-product will ultimately be used to fertilize a pollinator garden at NSRC. More details to come.
The Zero Waste SWATeam met on Friday, 12 February to discuss the following:
Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam on 12/18/2020. The following agenda items were discussed:
Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 10/16.
Discussed were the following topics:
Reducing Food Waste
Vending Machine Alternatives to Single-use plastics
Plastic Recovery
Single Use Plastics
Illini Union Shadowbox attachment
Food Literacy Project
Dining no longer recycle gloves as they have moved to a cheaper non-recyclable glove.
Attached is the final draft of the recommended 2020 iCAP objectives from the Zero Waste SWATeam.
Any meeting minutes from October 2019 or November 2019 may reference the following categories:
There will be a revised version by the end of the 2019 Fall Semester after iWG gives feedback for the SWATeams to revise.
In 2018, all 6 Enviropures were decommissioned. At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, Dining began the installation of the first Grind2Energy system. See the Grind2Energy project page for more details.
Hello Shantanu,
Congratulations on your outstanding waste diversion accomplishments in 2018! By participating in the RIGHTCYCLE* Program, University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign has diverted 10,086 pounds of glove waste from landfills. Thank you for your commitment to corporate social responsibility and your continued efforts to reduce your impact on the environment.
|
9/12/2018 |
University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign |
RC4016 |
Gloves |
|
|
8/27/2018 |
University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign |
RC3983 |
Gloves |
9515 |
|
10/1/2018 |
University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign |
RC4226 |
Gloves |
71 |
|
1/17/2018 |
University of Illinois Urbana- Chemistry |
RC3362 |
Gloves |
500 |
Please remember to email rightcycle@kcc.com to request a release number prior to shipping your waste and to clearly display this number on your shipment.
It all adds up to zero landfill and a more efficient workplace.
Thank you,
Erika
Morgan White sent the following message to labs participating in the glove recycling program on Dec. 13, 2018:
Hello Glove Recycling Contacts,
Thank you for your support of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) waste reduction efforts, in connection with the Kimberly-Clark Professionals RightCycle program. We are very appreciative of the initiative and time you all have dedicated to glove recycling to help reduce landfill waste from the University of Illinois over the past three years. I’m also emailing the people who have expressed interest in joining the program, so you are aware of these changes.
I am writing to let you know that we will halt glove recycling for research labs and teaching labs on campus, as of the end of this calendar year. The RightCycle program is only intended for recycling non-hazardous materials, and the majority of our labs are using gloves as protection against hazards or potential hazards. Therefore, we will continue to participate in RightCycle only with gloves used for food service, starting in 2019. If you are collecting gloves to recycle from a lab on campus, please do not drop off gloves and do not ship them to Kimberly-Clark after December 31, 2018.
If you and your colleagues in research and teaching labs would like to continue actively supporting campus sustainability, please join the Certified Green Lab Program at https://go.illinois.edu/greenlab, coordinated through the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
Please let me know if you have any questions about glove recycling, and have a happy holiday season.
Thanks,
Morgan
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
On November 12, 2018, Sarthak Prasad from Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) presented a Food Waste Management study to compare the current mode of food waste management (EnviroPure) with 7 other food waste management equipment.
He recommended the Housing at UofI switched from the EnviroPure systems to InSinkerator's Grind2Energy systems as food waste processing system, before sending the processed food waste (in slurry form) to the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District (UCSD) in Urbana, IL. UCSD's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) has existing anaerobic digesters that can convert food waste into valuable biogas for electricity generation.
See attached the presentation in PDF form and the detailed cost analysis.
With the students back in town for the semester, Marya Ryan re-contacted the Business in Environmental Responsibility (BER) volunteers she spoke with in the spring. The volunteers are helping with the glove recycling program. Over the summer, they identified contacts for nonparticipating departments with $2,000 or more in nitrile glove purchases for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2017-2018. Ryan emailed their contact person, Meghna Vijayan, and caught her up on events over the summer, such as the relocation of the trailer at PPSB and F&S's work with the Division of Research Safety. Ryan also asked whether they could help identify teaching coordinators in the teaching labs to assist with that work.
