Below is an email from Morgan White describing that the University YMCA plans to only conduct Dump and Run in the fall.

This led Morgan, F&S, & Housing leadership to decide to delay their version of spring collections until the full-time Zero Waste Coordinator has been hired.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: White, Morgan

Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2022 8:24 AM

To: Johnson, Bryan Lloyd; Kuehl, Mark A; Hiser, Daniel William; Patterson, Shawn L 

Cc: Boehm, David ; McKay, James; Sealine, Alma R; Varney, Peter W; Kamarah, Ehab 

Subject: RE: Dump and Run - arranging a meeting

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your patience and willingness regarding the UIUC collaboration with the University YMCA on the Dump and Run. 

This year, the Board and Leadership of the University Y made the decision to only do Dump and Run in the fall.  In 2021, they had arranged a fall-only collection, followed immediately by a sale in August at the Stock Pavilion.  As they reviewed the impacts of that fall-only sale compared to the collection efforts and impacts for the spring collection and fall sale, they decided to focus solely on the fall sale from now on. 

Following that news, I spoke with F&S and Housing leadership, and we agreed that it would be best to delay our own version of spring collections until the full time Zero Waste Coordinator has been hired.  This search is approved, and we hope to have a new employee who will report to Pete Varney (and try to fill Shantanu Pai’s shoes) in the next few months.  That person will then work with us to develop an appropriate solution for keeping gently used materials (clothes, books, etc.) out of the landfill during move-out week.

Thank you all very much, and we will be in touch as plans develop for a spring 2023 collection.

All my best,

Morgan

======================================

MORGAN B. WHITE

Acting Director of Capital Programs

Associate Director of F&S for Sustainability

Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Please look at the piece about student recycling at the U of Kentucky in the attached link.

https://www.asumag.com/green/sustainability-initiatives/article/21168170/profiles-july-2021

The semesterly report, submitted on 1/22/2021, for Dump and Run is attached below.

This report gives a brief description of why the May 2020 Dump and Run was cancelled, and why the May 2021 Dump and Run may also be cancelled.

The YMCA provided this update for the fall 2020 sale. "After talking it over as a staff and board, we have decided not to hold the sale in August.  Our decision was based largely on three main factors: (1) health and safety concerns for volunteers and shoppers.  In particular, we were concerned that a majority of our regular August volunteers are older.  There were also concerns about the processes we would need to follow for proper sanitation of donated items (2) uncertainty about occupancy restrictions and the risk of the event becoming a source of virus spread in the community and (3)  uncertainty around availability of the Stock Pavilion or other comparable site for the sale (though this was very low on the list)."

The University YMCA has coordinated a waste reduction program called "Dump and Run" since the early 2000's.  At student move-out, hundreds of volunteers help collect the reusable materials for resale after summer break.  Then the weekend before school starts, the YMCA's staff and volunteers sell the materials at a massive "garage sale" in the Stock Pavillion.  The University YMCA is a local non-profit, and they work with the International Student and Scholar Services department on campus, as well as University Housing.