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.
From: Marta Monti <marta@midwestrenew.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2022 4:34 PM
To: White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>
Subject: Solar Urbana-Champaign is back!
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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.
The SSLC underwent many changes under the new leadership of co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring. The board experimented with the mission and niche of the SSLC, ultimately establishing that the organization shall act as a medium of communication between student groups and the administration. The organization will also be the primary host of the annual Student Sustainability Summit in October, touting – among other interdisciplinary events – Green Quad Day, Sustainable Student Research Symposium, and Tuesday Talks at Bevier Cafe.
This Summit was the Council’s most noteworthy accomplishment this semester. The SSLC collaborated with: Red Bison, Outdoor Adventure Club, the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, the Sustainable Student Farm, the Pilot Processing Plant, Grand Prairie Friends, the F&S Solar House, Stop Line 3 CU, Students for Environmental Concerns, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Student Sustainability Committee. This myriad of events had varying levels of attendance. The SSLC leadership learned two primary lessons from the inaugural Student Sustainability Summit: first, quality over quantity in terms of events; and second, planning well ahead of time is absolutely essential in order to adequately advertise each event. If you attended or co-hosted any Summit event, and you would like to let the SSLC board know your feedback, please fill out this form. The current SSLC leadership looks forward to how future leadership will expand upon the Summit.
Another noteworthy accomplishment of the SSLC this semester was action following the publication of the Campus Admin Manual’s Expressive Activity Policy draft. Students were largely emotional about the policy’s stringent punishment for demonstrations on campus, so the SSLC – in conjunction with SECs and the SSC – wrote a letter to Chancellor Jones demanding that the policy more closely align with the student body’s needs. As of January 2022, the SSLC has received no reply from the Office of the Chancellor.
Co-presidents Maria Maring and Owen Jennings spoke at the Campus Sustainability Celebration and Sustainability Council meeting, respectively, on the topic of divestment. Though SSLC leadership was merely prompted to give basic updates at these meetings, they utilized the face-to-face opportunity with campus administrators to voice student concerns about completing iCAP Objective 9.1: Fully divest from fossil fuel companies by FY25.
In a first, the SSLC and general members participated in the Homecoming Parade. Roughly a dozen students marched with divestment-related signs. The SSLC hopes to expand Homecoming attendance next year.
The SSLC revived its dormant Facebook account (@sslcuiuc) and newly established an Instagram account (@uiuc_sslc). On the latter, the SSLC made 40 posts and gained 227 followers. The Facebook account has 93 followers; engagement on this platform is much less. The SSLC also made a linktree and a Google calendar to which other RSOs can sync. That way, all events from all different orgs are all conveniently on one calendar. This joint calendar is still undergoing troubleshooting, and it is not yet available for public viewing.
Amidst these new endeavors, the SSLC held full membership meetings roughly once a month, as did the previous leadership. One recurring issue was lack of attendance and engagement. Leadership held many conversations with both general members and staff advisors about how to increase the efficacy of the Council, but no good solution was found. The SSLC will continue to hold these monthly meetings and brainstorm about how to increase engagement throughout the upcoming spring semester.
The SSLC board met weekly. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact the Council at sslc-chair@mx-illinois.edu.
SSC received a semesterly report for Fall 2021 for the vermiCUlture project on 12/12/2021. Please see 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.
ArcGIS created an interactive map displaying the information of farms across the State of Illinois. The farms displayed on this map offer direct sales of meat and produce to local markets and consumers on-site.
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 log of the Zero Waste SWATeam on 12/4/2020.
The following were discussed:
Attached are the meeting minutes and chat from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 11/13.
Discussed were the following topics:
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
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, we will be holding an online Farm Stand. We will be still implementing all guidelines and rules, so the pickup will be no contact. Below are the instructions and the link.
The store will be open for orders on Tuesdays only, it will open at 7am until all items sell out or until 7am on Wednesday morning. We will then export all orders and begin to fill them. If you place an order past 7am on Wednesday we will not see it and that order will not be filled. We will have a drive thru pick-up at the SSF on Thursdays, our usual market day, from 12-5. The pick-up location will be at the gate on Lincoln Ave. just south of Windsor Road. Below is a map of where pickup is going to be located. When you arrive you will give your name to one of our employees, they will retrieve your prepackaged order and will put it in your trunk or backseat through an open window. All orders must be prepaid on the website at the time of ordering. We thank you for your support and patience as we figure out our new market system.
Copy and paste this url to get to the online ordering site!
thefarmstand.illinois.edu
Here is a secondary link if the first one doesn’t work:
my.aces.illinois.edu/buy
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.
September 6, 3–6:00 PM • https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sustainable+Student+Farm/@40.079908,-88.2189663,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x880cd6f002562e19:0x5ffbd796430d2fef!8m2!3d40.079908!4d-88.2167776
Bruce Branham • Department of Crop Sciences
