First in house 3-Bins delivered
Associated Project(s):
These 2 units were delivered to Noyes 1st floor north and south entry ways 11/12/2024.
Attached Files:
You are here
Projects Updates for place: Activities and Recreation Center (ARC)
In house 3 bins
Associated Project(s):Fabricated through our own mill shop. Cost to make two of these bins is attached.
Attached Files:Outfitting main quads with 3-bins
Associated Project(s):Members of the Zero Waste Team analyzed the main buildings in each of the three central quads. Locations of current 3-bins were noted as well as areas where more were needed. The plan is to transition away from single flow trash and recycling bins towards a system where only 3-bins are used in main hallways. This will ensure that there are well marked bins in highly visible areas and will condense the many bins that need to be serviced by university workers into fewer overall bins. Overall this initiative will lead to improved waste management efficiency and increased recycling rates across the campus.
Attached Files:Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing
Associated Project(s):From: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 3:59 PM
To: Kuehl, Mark A <mkuehl@illinois.edu>
Subject: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Hi Mark,
Last semester when I came by LAR/Allen to do a tour of the recycling system there (during which we discussed the blue bag transition), one of the staff mentioned that there are a particular type of vacuums used that utilize lithium ion batteries, that then must be discarded.
Would it be possible to get a specific URL link or photo of what the vacuum / batteries look like? We may have found a vendor willing to responsibility dispose of these (recycle them).
Thank you,
DaphneDAPHNE HULSE (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
+1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.eduhttps://fs.illinois.edu/zero-waste
“If it cannot be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” – Pete Seeger
On Jan 23, 2024 4:01 PM, "Kuehl, Mark A" <mkuehl@illinois.edu> wrote:
Oly,
I believe Daphne is talking about the zoom batteries. Can you provide a picture of the batteries for her?
Thanks,
MARK A KUEHL
Assistant Director for Housing Building Services
University Housing │ Student Affairs │ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
6A LAR │ 1005 S.Lincoln | M/C 030 │ Urbana, IL 61801
217.300.4590│ mkuehl@illinois.eduwww.housing.illinois.edu
Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.From: Bytnar, Olymer <obytnar@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 4:43 PM
To: Kuehl, Mark A <mkuehl@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: FW: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Pictures attached.
Thank you,
Olymer Bytnar
From: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 2:56 PM
To: Sophie Boel <sophie@redwoodmaterials.com>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Subject: FW: FW: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Hi Sophie,
Happy new year! I wanted to reach out and ask if this type of lithium ion battery would be of use to Redwood? I recently learned that our Housing department uses these types of batteries fairly regularly for a piece of cleaning equipment, and once they are used they have to discard them and replace with new ones.
Thank you,
Daphne
DAPHNE HULSE (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
+1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.eduhttps://fs.illinois.edu/zero-waste
“If it cannot be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” – Pete Seeger
From: Sophie Boel <sophie@redwoodmaterials.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2024 12:10 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: FW: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Hi Daphne!
Happy New Year to you and the U of I team! It’s great to hear from you. We absolutely do take these types of batteries and would be happy to recycle these for you. Just a few quick questions that will help determine the shipment approach:
- How many of these batteries do you currently have on hand that need to be recycled? (count / wattage – info needed because we have a 300Wh limit per box) I will have to reach out to other areas to see if they have batteries to dispose of. I am only of aware of one at the moment but I am sure there are more in other buildings.
- What is the frequency per semester / year that you think you would need recycling? (so that we can sort out the sequence that we send boxes and expect shipment back) I would say once a year pickup would work.
- Do you have a safe place on campus where you are aggregating these batteries right now as they reach end-of-life, or is that also a solution you are looking for? We keep them in the foremen office or equipment room on a shelf.
Thanks for reaching out!
Sophie Boel
Internal Communications & Public Affairs Manager
440.759.5401
From: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2024 11:12 AM
To: Sophie Boel <sophie@redwoodmaterials.com>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Kuehl, Mark A <mkuehl@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: FW: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Hi Sophie,
Please see our responses below! Apologies for the delay on my end in communicating with you. I’m looping in Mark here from Housing for any next steps so I am not a bottleneck.
Thank you,
DaphneDAPHNE HULSE (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
+1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.eduhttps://fs.illinois.edu/zero-waste
“If it cannot be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” – Pete Seeger
From: Sophie Boel <sophie@redwoodmaterials.com>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2024 3:27 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Kuehl, Mark A <mkuehl@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: FW: Lithium ion battery from vacuums at Housing?Hi Daphne,
No worries at all. Happy to learn more, Mark!
Based on your current answers, we can ship you an Obexion box for you to place your single battery in and can accumulate a few more in (depending on physical size and storage capacity of that battery). When you are ready for it to be picked up, we’ll send you a shipping label and can have it collected.
Best,
Sophie
1 Slim Bin placed at the Waste Transfer Station
Associated Project(s):P10H08575 placed in Waste Transfer Station break room
1 Slim Bin placed at Materials Research Laboratory
Associated Project(s):P10H08574 placed in the Materials Research Laboratory
3 Slim Bins placed at Siebel Center for Design
Associated Project(s):P10H08580 placed on the first floor- East
P10H08581 placed on the first floor- West
P10H08585 placed on basement level
3 Slim Bins placed at Micro & Nanotechnology lab
Associated Project(s):P1H08584 placed on first floor
P10H08583 placed on second floor
P10H08582 placed on third floor
RECs for small solar rooftop arrays
Associated Project(s):Hi Rob and Tony,
Tim Mies asked me who “owns” the RECs from small scale solar arrays at individual buildings. I said I’d have to check into it.
At first I thought all RECs are owned by central campus (UES), but then I questioned myself. For a rooftop solar array, we don’t include it in the M-RETS program, and at ECE, we only “sold” them the solar farm 2.0 RECs. We let them count their rooftop solar directly and they have the DOR accordingly.
So is it appropriate to tell him that the RECs associated with the 14.7 kW array he is planning to install at the Energy Farm (not the SCAPES project) will be considered “used” at the Energy Farm?
I would caution that we do not want individual departments to get into selling RECs, without a much broader discussion. So perhaps we should say that he can use/retire them at his site, but he cannot sell them without further discussion?
What do you recommend?
Thanks,
Morgan
-----------------------------
Good questions. I think that if the department “owns” the REC, then they should also be able to sell the REC. I am interested in others views on the topic, and agree that it would lend to a much broader discussion.
Rob Roman
----------------------------
I agree that a broader discussion would be helpful.
Best,
Tony
4 bins placed at Music Building - last of the 28 bin order
Associated Project(s):P10H08419 placed on Lower Level C0220 near stairs, P10H08418 placed on second floor C2220 against north brick wall, P10H08117 placed on third floor C3200 east wall/elevator landing, P10H08416 placed on fourth floor C4200 east wall/evelator landing.
Family and Graduate Housing outreach event at Orchard Downs Community Center
Associated Project(s):On 08/26/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh were part of a tabling event held in the community center of Family and Graduate Housing at Orchard Downs. Our goal in the event was to spread awareness about the use of bicycles and to give out all the information about bicycles along with free goodies like wrist bands, Keychain, Bike route maps, Bicycle safety rules, and Bike Registration procedure.
Attached Files:3 slim bins placed at Levis Faculty Center
Associated Project(s):P10H08422 placed on the second floor south side, P10H08421 placed on the third floor north side, and P10H08420 placed on the third floor south side.
Redwood Materials: Jen, Daphne, and Amy meet with Sophie Boel
Associated Project(s):Attendance: Jen Fraterrigo, Sophie Boel, Daphne Hulse, Amy Fruehling
Sophie Boel introduction: been with Redwood 2+ years, managing construction and engineering team, moved to external affairs (consumer recycling, outreach and education programs). Taking over the university partnerships piece from Seema. Two pieces to look at together:
- Consumer education, branding materials, and how-to for safe collection and mailing.
- Research - existing program to bolster with data, or bring about together.
Recalling our first conversation with Redwood Materials:
-
What is redwood looking for?
-
How can the university offer collaborative experiences with Redwood? Research, battery collection drives.
- Jen forwarded Sophie the documents she had provided Seema as far as research opportunities go.
Redwood's experience with collection:
- 40-50 Audi and Volkswagen dealerships have collection bins - regularly collected and shipped back to Redwood.
- International Rotary Clubs host collection events throughout the country.
Daphne's research on where batteries are sourced from and where they end up across campus. Daphne could only speak to batteries that are procured with university money. There is not a gauge on what the community does with batteries and what their needs are.
- DRS collects Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd), Nickel Metal Hydride (NMH), Lithium (Li) Ion & Polymer (LiPo), and Silver Oxide (AgO) batteries for recycling. Daphne and Jen don't know the name of the recycling vendor, but they will find out. Sophie says there is a chance that the vendor already works with Redwood Materials, we just have to find out. Rechargeable batteries that are part of a device may get removed, and the device sent to someone like Redwood Materials to find recycling outlets for the device materials, too.
What could Redwood provide support on if the university would undertake something with them?
-
Bring Seema back into the conversation side (she is involved with business development support).
Has Redwood done many events with universities? No, they haven’t done many events with universities:
- University Nevada - Reno, as this is located close to their HQ.
-
Have done events in collaboration with International Rotary Clubs:
-
Environmental & Sustainability Action Group (ES-RAG) - made collection events a part of their piece on sustainability
-
50-100 collection events - active consumer engagement pieces
-
Earth Day events
-
-
For events, Redwood can send a Redwood employee - if there is a lot overlapping in terms of time of year (especially Earth Day or Month), some of the rotary district governors act on behalf of Redwood go to an event to staff and educate.
-
Reach out to Urbana and Champaign counterparts - they hold an annual event for Illinois residents for electronics recycling. Maybe there is a need for more than just once a year? And if they combine forces with the university and Redwood, we would have more resources and support to go around.
-
It will be good to hear what the cities think, as their population will likely be the main source for the waste. Students don't often have these kinds of devices and batteries laying around.
-
-
Any money that can be reinvested to the program? The university tries to find ways to reinvest when possible.
-
Sophie to talk to Seema about this
-
DRS tracks the batteries that they give to WTS, that they recycle, and that they trash
Associated Project(s):From: Lee, Morris <morrisl@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2023 11:00 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hill, Landon E <landon@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposalGood Morning Daphne,
Attached is a report for the batteries handled by the DRS Waste Group.
If you have any data related questions, please let me know (I will be on vacation next week). Landon would be able to answer the operational questions.
Thanks, Morris
MORRIS LEE
RESEARCH SAFETY PROFESSIONAL
Division of Research Safety
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
102 Environmental Health and Safety Building
101 S. Gregory St. | M/C 225
Urbana, Illinois 61801
217.300.4563 | morrisl@illinois.edu
www.drs.illinois.edu
Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.Attached Files:WTS hosts collection site for lead acid battery recycling
Associated Project(s):Neither the Waste Transfer Station nor Interstate Batteries (vendor) tracks or weighs the lead acid batteries that are picked up from the cage at the Waste Transfer Station. Rather, the battery unit sold is. The new battery is sold without a core charge, and then the old battery is picked up at a later time. The number of battery units sold is tracked (from 1501 S Oak Street), so this is our best metric for tracking lead acid battery recycling.
Attachment only covers 2022-2023 sales, a request has been sent for historical data.
FYI - lead acid batteries (often used in the automobile context) are some of the most easily recycled and rechargeable batteries out there!
Attached Files:Lead acid battery recycling, Surplus electronic battery recycling
Associated Project(s):From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 9:37 AM
To: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposalHi Jen,
Follow up - the Waste Transfer Station does not track how many lead acid batteries are collected across campus and picked up by Interstate, so I have reached out to Interstate to see if pickups are something they track.
Thank you!
Daphne
Daphne Hulse (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
+1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.eduhttps://fs.illinois.edu/zero-waste
Please consider the environment before printing an email. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.From: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 10:24 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposalIn other words, we generate revenue from recycling the lead acid batteries and then use that revenue to purchase new lead acid batteries. Is that correct? That’s great!
Thanks for following up with Surplus. Once I hear back from you I will reach out to Seema.
Jen
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 10:03 AM
To: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposalMore info on the batteries: the lead acid batteries that are taken to the cage on the west side of WTS are then given back to Interstate Batteries as a refundable core deposit. This is often mandated by state legislature. Lead acid batteries are used in vehicles (so our Garage is a big producer of these), and the cost of purchasing new lead acid batteries covers the cost of returning them for recycling. So these are one type of battery currently successfully being recycled. I’ll see if WTS keeps a record of weight on this, to know how much we are recycling.
I will follow up with Surplus to see if they have any idea how many electronics batteries they are sending to Secure Processors, the vendor that accepts these kinds of batteries for recycling.Thank you,
DaphneDRS process for battery disposal: trash, recycling, waste transfer lead acid batteries
Associated Project(s):From: Hill, Landon E <landon@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 4:20 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Cc: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>; Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposalHi.
Is there something specific that you are looking for?
DRS picks up most anything chemical that is requested for disposal through the campus waste management app: https://www.drs.illinois.edu/Page/RequestAWastePickup
All alkaline batteries are trashed.
Rechargeable batteries are recycled.
Lead acid batteries are taken to the cage on the west side of the Waste Transfer Station.
Landon
1 bin placed at Institute for Genomic Biology
Associated Project(s):P10G96450 placed in the cafe, 613, on the south wall near the TV monitor.
Surplus electronic battery recycling
Associated Project(s):From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2023 3:19 PM
To: Weaver, Jeff <jweaver2@uillinois.edu>
Subject: Surplus and waste memo / batteriesHi Jeff,
On a different note, battery recycling is a topic that has come up several times recently. F&S does not have any comprehensive program at this point. DRS collects batteries from departments for disposal through their hazardous waste vendor, but they do not recycle the batteries. Regarding batteries from devices such as computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, and other small devices, (devices that will not be redistributed out to departments for reuse) do you know how these are handled through the state? If they are recycled?
[Surplus response] For the small batteries in those devices, we ship them to Secure Processors, the downstate State contracted electronics recycling vendor. We don’t know how the vendor handles the batteries on their end after we ship them.
Thank you,
DaphneDaphne Hulse (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
+1 (217) 333-7550 | dlhulse2@illinois.edu
Please consider the environment before printing an email. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.1 bin placed at Engineering Sciences Building
Associated Project(s):P10G96448 placed in the vestibule outside the bottom of the stairwell, C0192.
