Join the Others in the Community at Bike to Work and Light the Night Events

Bike at Illinois strives to offer resources, education, and engagement for a safer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable biking experience on the Urbana campus. As the university celebrates C-U Bike Month, please join students, faculty, and staff in upcoming events and learn more about bicycle registration, safety tips, rules of the road, bike infrastructure, and how to participate in sustainability initiatives.

Bike to Work Day
Ride your bike to campus on Thursday, September 14, and get a free T-shirt! Welcome stations featuring drinks and snacks will be available from 7 to 10 a.m., at eight university locations. You must preregister at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay and bring your bicycle to get the shirt.

Volunteers can also help provide more information about the benefits of registering your bike with 529 Garage’s national database (https://go.illinois.edu/RegisterYourBike). Once registered, owners will get a 529 Shield (registration decal) to help as a theft deter

Light the Night – Free Bike Light Giveaway

The 16th annual LTN is Tuesday, September 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and the Campus Bike Center (51 E. Gregory Drive). You MUST bring your bike to get a light set. Approximately 1,100 bike light sets will be available this year.

Remember, bike lights are required by Illinois law when riding at night. Volunteers are still needed for the event.

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

Sarthak sent announcements (to Caitlin Kaparaz) to be added to the ISSS newsletter (publishing on August 25):

1. Reclaim Your Abandoned Bike
   Every summer, F&S tags and removes all abandoned bikes. If you left your bike and want to reclaim it, email bike@illinois.edu and include where it was located, the make/model, color, and serial number, if possible. Bike registration information or other documentation will be needed to prove ownership (e.g., pictures). Deadline to reclaim your bicycle: Friday, September 22. All unclaimed bicycles will be donated after that date.
2. Light the Night – Free Bike Light Giveaway
   The 16th annual Light the Night is Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and Ikenberry Commons Quad. You MUST bring your bike to get a light set. Approximately 1,000 bike light sets will be available this year. Remember, bike lights are required by Illinois law when riding at night. If you would like to volunteer for this event, please sign up here.
3. Celebrate Bike to Work Day on September 14 and Receive a Free T-Shirt
   Ride your bike to campus on Thursday, Sept. 14, and get a free t-shirt! Welcome stations will be set up across the area from 7 – 10 a.m., including eight U of I locations. Celebrate Champaign County Bike to Work Day with others by stopping in for refreshments and snacks. You must bring your bicycle and pre-register at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay to get the shirt!

Optional announcement

• Register your bicycle
  Bicycle registration is mandatory for all bicycles parked or operated on campus and owned by students, staff, faculty, University departments, and community members. There is a one-time $10 registration fee per bicycle. All bicycle registrants will enter a raffle for a chance to win a U-lock or a Helmet. Learn more about the bicycle registration raffle. Contact bike@illinois.edu if you have questions regarding bicycle registration.

From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 9:37 AM
To: Fraterrigo, Jennifer M <jmf@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: DRS battery disposal

Hi 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.edu

https://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 disposal

In 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 disposal

More 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,
Daphne

Sarthak Prasad reached out to Bryan Johnson at University Housing for their continued support towards the Bike to Work Day event on campus.

---

Hi Bryan,

We are planning to hold the Bike to Work Day event on Thursday, September 14, 2022 from 7-10 am (with a rain date of September 15), and I wanted to ask if the Housing department would be able to contribute snacks and refreshments at the University operated Bike to Work Day stations. Similar to last year, there will be 8-9 university operated stations.

Last year, University Housing had graciously provided snacks and refreshments for all the 8 campus Bike to Work Day welcoming stations:

1. Alma Mater Plaza
2. DRES (Stadium and Oak)
3. CRCE
4. UI Research Park
5. Uni High
6. National Soybean Research Center (NSRC) on Pennsylvania Ave
7. Campus Bike Center – 51 E Gregory St, Champaign, IL
8. Orchard Downs

We are also confirming with Vet Med, if they would like to participate this year, and I will let you know as soon I have confirmation.

We will also organize our annual Light the Night (a free bike light giveaway) event on Tuesday, September 19, 2022 from 4-7 pm. I would appreciate if University Housing would help promote this event as well.

Please let me know if University Housing would be able to contribute towards the Bike to Work Day event on September 14, 2023. I greatly appreciate your help! Thank you,
Sarthak