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,
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
 

“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.edu

www.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.edu

https://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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!

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,
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
 

“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

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 disposal

Good 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. 

Hi Paul,

Should we set up a calendar time to talk via Teams about the ECIP plans?  I’d think it would include Jen Fraterrigo, and maybe Rob?

Thanks,

Morgan

 -------------------

Hi Morgan,

During Monday’s meeting we chose to follow your advice and go with the fall schedule.

We are again having conference schedule during this week and wonder if the sustainability week can be chosen on a week other than the week of Oct 16th – the 20th?

Best

Paul

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

Hi Paul,

I think the date of the Campus Sustainability Celebration can move, as long as it is within October. I'll touch base with Jen about it and confirm. 

Thanks,

Morgan 

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

Hi Elizabeth,

I checked with Karl and the BTAF Mechanical conference for engineering is Oct 15-18th and the I2SL Sustainable Labs conference is Oct 22-25, if we can avoid these two weeks that would be terrific?

Thank you 

Paul Foote

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

Hello Elizabeth,

Any updates on the timing for this event?

I am looking to coordinate the ECIP awards for 2022 and 2023 during this event.

Best

Paul Foote

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 disposal

Hi.

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

On June 26, 2023 Amy Fruehling, Jen Fraterrigo, and Daphne Hulse meet to follow up after initial contact with Redwood Materials

• Amy is the connector so she can stay involved if need be, but batteries are not her expertise

• Ask Stephanie Hess about DRS about battery disposal on campus is how much is recycled. See if departments have a need for this

• Collection drives would be for students, primarily, for their personal items

  • Ask Goodwill about technology collected from Dump and Run - was it a good outlet for students?

• IT would be more surplus-oriented

• Could payment be associated with batteries collected?

• Would just have to try it out and see if it’s worth it - we won't entirely know what the demand will be for the service

• ARC does battery recycling

  • Reach out about that

• Collection sites must be supervised so nothing is mixed in

• Housing or libraries as a place of disposal would be most ideal. Having it available rather than waiting on a collection drive once or twice a year, is Amy's thought

• Seema will be sending over material about how they have done collection drives in other places, so we know how it might run

• Electrical and computer engineering department

  • Specialization in batteries

  • Looking at how to create batteries with a longer life span

  • Do they have a program? Sell to students?

  • A way for iSEE to integrate campus sustainability and research, so Jen will take the first step here

• Redwood contact is an alum, co-founder is tied to Tesla - Amy notes the significance of this

  • Feels like there could be even more than just collecting batteries

• Opening up redwood materials collection to the community - because the spring electronics event is once a year in the spring, so sparse opportunity for the community/county

On June 21, 2023 Daphne Hulse and Shreya Mahajan met with Seema Nilakhe to discuss Redwood Materials and opportunity for collaboration.

• Introductions

  • Seema Nilakhe, originally from Chicago suburbs, attended U of I

  • Amy Fruehling was career counselor for Seema during her undergraduate years

  • Dabbling in environmental initiatives

  • Worked at Amazon for supply chain

  • Worked at Tesla

    • Infrastructure projects in North America

  • Wanted to work at start up so went to Redwood Materials

    • Lithium ion batteries

    • Based out of Reno, Nevada

    • Consumer partnerships is Seema’s role

  • Don’t take

    • Lead acid

    • Cadmium

    • Car batteries

• Daphne notes that the batteries Redwood would be interested in would likely come from university property, which is handled by CMS/Surplus/OBFS

  • Seema can assist with looking into this process

• Redwood process:

  • Pickup batteries with large OEMs (large car companies that make EVs)

  • Redwood picks up scrap

  • Redwood partners with Call2Recycle

  • Typically you have to pay a fee for Call2Recycle for their services (U of I may have had the service for free?)

  • Collections would be the biggest benefit for us:

    • Cell phones, laptops, smaller devices are high in cobalt and nickel and critical elements that are part of the battery

    • Larger devices would need to be checked for logistics and chemistry

    • Pricing is based on gross weight

    • Collections - don’t provide packaging but suppliers have the drums, crates, or collection mechanism to do that

    • DOT shipping guidelines (Redwood has that and can give us a sample) we have to be in compliance

    • Under 60 watt hours

    • Engineering may have drums that we could use to ship the batteries

    • Gaylords work too

  • Differences between primary and secondary batteries

    • Primaries - non-rechargables

      • Watch batteries

      • Typically lithium ion

  • Have partners which take all of the excess materials that aren’t batteries

    • Secondary - rechargeable

Next steps:

• CMS/Surplus - ask if they already recycle batteries, or need an outlet for it

• Check inventory on drums and gaylords/shipping materials - Seema will send DOT guidelines

• Event with marketing/public relations

• Bin in the Union - how do you keep people from randomly throw items in there that are not batteries? Must be supervised

• Stick to call2recycle for AA AAA alkaline

Hi Paul,

Should we set up a calendar time to talk via Teams about the ECIP plans?  I’d think it would include Jen Fraterrigo, and maybe Rob?

Thanks,

Morgan

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

Hi Morgan,

During Monday’s meeting we chose to follow your advice and go with the fall schedule.

We are again having conference schedule during this week and wonder if the sustainability week can be chosen on a week other than the week of Oct 16th – the 20th?

Best

Paul

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

Hi Paul,

I think the date of the Campus Sustainability Celebration can move, as long as it is within October. I'll touch base with Jen about it and confirm. 

Thanks,

Morgan 

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

Good morning,

I am fine with moving the Campus Sustainability Celebration to another week in October.

Thanks,

Jen

On October 20, 2021, the 2021 Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP) Award Winners were announced at the Campus Sustainability Celebration!

UIUC is home to a total of 10 winners and honorable mentions, as listed below according to their categories:

• Occupant Action Category
  • Ice Arena
  • Student Dining and Residential Programs
  • English Building
  • Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE)
• Energy Advancement Category
  • Stock Pavilion
  • Forbes Natural History Building
  • Levis Faculty Center
  • Early Development Lab
• Honorable Mentions
  • State Farm Center
  • Bielfeldt Athletic Administrative Building

See the attached file to read the official announcement of 2021 ECIP Winners, including the locations' % improvements and monetary savings.

The attached files highlight the battery and cell phone collection efforts conducted from 01/01/2020 to 12/31/2020. These reports include valuable information such as the pounds collected, breakdown by chemistry, growth rates, and collected trends over a 3-year time period.