The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, March 31 to de-brief the Plastics Reduction Strategy discussion, review committee member research on the Adopt-a-Highway/Adopt-a-Drain and Composting Committee Recommendations, and begin discussion on amending the Campus Administrative Manual's Paper Policy. Meeting minutes are attached.

The Zero Waste iCAP Team submitted recommendation ZW006 Water Filter System Tracking on 3/2/22. The recommendation is attached, and states in summary:

"The Zero Waste Team recommends that the number and status of all EZH20 bottle filling stations on campus are tracked by number, location, amount of water bottles saved, and their filtration status (I.e. green, yellow, red/date of filter replacement)."

Morgan White, Associate Director of F&S for Sustainability, sent the following email, declining PWR006.

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

Hello Jen and Meredith,

I am writing this to close the loop on iCAP recommendation from 2015, and for posting on the iCAP Portal about this topic. In 2015, iSEE sent PWR006: Expanded Recycling to the Executive Director of F&S Al Stratman, from what is now the Zero Waste iCAP Team.  The director over the waste transfer station at the time, Carl Wegel, asked the staff to investigate the accuracy of the potential income from expanding the plastics collections.  Tracy Osby and Bart Bartels looked into it, and I was informed that in our local market there could be an increased cost to campus for collecting and recycling these additional plastics, rather than the projected increase of revenue.  Additionally, the existing baler at the Waste Transfer Station was deemed incapable of handling the additional plastics, in its old age condition.  For that reason, this recommendation was denied by F&S, in a discussion with the PWR SWATeam.

On a brighter note, we are currently working on hiring a full time Zero Waste Coordinator, who will be able to pursue this effort further.  We also are grateful to the support of the Student Sustainability Committee, which funded a feasibility study to identify the costs of replacing the current baler.  I have also discussed the funding needs for the new baler with Associate Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives Kim Kidwell and Senior Executive Director of Principal Gifts David Bruns, in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement.

F&S looks forward to continuing our partnership with iSEE to support the implementation of the iCAP 2020 objectives, and we look forward to reducing plastics on campus in the months/years to come.

Thank you,

Morgan

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

See PWR006 Expanded Recycling transmittal and iWG assessment here. 

See PWR006 Expanded Recycling recommendation here. 

Aaron Finder, Assistant Director of the Purchasing and Contracts Management office, sent the following email on 2/9/22:

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

Hi Meredith,

I have met with NERC a couple time to get a better understanding of NERC and its Government Recycling Demand Champions program. Their Director, Lynn Rubinstein, and I discussed membership levels and the Purchasing and Contracts Management Office will join NERC as a “Supporting Member.”

Through our membership with NERC, we will also have the ability to participate in 4 active committees:

1. Plastic & Paper Recycling Markets
2. Bottle Bill Committee (Charge more for plastic at purchase but receive money back if you recycle)
3. Glass Committee
4. Organics – End Markets (Compost)

There will be limitations on how many participants we can invite to committee meetings or NERC conferences, but Lynn did say I could include at least one committee member (i.e. Tim Stark or Zero Waste Coordinator) if we participate in any event.  

After we become members, we will become a  State Recycling Organization Advocate within the Government Recycling Demand Champions program. This means we will commit to helping publicize the program and promote purchasing of products with post-consumer resin to their members and the public. While we are developing our EPP Guide, this seems to be the most appropriate classification.

I’ll let you know once our membership dues have been paid. I’m also sharing a couple documents Lynn provided.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks,

Aaron M Finder, mba cppb

==========

For future updates, see State Recycling Organization Advocate NERC project page here. 

The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Wednesday, February 9 to discuss the several recommendations in the works, including: Plastic Reduction in vending machines, Composting Commitee, Adopt a Highway/Drain, Food Literacy Project, and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.

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 Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, November 11 to review some data related to vending machine quantities and pouring operations, analyze the initiatives of some other universities, and begin discussing our campaign strategy. As some initial steps, the team devised some questions for a campuswide survey on drinking water behavior and discussed a recommendation to begin tracking drinking water filter stations on campus. Meeting minutes are attached.

Attached is the presentation compiled by Jenna Schaefer, a student on the Zero Waste iCAP Team, for the Campus Sustainability Celebration! 

The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Wednesday, October 6 to complete the iCAP Objectives Assessment and discuss our team's assessment of progress on our 10 objectives. Meeting minutes are attached.