It's here, it's here, it's finally here. Waste Transfer Station purchased a new green rolloff container specifically for recycling. We expect to use it for tailgate recycling, welcome week, and any other event that produces an excess of recycling or would benefit from a container dedicated to recyclables.
Sarthak Prasad shared 2018 notes from conversations held with stakeholders at The Ohio State University, West Lafayette (Purdue University), Bevier Cafe (University of Illinois), US Army Corps -- Champaign, and Michigan State University -- East Lansing on the topic of anerobic digesters. Attached are the notes. The document will continue to grow as more conversations occur.
Sarthak Prasad, Jen Fraterrigo, and Daphne Hulse intend to pursue conversations with campuses that have successfully installed anaerobic digesters. Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University have been identified as the first campuses to initiate a conversation with. The goal of these conversations will be to understand how campuses achieved momentum and will for the digesters to be financed and built (stakeholders include but are not limited to farmers, relevant academic departments, crop sciences, digester operators, waste management and sustainability, organic waste haulers, researchers).
From: Zach Hansen <zhansen@na.com>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 10:16 AM
To: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Food Composting
Sounds great!
Daphne, if you are interested in getting more information on this solution, my counterparts in California has worked closely together on a number of projects with them so I could set up a call.
Thanks and I hope you all had a great weekend!
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From: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 9:01 AM
To: Zach Hansen <zhansen@na.com>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Food Composting
Coincidence?
Daphne just discussed composting with me last week and it is of importance to her. I’ll let her take the lead on this if she wishes to follow-up.
Thank you,
Pete
(217) 333-7583
From: Zach Hansen <ZHansen@na.com>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 4:37 PM
To: Varney, Pete <pvarney@illinois.edu>; Sinn, Macie <sinn1@illinois.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Food Composting
Hi Pete, Macie, and Daphne,
Completely unrelated to the F&S meetings that we have been having, but I wanted to bring this to your attention.
If there are increases in demand for composting around the facilities like cafeterias, housing, even athletics, this was a pretty cool machine that seems incredibly easy to use and composts food scraps in 5 days!
https://info.waxie.com/for-solutions
Have a great weekend!
Zach
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qGob6lBsBE and now featured on the Reduce Single-Use Plastics Project Page.
From: Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2023 9:52 AM
To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>; Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Shreya,
Please also contact Susan Monte at Champaign County Environmental Stewards to collaborate on this work: smonte@ccenvstew.com
Here is their website: https://www.ccenvstew.com/
Cassie
Cassie Carroll
Marketing & Communications Director
Smart Energy Design Assistance Center
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1 St. Mary’s Road, Champaign, IL 61820
217-300-6477
F&S is looking into local composting options for the green food truck program.
From: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 2:33 PM
To: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Shreya,
Here is more information about this program.
Stacy
From: Mahajan, Shreya <shreyam6@illinois.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 1:57 PM
To: Gloss, Stacy L <sgloss@illinois.edu>
Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Carroll, Cassandra Leah <ccarrol2@illinois.edu>
Subject: Compost Bin in Urbana
Hi Stacy,
From our meeting on July 24, you mentioned that Urbana has a compost bin that is designed to take waste from commercial businesses. I was talking with my team, and it would be great if we implemented a system that collected compostable materials and food waste from food trucks. Would you happen to have more information about this site?
Thanks,
Shreya Mahajan
Sarthak Prasad and Daphne Hulse attended an in-person TEACH AD workshop at the Healthy Lifestyle Hub in Chicago to learn about the anaerobic digesters installed at Green Era Campus in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 7:37 AM
To: B10andFriends@umich.edu
Subject: Waste Affinity Survey & Meeting
Morning Big 10 and Friends,
Hope everyone everyone’s semester is wrapping up nicely. A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated in the Waste Survey [redacted] so far. We’ve already found the excel tool has been helpful in considering new initiatives. If you haven't had the chance to add your school's information, please do so at your earliest convenience.
If you’re interested in reviewing the waste results together, fill out this When2Meet [redacted] by Wednesday, May 10th.
Looking forward to catching up and discussing the findings with all of you!
Mary, Tony, and the survey subgroup
Mary Leciejewski, MS
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 6:52 AM
To: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi Dominika,
Thanks for the nudge. I just had an email exchange with Tony, and we've decided to send out an email to find a time to review results, as well as to encourage everyone who hasn’t yet to complete the survey. We'll have to work with the responses we get, and I know our group has already found the results useful. This is a good litmus test for gauging people's availability for benchmarking surveys in the future.
Hope everyone is making it through the tsunami that is move-out! I am continually shocked at the amount of material going to waste this time of year.
Mary Leciejewski, MS
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
From: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2023 1:09 PM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu
Subject: Re: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hello all,
Just to briefly reintroduce myself, I am an intern working with Daphne on this waste management survey. I'd like to thank you all for the contributions that you have made for this initiative; it has been very exciting witnessing the collaboration and ideas that have been taking place. Given that we have some responses, do you believe that we have enough information to move forward to the analysis phase of the project? As of today, we are still awaiting responses from nine universities for the general questions and fourteen universities for their diversion rate methodologies.
Thank you,
DOMINIKA P. SZAL (she/her)
Waste Management Intern
(217) 333-9191 | dszal2@illinois.edu
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Please consider the environment before printing out 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: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2023 06:09
To: Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu <alisonlr@umich.edu>; nberg@umich.edu <nberg@umich.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will get the survey out later today! Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
From: Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 1:44 PM
To: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi, all. I added a few clarifying comments to the Diversion Rate Methodology sheet. The comments are on cells: Precious Metals, Yard Waste, Recycled Batteries, Recycled Vehicles, and Surplus Donate Items. I also added a few more streams we
Hi, all.
I added a few clarifying comments to the Diversion Rate Methodology sheet. The comments are on cells: Precious Metals, Yard Waste, Recycled Batteries, Recycled Vehicles, and Surplus Donate Items.
I also added a few more streams we track that were not on the list. Those cells are filled with yellow. Feel free to remove if they don’t make sense. For the added Surplus Sold Items stream, it will be dependent on the answer to the comment on Surplus Donated Items.
Thank you!
Patrick T. Brown | He/Him
Sustainability Coordinator | Campus Planning, Architecture and Sustainability
m: 219-677-6330
Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
From: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 9:38 AM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Thanks Daphne. Mary actually made that draft (thank you Mary!) and Patrick and I had a few minor edits to add. Hopefully that can be completed today or tomorrow and back to you for review. We will definitely include the idea of the “other – list please” being added.
Thanks again,
Tony
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 8:10 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
|
---- External Email: Use caution with attachments, links, or sharing data ---- |
Thanks for the feedback, Daphne.
Once we have the go-ahead from Tony, I will send to the larger affinity group.
Excited to see all the results!
Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 4:33 PM
To: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi Tony, I took a look at the new tab for diversion materials and think it looks great. There was a comment made asking about what to do if a school has a material they include in the rate that isn’t listed on the sheet, so I added a “Other
Hi Tony,
I took a look at the new tab for diversion materials and think it looks great. There was a comment made asking about what to do if a school has a material they include in the rate that isn’t listed on the sheet, so I added a “Other – please list” column for that purpose.
Otherwise, I am happy with the survey and would call it good! Thanks so much for the assistance.
Thank you,
Daphne
Daphne 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.
From: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 8:05 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Thanks Daphne. We will get back to you ASAP!
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2023 10:19 AM
To: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
|
---- External Email: Use caution with attachments, links, or sharing data ---- |
Hi Tony,
Thanks for the update! We are appreciative of the feedback you and OSU have provided and are happy to incorporate it. I think the suggestion to add a tab for diversion rate materials is a great one, and we would appreciate your help with integrating it into the survey!
Thank you,
Daphne
From: Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 12:55 PM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi Daphne, Mary and I met to discuss the Waste Affinity Group topics and we are hoping to be able to focus in on the survey you have developed. Once the document is ready to share, we are happy to help send it to the group, and then we can remind folks to complete it at the February BTAF Meeting (exact date TBD). We are anticipating not having a Waste Affinity Meeting prior to the full BTAF Meeting in February, but if this group needs to get together, just let me know and I would be happy to schedule.
In terms of finishing the survey, it appears that you have largely incorporated all the recommendations, thank you! There is one modification that I wanted to validate with you that our group has offered to make: a separate tab in the same spreadsheet where the answers for cell AH Materials included in your diversion rate can be put into its own grid and easier to compare school to school. If you are good with this idea, we will try to complete this next week and send it back.
Thank you,
Tony
From: Anthony Gillund
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 12:42 PM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi Daphne, we just had a meeting today with our local waste district and one of the questions that came up is if there are institutions that have found methods to eliminate the plastic bags from the recycling stream. I thought some institutions do this (e.g. breaking bags of recycling into the recycling dumpster but tossing the bag into the trash). If you think it is beneficial, perhaps this is another item to add to the survey.
Thanks again,
Tony
From: Anthony Gillund
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi Daphne, great survey and I agree with Mary it is very comprehensive! Patrick and I reviewed the document we came up with a few recommendations for your consideration:
Thank you again for putting this together. Looking forward to seeing it once it is all filled out!
Thanks,
Tony Gillund
Director of Sustainability
Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability
o: 765-494-3911 | agillund@purdue.edu
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 8:26 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
|
---- External Email: Use caution with attachments, links, or sharing data ---- |
Daphne,
Thanks for reopening the conversation and putting this together. This survey looks comprehensive. We’re excited for the results!
Here’s our quick feedback:
We can make these edits directly in the survey but didn’t want to make changes without giving you a heads up/getting sign off from the group.
Once the other folks on the chain provide feedback, we can help disseminate to the larger BTAF group. When the results are in, it’d be a perfect intern project to assemble results in a slide show and do some data visualization. Happy to donate our intern time towards that task.
Best, Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2023 5:07 PM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; agillund@purdue.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi all, Happy New Year - I hope you enjoyed a nice holiday break! Dominika and I wanted to re-open the conversation on the BTAF waste survey. The questions are ready for your review/input when you have a chance J Mary & Tony, we are happy
Hi all,
Happy New Year - I hope you enjoyed a nice holiday break! Dominika and I wanted to re-open the conversation on the BTAF waste survey [redacted]. The questions are ready for your review/input when you have a chance J
Mary & Tony, we are happy to coordinate with you both on getting this spreadsheet out to the schools when everything is finalized.
Thank you,
Daphne
Daphne Hulse (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at 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.
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 9:43 AM
To: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; agillund@purdue.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Thank you, Mary! We’ve got all our original survey questions inputted now and are working to finalize questions on other topics such as sustainable procurement and organic waste, which we didn’t previously include.
If you all have an opportunity to take a look and provide feedback, that would be appreciated!
Thank you,
Daphne
Daphne Hulse (she/her)
Zero Waste Coordinator
Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at 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.
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 8:12 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; agillund@purdue.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Hi everyone,
Hope everyone had a nice holiday.
Just want to give a shout out to Daphne and her team for uploading the survey onto the google drive in a spreadsheet format. The benchmarking tool is looking pretty robust. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the google drive, here’s the link [redacted].
Aside from adding additional relevant survey fields and filling in our school’s data, is there anything else we need to do to provide feedback before we take this to the larger BTAF group?
Thanks, Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
-----Original Appointment-----
From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 3:15 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren; alisonlr@umich.edu; Leciejewski, Mary; agillund@purdue.edu; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja
Subject: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
When: Friday, November 11, 2022 11:00 AM-12:00 PM (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
Where: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/83465397844?pwd=K0dHcWlkaXExOTQyUDdrN3J6VXhVUT09
Daphne Hulse (she/her) is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Join Zoom Meeting https: //illinois. zoom. us/j/83465397844?pwd=K0dHcWlkaXExOTQyUDdrN3J6VXhVUT09 Meeting ID: 834 6539 7844 Password: 337564
Daphne Hulse (she/her) is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
Presentations given during the lunch sessions for each grade in the library. Franklin STEAM hosts sustainability speakers each April in honor of Earth Month.
Thanks so much for coming!!!
We really appreciate your time and energy today speaking to Franklin's future "world rescuers."
I know you cannot attend our Open House this May 11th but do consider if you would like to table at our fall Open House on September 14th.
We really appreciated your clear and important messages.
Zanne Newman
Magnet Site Coordinator
Franklin STEAM Academy
EPA Webinar Report by UIUC Facilities & Services Waste Management Intern, Shreya Mahajan.
Below is an email exchange regarding University Housing recycling:
It was great talking with all of you about sustainability in University Housing. I hope my input didn’t scare you too much. Given our size, and the number off residents we house, we have to maintain some discipline in how we communicate to and interact with our residents. I’m sure we can find a viable method for reaching our residents to inform them of sustainability issues and event across campus. Below are a few talking points I jotted down during out meeting.
I ended up closing the meeting invite without saving, which I was using to keep notes during the meeting. So please let me know if I missed any key takeaways.
BRYAN JOHNSON
------------------------------
Hi Bryan,
Daphne Hulse and I have been developing plans for a campus-wide plastic waste reduction campaign. I think the communication methods you mention below could be valuable for messaging. If you agree, Daphne can incorporate these into the strategy.
We remain interested in adding a sticker with a QR code to the residence hall room recycling containers to direct students to a website with more information about recycling and waste management. Can you provide an estimate of how many stickers we would need?
I also want to follow up on your last two points about incorporating sustainability into RA training and programming to Housing residents. Our survey data indicate that first year students are more likely to purchase single-use plastic bottles, so we think targeting this group is important. Has Residential Life leadership and or Nathan Sanden responded to your inquiries concerning this issue?
If you would like to discuss any of these items further, Daphne and I would be happy to join you on a call.
Thank you,
Jen
------------------------------
Okay, I have some answers for you. Attached is our proposal to the SSC to fund the recycling containers. The original purchase was for 6,511 containers, but I would guess a few have disappeared by now. I was not able to find anyone within our Sustainability LLC to help mange this project or take on submitting another request to SSC to fund the stickers. If we move forward with this project, we will need to meet with Housing Facilities staff to iron out the logistical details. Our facilities staff will not be able to assist with placement of the stickers, so we will need to find a different avenue for getting them placed. I copied Matt Brown and Mark Kuehl from Housing Facilities on the email to keep them in the loop.
Herb Jones, Director of Residential Life, said he is open to a conversation to talk through your thoughts on incorporating a sustainability component into our RA training. Jenny Bates, copied here, manages his calendar, if you would like to reach out to her and schedule a time to meet.
Also, here is an updated link to Housing’s website for digital sign requests. We redesigned our webpage a couple months ago and the old link was inactive. https://www.housing.illinois.edu/digital-signage
Also, also, I am still trying to confirm if we rent out the space on the napkin holders in the dining halls. We have not done this in the past, but we have a new Director of Dining who might have a different direction for these.
Thanks,
BRYAN JOHNSON
------------------------------
Bryan,
Thank you for sharing this information. It is all very helpful!
Daphne and I can look into developing an SSC proposal, perhaps with the assistance of our iCAP Engagement team. I think we can also find people to help with sticker placement if the project is funded.
We are looking forward to discussing incorporating a sustainability component into RA training with you on April 7 at 3:00 pm.
Best,
Jen
How can students support waste management on campus?
https://dailyillini.com/life_and_culture-stories/2023/03/17/students-was...
March 17, 2023
Have you ever placed something in a recycling bin and wondered what happens next? Does it actually get recycled, or does it just get tossed in the landfill without ever being sorted out?
Students said it can be hard to be committed to sustainability when resources to do so are not always clear.
Adeline Hoegberg, junior in FAA, said she does not have a lot of knowledge about where the trash on campus is taken or how big of a difference the University is making with their waste management systems.
“I’ve heard that all of the recycling would just end up in the normal trash,” Hoegberg said.
The Waste Transfer Station in Champaign filters out around 30% of the trash that comes in, but still sends around 50 pounds to the landfill each day. This is not taking into account busier times like holidays and move-in days for students.
The Waste Transfer Station is located just off of St. Mary’s Road in Champaign and takes in trash from all various places on campus. This includes instructional facilities, University Housing, Illini Union and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Daphne Hulse works as the Facilities & Services zero waste coordinator, a new position focused on decreasing the amount of waste that goes through the University. Hulse works on various outreach projects, including hosting tours of the Waste Transfer Station.
“These tours are a really unique opportunity to illuminate to the broader campus community what goes on after you put something in the bin,” Hulse said.
Adam Soper, senior in FAA, recalled seeing several recycling places on campus but, like many other students, hasn’t heard of the Waste Transfer Station on campus.
“I know all the dorms have dedicated recycling bins,” Soper said. “But I’m not necessarily sure where those get dumped to.”
Another program that Hulse is facilitating in collaboration with Coca-Cola and the DIA is the “Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste” campaign. This campaign has students volunteer at basketball games to encourage recycling at sporting events. The last zero waste basketball game was March 2 and had 100 volunteers.
“(We’re) creating that general awareness for sustainability in an audience with not just students but townies, out of state folks and athletic rivals,” Hulse said.
Despite these programs, it can be hard for students to recycle on campus and even more so on their own where businesses and residencies don’t provide recycling services. Along with a lack of opportunity, some students feel that recycling doesn’t have a huge impact.
“I’m under the strong feeling that you can’t solely rely on us recycling,” Hoegberg said. “It’s more about the corporations if you really want to fix things.”
Soper said he would most likely not see discernible difference in a world without recycling.
“It wouldn’t be a whole lot different because the recycling practices aren’t widespread enough to be making a huge impact on the scale that we’d be able to really see,” Soper said.
Hulse recognizes that sustainability can seem isolating at times but encourages students to join organizations and communities that bring collective action. She highlighted the RSO Project4Less, whose members package leftover food in good condition and ship it out to food assistance programs in the surrounding area.
“The human connection component of climate change is so important,” Hulse said. “I think we often feel stuck by ‘what can I do as an individual’ in this global planetary crisis.”
Aside from joining sustainability-focused communities, Hulse also recommends learning what people can about what’s happening in the community and leading by example.
“We know reduce, reuse, recycle. But what about at the start of all of that, refuse,” Hulse said. “What could you refuse in your day-to-day life and start small. For example, I know students really enjoy coffee and many, many, many places around campus will take your reusable cup.”
Hulse was particularly inspired by her mother who showed her that small habits, like using reusable bags at the grocery store, can make a big change. Hulse encourages students to look for that positive influence around them and wants students to be that influence in their own sustainability journey.
“A community that is pursuing zero waste imperfectly is far better than a few individuals doing it perfectly,” Hulse said.
Greetings, Colleagues,
I hope the start of 2023 is going well. I’m reaching out today to send you iSEE Quarterly update for Winter 2022 from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.
For more up-to-date news from iSEE, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.
IN RESEARCH
IN EDUCATION & OUTREACH
IN CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY
Thanks for reading, and best wishes for the remainder of the spring semester!
Best,
Madhu Khanna
Madhu Khanna
Pronouns: she, her
Alvin H. Baum Family Chair & Director, Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment
ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics
Co-Director, Center for Economics of Sustainability
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
1301, W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801
Good morning BTAF,
Hope everyone’s year is off to a good start!
At the last BTAF Waste Affinity group meeting in October, the group members shared many exciting initiatives and programs related to recycling and waste diversion. Over the past few months, a working group has developed a comprehensive benchmarking survey to facilitate knowledge sharing and to organize program information. So, now we need your participation in the Waste Survey [redacted].
At the suggestion of Nicole Berg, a google spreadsheet format was chosen for ease of use, as well as the ability to update the survey each year. In the link, you’ll find two tabs on the survey:
Three schools have already filled out the survey, so our hope is that it’s intuitive to follow along and to input your school’s information. If you have any clarifying questions, feel free to shoot me an email. We ask that each school completes the survey by Friday, February 13th.
Once the data is collected, an intern will compile the data, and we will share the results in another BTAF Waste Affinity Group meeting at a date TBD—probably in March.
Shout out to the team, including Tony Gillund (Purdue), Patrick Brown (Purdue), Daphne Hulse (Illinois), Dominika Szal (Illinois-intern), Nicole Berg (Michigan), and Alison Richardson (Michigan).
Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
Hi Daphne, great survey and I agree with Mary it is very comprehensive! Patrick and I reviewed the document we came up with a few recommendations for your consideration:
It might be beneficial to add another question after cell G3 that asks if there are secondary waste goals.
Cell K3 was a little confusing trying to determine what was meant by ‘Benchmark Year’…. Is this supposed to say ‘Baseline Year’ instead?
For Cell AG3, we are recommending that a separate tab in the same spreadsheet where the answers can be put into its own grid and easier to compare school to school. For instance, I found it very interesting to see UIUC include tires but not surplus material, and it would be interesting to see how many folks include tire recycling/repurposing. Patrick is going to take a 1st stab at creating this for your review.
In the Waste Metric Tracking section, would it be possible to add a few questions around accounting for avoided waste? Take-back programs would be a prime example of this… for instance, if a university handles furniture whether by diverting it or landfilling it, but then works with a manufacturer on a take-back program, do you get to count that material as diverted? I am not sure of the best way to ask this question(s)… maybe it should be integrated with the matrix developed as part of bullet #2?
The organics section might benefit by clarification on what should be included. We interpreted it as more than just food scraps and included animal bedding and landscape debris in our answer, but questioned if other items should be included here such as food grease recycling.
Thank you again for putting this together. Looking forward to seeing it once it is all filled out!
Thanks,
Tony Gillund
Director of Sustainability
Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability
o: 765-494-3911 | agillund@purdue.edu
From: Leciejewski, Mary <leciejewski.8@osu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 8:26 AM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; alisonlr@umich.edu; Anthony Gillund <agillund@purdue.edu>; nberg@umich.edu; Patrick T Brown <brown471@purdue.edu>
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja <dszal2@illinois.edu>
Subject: RE: Purdue/OSU/Michigan/UIUC Waste Survey
Daphne,
Thanks for reopening the conversation and putting this together. This survey looks comprehensive. We’re excited for the results!
Here’s our quick feedback:
For “Waste Reduction Goal” section, add question asking if school has formal, published waste plan and request link.
For D5, we usually count interns as a 3:1 FTEs. Might be useful to make this clear or to have a separate column for number of FTE’s vs. number of interns.
For the Surplus category, I’d be interested to learn if other schools have internal reuse or external donation programs to nonprofits. (Our Surplus group has mentioned some legal/logistical issues with donation…)
We can make these edits directly in the survey but didn’t want to make changes without giving you a heads up/getting sign off from the group.
Once the other folks on the chain provide feedback, we can help disseminate to the larger BTAF group. When the results are in, it’d be a perfect intern project to assemble results in a slide show and do some data visualization. Happy to donate our intern time towards that task.
Best, Mary
Mary Leciejewski
Zero Waste Manager
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Facilities Operations and Development, Sustainability & Strategic Services
1130 Service Building Annex | 2578 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(O) 614.292.3637
fod.osu.edu/sustainability
The Sustainability Council met on 12-13-22 and discussed the following agenda:
The meeting minutes and slide deck are attached.
