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Projects Updates for Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

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  1. Returning CustomPak and TerraCycle boxes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

    From: Allie Cope <allie.cope@terracycle.com>
    Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2023 2:27 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Cathy Hosler <cathy.hosler@terracycle.com>
    Cc: Kristen Wogelius <kristen.wogelius@terracycle.com>
    Subject: RE: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Custom Pak Pickup

     

    Hi Daphne,

     

    9 boxes is usually the recommended maximum per pallet, so that would work!

     

     

         Allie Cope

         Logistics Coordinator

              708-223-1074

            www.tcrwusa.com 

           www.terracycle.com

     

               

     

    Eliminating the Idea of Waste®

     

                            313 Airport Rd., North Aurora IL 60542 USA  

     

    To request a bulk recycling pickup, please go to https://tcrwusa.com/pages/pickup-request-form

    Please consider the planet before printing. This email and any attachments thereto may contain private, confidential, and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, copying, or distribution of this email (or any attachments thereto) by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copies of this email and any attachments thereto.

     

    From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2023 2:20 PM
    To: Allie Cope <allie.cope@terracycle.com>; Cathy Hosler <cathy.hosler@terracycle.com>
    Cc: Kristen Wogelius <kristen.wogelius@terracycle.com>
    Subject: RE: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Custom Pak Pickup

     

    Hi Allie,

     

    Wanted to follow up with you on University of Illinois’ initiative to send back our mask recycling boxes. We collected 9 CustomPak boxes across campus to ship back. Is there a specific number of CustomPak boxes we need to fit on a single pallet?

     

    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: Allie Cope <allie.cope@terracycle.com>
    Sent: Monday, December 19, 2022 1:26 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>; Cathy Hosler <cathy.hosler@terracycle.com>
    Cc: Kristen Wogelius <kristen.wogelius@terracycle.com>
    Subject: RE: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Custom Pak Pickup

     

    Hi Daphne,

     

    We can accept the CustomPak boxes. The Zero Waste boxes should have prepaid labels already on them for when they are full and ready to be returned.

     

    Thank you!

     

     

         Allie Cope

         Logistics Coordinator

              708-223-1074

             *New Website!*

            www.tcrwusa.com 

           www.terracycle.com

     

               

     

    Eliminating the Idea of Waste®

     

                            313 Airport Rd., North Aurora IL 60542 USA  

    Please consider the planet before printing. This email and any attachments thereto may contain private, confidential, and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, copying, or distribution of this email (or any attachments thereto) by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copies of this email and any attachments thereto.

     

    From: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, December 19, 2022 1:19 PM
    To: Cathy Hosler <cathy.hosler@terracycle.com>
    Cc: Kristen Wogelius <kristen.wogelius@terracycle.com>; Allie Cope <allie.cope@terracycle.com>
    Subject: RE: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Custom Pak Pickup

     

    Hi Cathy,

     

    Thank so much for your quick response; I will work on collecting and staging these as requested. Clarifying question: we have some CustomPak “VaporShield” boxes, and we also have some boxes that are branded as the TerraCycle Zero Waste recycling boxes (images for both are attached). Do you accept returns for both of these, or just the CustomPak?

     

    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: Cathy Hosler <cathy.hosler@terracycle.com>
    Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2022 12:15 PM
    To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Kristen Wogelius <kristen.wogelius@terracycle.com>; Allie Cope <allie.cope@terracycle.com>
    Subject: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Custom Pak Pickup

     

    Hello Daphne,

     

    Thanks for reaching out. It looks like you have our Custom Pak boxes. These will need to be collected, palletized, and shrink wrapped for transport. Once ready,  please complete the attached form and return it (reply all). Once received, our logistics team can work on coordinating a carrier to come and haul away the material and transport it back to our recycling facility (on a bill of lading). It’s important to note that someone will need to attach the proper paperwork, be on site to direct the driver to the material and sign the BOL.

     

    I hope this helps! If you have additional questions, I’d be happy to help.

     

    Thank you for recycling!

     

  2. Ending the PPE single use mask recycling program

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

    For the time being, the PPE single use mask recycling program will be ending, and F&S will work with facilities across campus to remove boxes from the buildings and return the masks to the original vendor. The decision was made based on the lowered demand for disposable mask recycling, and the observation that many boxes across campus were becoming general trash bins.

    13 boxes total were rounded up from campus to be returned to the recycler.

  5. The Daily Illini: Students seek sustainability for single use masks

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

    Students seek sustainability for single use masks

    A+group+of+students+wearing+masks+walks+down+Green+Street+on+Aug.+21.

    KENYON EDMOND

    A group of students wearing masks walks down Green Street on Aug. 21.

    BY CATHERINE PAVILIONIS, STAFF WRITER
    DECEMBER 3, 2020

     

    As the presence of the pandemic looms in everyone’s minds, the importance of wearing a mask continues to remain a key part of everyone’s day-to-day lives. With so many single-use options to choose from, however, it can be overwhelming to think about all of the waste that has been produced directly as a result of one-time-use masks.

    Shantanu Pai*, zero-waste coordinator for the Student Sustainability Committee, has been working closely with and helping Madalyn Liberman, senior in ACES, to navigate an idea she had to combat this issue.

    Liberman came across an article about a Vegas hotel recovering masks and said, ‘Can we try this?’ She ran with the idea. She connected to the hotel, reached out to ask what they did and how and then learned that TerraCycle was the vendor that they used.

    “She connected with TerraCycle, conducted a series of interviews with them and worked with our staff to figure out how we would begin,” Pai said.

    With the campus being so spread out, it was also important to reach out to as many buildings as possible in order to be able to offer this service to a greater community of students and faculty. The goal was to have at least two bins in the open space of each building.

     

    “We sent out a request early in the semester asking buildings if they’d want to be location sites and thirty-five agreed,” Pai said. “Then we prioritized to make sure that there was coverage across campus. Spatially, we’re pretty spread out.”

     

    However, due to a lack of foot traffic through many of these buildings and the resulting unfamiliarity with the recycling program being offered, the bins have not yet had much use.

    “We haven’t had anybody replace a bin so we’re not having a lot of use yet, which could mean one of two things,” Pai said. “It could mean that people don’t know (the bins) exist yet. The other thing is maybe people are using reusable masks and the idea is to promote it, and that’s what we’ve been working on— to get people to know that it exists.”

    In light of the difficult times everyone is facing as a result of the virus, the Student Sustainability Committee wants to make something as simple as recycling a used single-use mask at least a little easier for everyone while also encouraging those who
    hadn’t previously considered it to give it a try. There are so many opportunities to make a difference and help the campus community take one step closer to becoming zero-waste and the SSC hopes that this program will be one easy way for everyone to make a difference and possibly even get involved.

    “There’s a risk in recycling programs…” Pai said. “We have the idea that we want people to use more reusable masks, but life isn’t always convenient, and we want people to have a convenient choice.

     

    *Please note that Shantanu Pai is the Zero Waste Coordinator at Facilities & Services.

  6. e-week announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

    Single-Use Face Covering Recycling

    Ready to throw away your used disposable face coverings? Approximately 50 collection boxes are on campus to help you recycle these face coverings. The program is free thanks to the Student Sustainability Committee. See this list of participating facilities and locations: https://go.fs.illinois.edu/singleusemask. Questions and requests, contact recycling@illinois.edu. 

    Morgan White • Facilities & Services

  7. Mask Recycling in F&S Quarterly Report

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Mask (PPE) Recycling

    SINGLE-USE MASK RECYCLING NOW AVAILABLE ON CAMPUS
    F&S partnered with TerraCycle to collect disposable masks for recycling. The best locations for collection boxes were determined through collaboration with departments and units. The program is offered at no cost to individual units and is supplemented through Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) funding.