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Projects Updates for "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola

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  1. 11-16-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On November 16, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Liz Doeschot, Sarah Carten, Bryan Johnson, Shawn Patterson, Meredith Moore, Jen Fraterrigo, Marian, Shreya Mahajan

    • Debrief after the 11/14 zero waste game:
      • Shift based system for volunteers would work better: keeps the shifts shorter, more engaged volunteers, allows us to focus on specific roles at specific points.
      • Blue bags could be saved back until closer to half-time when things pick up (was a slow start, so it would be wiser to put these folks in other roles during the earlier part of the game).
      • Offer free ticket, so students could enjoy game either first or second half before or after their shift (incentive).
      • Bin placement - think about what works for SFC best (more permanent vs more moveable).
      • Get sustainability trivia announced during the pre-game, so it’s brought to everyone’s attention.
      • People loved the shirts, loved the tote bags.
      • Lots of positive feedback, there was a post-event survey sent out (Marty may have updates next week on responses to this).
      • Reach out to concessionaire about how many Coca-Cola products are sold vs recycled.
      • weight empty bottle to make the transition between number of bottles sold vs weight we gather at the Waste Transfer Station (would be an estimate with upper and lower bounds).
    • Recycling Value Assessment by Circular Solutions
      • Get phone call done after Thanksgiving / in December.
      • Audit done sometime next year.
  2. Zero Waste Basketball Game on 11/14/22

    Support Fighting Illini Basketball and fight waste!

    DIA, iSEE, and F&S are working together to hold a zero-waste Illini men's basketball game Monday, Nov. 14, in honor of America Recycles Day on Nov. 15!

    Fans can help the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign meet its zero-waste goals by using recycling bins for drink containers and other recyclables to keep them out of the landfill!

    For more information --> https://fs.illinois.edu/serv…/waste-management-and-recycling

    See the graphic on social media here: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram 

  3. 11-7-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On November 7, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    1. Digital signage rendering — feedback?

      1. Making the tagline “Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste” bigger.

      2. Reducing Coca-Cola script.

      3. Adding logos of iSEE and F&S.

      4. Add Certified Green Event logo?

    2. Volunteer sign up sheet — we have reached 49 student volunteers!

      1. Volunteer training — added into the vision and roadmap document.

        1. Daphne (+ potentially F&S interns) will be attending the November 11th game to see how basketball games operate.

    3. Event has been advertised on Eweek, iNews, and GradLink as of this Sunday (11-6).

    4. YAH Agency: content capture at the basketball game — sending a film crew.

    5. State Farm Center: blue bags.

      1. Shawn & Daphne attempting to get blue recycling bags implemented at State Farm Center ahead of the November 14th game (potentially by the November 11th game).

        1. Allow us to benchmark general recycling at a basketball game (we don’t currently have this) vs a highly engaged, recycling-focused event.

    6. The basketball game is a Certified Green Event!

      1. Would iSEE able to advertise this?

    7. 10 question pre-game trivia: will be posted on the game day app.

    8. Post-game feedback questions — reached out to Marty.

    9. Solar picnic tables:

      1. Need dimensions from Jake to check with F&S storage space.

      2. Concern: do we know if ARC would even end up approving the design, come spring?

    10. OSU MyCup survey results?

  4. Coca Cola Sustainability Funding Expectations and Language

    Associated Project(s): 

    Attached is a portion of a contract proposal with Coca-Cola's responses.

    Below is an email exchange between Morgan White, Aaron Finder, and Daphen Hulse:

    Hi Jake,

     

    I hope your week is off to a good start. Based on our internal meeting yesterday, we have some action items we would like to put on the docket to address on Wednesday/discuss through email as needed.

     

    • Sustainability Funds
      • How will we be funding the volunteer t-shirts for the Zero Waste Basketball Event?
      • For the campuswide Don’t Waste campaign, how is the YAH Agency’s involvement being funded?
      • Circular Solutions Audit: I believe you mentioned this was an item to discuss tomorrow; clarification on cost/who will be funding is appreciated!

     

    • Zero Waste Basketball Event
      • We have a basic vision and roadmap document drafted, and we are eager to add detailed action items (some details will come after F&S visits State Farm Center; I am awaiting a response from the State Farm Center point of contact).
        • We would like to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each entity involved in this event, including Coca-Cola.
        • Determining how many Coca-Cola bins we will need for State Farm Center.
        • The group at the internal meeting reviewed the updated digital signage. For clarification, is it correct that the darker blue used for the signage is not the brighter, royal blue being used on the updated bins?

     

    I know that the YAH Agency is awaiting our response as well – I will make sure we get an email back to them today!

     

    Thank you,

     

    Daphne

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

    Hi Aaron,

     

    We would like to get clarity about the Coca-cola funding for sustainability and how it is allocated.  Jake Slager told us recently (within the last few weeks) that the campus had funded the cardboard landfill and recycling bins that they provided to us for the Welcome Week ceremony. 

     

    Could you please talk with Daphne Hulse, the new Zero Waste Coordinator, to provide clarity about what Coke promised about the “sustainability funding”?  We would like to establish shared expectations with them about how and when those dollars are spent.  That is, can we reach an understanding with Coke that we will jointly agree in advance on which projects/items are funded out of this “sustainability funding” in the Coke contract?

     

    Also, Jen, Meredith, and I understood from you that the sustainability funding is $15K per year, but Jake said it is $10k/year.  Can you please confirm which one is correct?

     

    Thank you,

    Morgan

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

    Hi Morgan,

     

    Answers to your questions, including specific contract language, were emailed on April 7th, attached. $10,000 is the correct amount. The contract was written with the intent that the campus Zero Waste Coordinator would be charged with having these discussions with Coca-Cola and defining a mutual agreed upon process. In my opinion, this would include determining where sustainability funds are used. Questions about the approval of funding would have to be submitted to the contract owner, VC for Admin and Operations, Mike DeLorenzo.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Aaron M Finder, mba cppb

  5. 11-2-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On November 2, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    • T-shirt renderings: 50 green volunteer shirts, 200 orange giveaway shirts.

      • Volunteer shirts: adding organizational logos from iSEE, F&S, DIA, and Coca-Cola to the back of the shirt.

      • Giveaway shirt: “Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste” tag phrase.

      • Cost and shipping estimates:

        • $115 shipping.

        • ~$2500 shirts.

        • Shipped to Daphne at F&S.

        • Delivered 11/1, Friday before the game.

      • Blue PMS 2767. Orange PMS 7417

    • Sustainability fund: $10k for this year (~$2500 used for this game).

      • Final number on this?

    • Solar picnic tables:

      • Jake will get dimensions of the boxes to see if F&S can store them.

      • Todd (fonts, colors, part-time).

      • Architectural Review Committee (outdoor spaces).

    • Digital advertising:

      • Updates?

    • Recycling receptacle at State Farm Center:

      • Will be put in place next to the trash compactor below the center. We will be able to separate the two and determine a diversion rate after game day.

      • Temporary, not the permanent solution. There are spatial limitations to work through.

    • Blue bags at SFC: final piece.

      • Collecting bottles and cans with liquid during game day will not be an issue.

  6. 10-31-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 31, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Pete Varney, Thurman Etchison, Shreya Mahajan, Daphne Hulse, Tony Mancuso

    Updates:

    1. State Farm Center will accommodate an outdoor recycling receptacle on the zero waste game day (to keep trash and recycling separated, easier to compare final weights).

      1. Temporary for this game. Need to get creative about a permanent solution.

      2. Next step: coordinating blue plastic bags for the indoor recycling containers.

    2. Volunteer and Giveaway t-shirt renderings.

      1. Goal to receive the shirts by 11/11.

    3. Student volunteer recruiting:

      1. iSEE Newsletter Tuesday 11/1 will generally advertise the event

      2. iSEE Newsletter Tuesday 11/8 will solicit for volunteers if we have not hit the 40-50 target

    4. Pre-game trivia questions:

      1. F&S Zero Waste Team will take the lead on this.

    5. OSU MyCup Program — survey findings?

    6. Updated contact list (with Coca-Cola contacts included).

    7. SSLC attempting to connect with Illini Pride and Orange Krush leadership, no response yet. Part-time staff advisor at the SSC is attempting to make contact, too.

    8. Post-game feedback:

      1. Circle back with Marty to see if a QR code with a link to questions is possible. “Let us know your feedback.”

      2. Keep it short:

        1. “Did you notice that this was a zero waste event?” YES / NO

        2. “Do you support having more emphasis on recycling in future games?” YES / NO

    9. Get the zero waste game as a iSEE Certified Green Event.

      1. F&S Zero Waste Team will take the lead on this.

    10. Green Sports Alliance — Meredith, Daphne, Betsy Liggett + Colleen Ruhter (Safety and Compliance) met with two Green Sports Alliance representatives (Bradley Vogel and Matt Adler)

      1. Play to Zero platform.

      2. Safety and Compliance worked with Procurement to process a GSA annual membership.

      3. Discussed how to get Athletics to take initiative on sustainability programs, and to transition contact with GSA to them

        1. Focus on resource + cost savings (F&S tracks all of the waste from Athletics facilities as of July 1st 2022). Betsy and Colleen are investigating if we can track their energy + water use.

        2. Next step: Set up a meeting with the GSA Director + UIUC Athletics Leadership (those who are interested)

      4. Simultaneously, the Zero Waste iCAP team is attempting to find student athletes would be interested in joining our iCAP meetings

        1. Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)

        2. Invited Tim Knox, Assistant Athletic Dir of Facilities/Capital Projects (Engagement iCAP team) to our next iCAP meeting

    Long-term thinking

    1. Recycling bin infrastructure:

      1. 16,000 seats at State Farm Center.

        1. 10,000 of the seats are accessed on floor 2.

        2. 4 concession counters accessed on floor 2.

      2. No recycling bins on floor 2.

        1. Encourage permanent infrastructure on this floor.

        2. Zero Waste iCAP team would like to submit a formal recommendation — is this the best route?

    2. Concessionaire — Oak View Group.

      1. Achieve a higher diversion rate at future events by addressing concession waste.

        1. Drinks (cans and bottles) are plastic #1 and #2.

        2. There are paper cups with plastic lining + souvenir cups which can’t be recycled.

        3. None of the food containers (paper cartons, aluminum foil, cardboard containers, paper wrappers) will not be recyclable (and no infrastructure for composting).

        4. Look to other Big Ten schools as models of success (F&S Zero Waste Team is working on creating a Big Ten waste management comparison report).

    3. Illini Lights Out as a model for student engagement:

      1. Dedicated, consistent group of students interested in assisting with sustainability at athletic events.

      2. Meredith is working on creating a listserv of trained volunteers.

      3. Utilize the opportunity of service fraternities and sororities looking to get involved in the community (tailgating).

     

  7. 10-26-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 26, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Anthony Mancuso, Jake Slager, Daphne Hulse, Sarah Carten, Pete Varney, Bryan Johnson, Marty Kaufmann, Jen Fraterrigo, Meredith Moore

    Agenda:

    1. How to hear from basketball game attendees (survey, open-ended feedback)?

    2. How to keep this momentum going for future collaborations between Coca-Cola, iSEE, F&S, DIA?

      1. Quantifying results. Compare typical basketball game waste production with this event.

      2. Recycling infrastructure/logistics. Look into the possibility a dedicated recycling container at State Farm Center. Supplying blue bags. Incorporating recycling containers to the second floor where logistically feasible.

        1. Temporary “Don’t Waste It” bins will be placed here for the zero waste game.

      3. Cultivating a dedicated, core group of students/volunteers.

      4. Touring Memorial Stadium in the future — understanding how the operation works there.

    3. How do we make it clear what is and is not recyclable?

      1. Other than student volunteers engaging with attendees, is there a more passive option worth pursuing?

      2. Zero waste game logistics: what if an attendee has a half-full drink they are ready to recycle?

        1. Shawn, Pete might have an idea.

    4. What game day messaging do we want to give for advertisements (what are we wanting to achieve)?

      1. “America Recycles Day” (November 15) — drawing attention to the Keep America Beautiful program.

      2. “Zero Waste” — consistency with the iCAP chapter.

      3. “Use the Bin” — building off of this ongoing initiative?

      4. “Don’t Waste Your Shot to Recycle” — building off of the Don’t Waste messaging.

      5. A way to incorporate a fun basketball term in the event tagline?

        1. Slam dunk, shot.

    5. Graphic design that showcases all of the involved parties of the event? This is how I (Daphne) think we can best reach out to RSOs, relevant groups, to help us promote the event in advance on social media.

      1. Coca-Cola, DIA, F&S, SSLC, Illini Pride, Orange Krush.

      2. Who will be in charge of creating this graphic?

    6. Volunteers

      1. Meredith: any update on SSLC meeting with Illini Pride and Orange Krush?

      2. Who is in charge of creating a form for interested student volunteers?

      3. Coca-Cola Heartland: We’d like to open up the opportunity for student volunteers first, but if we don’t reach our 40-50 sign up goal, we would like to reach out to the Heartland group

    7. Do we have a Don’t Waste hashtag?

    Discussion:

    • DIA typically does standardized responses for basketball, so we can’t commit to anything right now.

    • Jen: scan a QR code, and quickly respond to a couple questions. Half-time or short-break in the action.

      • Feedback may be more based on our diversion rate, rather than the attendees.

    • What questions would we be asking?

      • Leichert scale 1-5, or yes-no.

      • Do you support having more emphasis on recycling?

      • How do you feel about zero waste emphasis?

      • Is it helpful or harmful? Neutral?

      • Did you notice that this was a zero waste event?

      • How well did we bring this to people’s attention?

    • Lightshow or pre-game trivia specific U of I recycling, Jake has generic Coca-Cola trivia.

        • Marty thinks this could be possible.

      • Marty will bring back to his group for discussion.

    • Messaging:

      • Definitely include “America Recycles Day” → action item for the next day, after the game

      • One or two screens we can use, says Marty (thanks to these partners, groups, Keep America Beautiful)

      • As we observe America Recycles Day tomorrow, we are proud to make tonight a Zero Waste game!

    • Meredith: SSLC had the meeting, 5:30 show up at SFC for training, meet and greet until 6, stand by stations.

    • Student volunteer sign up:

      • iSEE newsletter - captive audience first.

      • Neither Orange Krush or Illini Pride leaders showed up at the Monday SSLC meeting, so we need to reach out to them to make sure they have buy-in.

      • Tuesday Newsletter, as well as Instagram (student-based)

      • Reconvene next week (Tony) to see if we reach out volunteer goal (40-50 individuals)

    • Don’t Waste Hashtag?

    • Coca-Cola will do the logo (Zero Waste Game) for consistent branding with YAH Agency

    • Ongoing #DontWaste hashtag → consistent messaging, auto-tag when taking selfies

      • YAH Agency.

    • Heartland Coca-Cola team has let us know that we can incorporate local Coke team.

    • Lucy, Coca-Cola ambassador can help with messaging.

    • Dozen or so iSEE student employees who are dedicated to sustainability events, interested folks in educational programming, possible that iSEE could have interns take lead on creating a group to keep things going for future events

    • Long-term goal, iSEE and F&S don’t have to be involved with every game, more embedded with athletics. Laying the foundation for this year

    • Will be helpful if we have the bins out there, strong infrastructure to support these events

    • Illini Lights Out is a model — commitment to being involved; same way as having a group committed to helping with events. Listserv to blast to events for those who are interested in events.

      • Meredith is working with Zoe: starting with iCAP ambassador program. Will be a giant listserv of trained volunteers.

      • Service organizations, frats and sororities.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  8. 10-24-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 24, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Daphne Hulse, Meredith Moore, Jen Fraterrigo, Shreya Mahajan, Marty Kaufmann, Aaron Finder

    Agenda:

    1. F&S has ~27 old “Don’t Waste It” recycling bins stored in the Waste Transfer Station. We estimated ~14 bins will be used on game day. We will use the old bins and allow Jake time to find a more durable option for the updated “Don’t Waste” branding.

    2. Jake to provide t-shirt renderings for green volunteer shirts and Coca-Cola branded giveaway shirts. Shirt cost will come from the mutual sustainability fund.

    3. Toured the State Farm Center: we are working with the facility to determine the logistics of separating the blue recycling bags from the compacted landfill bags for game day. We provided them dimensions for our recycling container; waiting to hear if it is acceptable. If not, we will place blue bags in the compactor and have to sort them out at the Waste Transfer Station.

    4. Concessions: Drinks (plastic bottles and aluminum cans) will be recyclable. Some of the items (the souvenir cup (plastic 5), paper Coca-Cola cups (lined with plastic film), and food containers (greasy boxes, foil) will not be recyclable).

      1. Thinking about how to advertise what is and is not recyclable to attendees…

    5. High resolution logos have been added to Box.

    6. Surprise & Delight Activation Reward Giveaway items are being sent to F&S. 50 reusable tote bags (filled with a t-shirt, hat, reusable straws (4 per pack), and thank-you messaging card on recycled paper).

    7. Student engagement: based on the tour, we think the best way to engage attendees and ensure the correct items are being recycled is to have pairs of volunteers in green shirts come out during time-outs to walk through the seating areas with blue bags. There are 12 “internal entrances” to the stadium, ~24 students needed.

    8. We expect not every student volunteer who signs up will show up, so we suggest recruiting around 40-50 volunteers total (pairs walking around the seats, floaters, bin guards, a few volunteers at entrances greeting attendees)

      1. Jake has offered to relay a message to the Coca-Cola Heartland team (the team regional to our area) to see if we can recruit any of them for volunteers — do we want to do that? Or stick with only UIUC student volunteers?

    9. Identified opportunities for outreach (publicity contacts).

      1. When to reach out to student RSOs to promote? Do we have a graphic design we will use (Coca-Cola’s Don’t Waste?)

    Discussion:

    • Zero Waste game updates:
      • Orange Krush and Illini Pride meeting with SSLC.
      • Doors open at 6, starts at 7.
      • Meet on sight at 5:30? Marty suggests.
    • Zoom meeting prior to game for the volunteers
    • What if the bottles and cans are half full? Where do we throw it out?
    • Open up the volunteering opportunity to students first, and then open it up to Heartland folks if we can’t get 40-50 student volunteers.
    • Graphic design? Jen will reach out to iSEE publicity, F&S comms director, DIA comms.
      • What we want, and what we are asking? Marty thinks we have graphics, but what we need is our message. It would be good to showcase the partnerships here (different logos of the different depts involved).
      • Marty will find the point person, dept meeting this afternoon.
    • How are we creating a foundation for future events? We have the momentum here, so use it as a platform for partnership going forward. Increasing this behavior at future events. Meredith, how might we have a dedicated group assisting for the future?
      • Marty: know that there are things that we can improve upon (blue bags, needing more bins on the second floor, logisitics with F&S). Can’t commit to how frequent. Don’t see an issue, and ideally it would work to change behavior. Some of which will be fast, some will be short.
      • A way to evaluate attendees experiences? Marty is not sure, he will ask at the department meeting. Football gets standard post-game question/feedback. The basketball games is probably by season, rather than game (because there are so many games).
      • Quantify what difference is made — F&S will do this. Ask Shawn about this.

     

  9. 10-17-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Thurman Etchison, Daphne Hulse, Marty Kaufmann, Shreya Mahajan, Jennifer Fraterrigo, Meredith Moore, Bryan Johnson

    Agenda:

    1. Circular Solutions Audit — thoughts?

    2. Surprise & Delight Activation Reward — thoughts?

    3. Updated the vision + roadmap document with next steps and roles.

      1. iSEE: connect athletics RSOs with sustainability RSOs (Meredith has done this — connected with SSLC).

    4. F&S (Shawn Patterson, Pete Varney, Shreya Mahajan, Daphne Hulse) will meet with Tom Divan, Assistant Athletic Director of State Farm Center Facilities, on 10-20 for a tour of the facility.

      1. Determine the number of entrances attendees will be able to walk through on game day.

      2. Determine the number of Coca-Cola dual bins we will need.

      3. Where might we place a RSO table for the activation reward?

      4. Other things to look out for?

        1. Quantifying what goes to landfill and recycling at past State Farm Center events

        2. Think about food and drink: what will and won’t be recyclable?

    Discussion:

    • Operations and infrastructure-based Circular Solutions Audit
    • ISTC is more about buildings and recycling/waste product
    • Is it necessary? It sounded like the point of contact was already impressed by our WTS.
      • One opportunity is with organics recycling (compost). We don’t have hauling system or compost facility. It’s counterintuitive to transport waste far away. Maybe JT can help us with an analysis of this?
      • Determine with JT a clear process, fine-tune to our needs. Rather than the generic approach that was offered. A lot of the things he usually encounters is not what our problems are.
    • Zero Waste game:
      • Marty thinks that we should try to make sure that they are the forefront of recycling initiatives. Student-led. At the meeting, discuss how to get volunteers for the event.
      • Jen: clarify who is facilitating these discussion and working with who.
      • West Lobby or East Lobby? Confirm with Tom Divan which we will meet at.
      • Quantify what’s going in landfill and recycling at prior events at State Farm Center. That may help us generalize or estimate that process.
      • Determine if plastic cups (our souvenir cups) are recyclable. Think about the vendors and food for the recycling expectations

     

     

  10. 10-12-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 12, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Nicole Tate, Jen Fraterrigo, J.T. Marburger, Shawn Patterson, Meredith Moore, Marty Kaufmann, David Guth, Liz Doeschot, Jake Slager

    Circular Solutions Audit, J.T. Marburger, key partner with Coca-Cola

    • Property Audit:

      • Analyze current property program.

      • Provide ways to enhance your recycling.

      • Provide optimal front of house set up to reduce contamination and increase recycling.

      • Certify material is being recycled.

    • Meredith: Climate Action Plan (iCAP), carbon neutrality by 2050 (overarching goal). Zero waste is one component we are especially focused on this year. Produce a lot of waste at a large institution. Initially asked Coke to reduce plastic by switching to aluminum. This migrated the conversation to engagement, behavior change efforts.
    • Daphne: focused on establishing strong recycling habits on campus (making sure people are recycling, and know what is recyclable) both for the upcoming zero waste events and campus generally.
    • Does UIUC have composting? Daphne: No, we have back-of-house composting in dining halls, but nothing comprehensive across campus. We are looking to pilot a composting program in a specific building on campus.
    • Circular Solutions will come to tour the campus to see our bins, operations, housekeeping, front and back of house.
      • Meredith: We do not hire an external party for our zero waste efforts, they are all university employees.
      • Shawn: We do our own in-house sorting, and then it is hauled to a vendor. Loose when we receive it, and then baled when we sell it. Area Disposal was purchased out by Green For Life, and they do our waste disposal hauling.
      • Have we looked at optimization of our trash? Shawn: 3-4 years ago we did route optimization. We added scales to front-load trucks to determine how much waste comes from buildings with front-load trucks.
    • Circular Solutions: is connected with manufacturers that are integrated with recycling. There may be local manufacturers that we can integrate UIUC recycling with.
    • Certified reporting with Circular Solutions tells you what mills the materials are going to. UIUC’s vendor currently doesn’t show the mill; our invoices are more general.
    • Circular Solutions: transportation is an important consideration (how far are we hauling our items and is it cost effective?) Can also provide composting resources. Compost will be the heaviest material to take care of, once we get there.
    • Sustainability funds:
      • Be Orange Go Green volunteer shirts, YAH Agency will have renderings for us next week.
        • Shirts coming out of the shared sustainability funds.
      • Circular Solutions will be covered by Coca-Cola (not our shared fund).

    Action items:

    • Coca-Cola needs a number from us for bins at State Farm Center.

     

  11. 10-10-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 10, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Daphne Hulse, Shreya Mahajan, Thurman Etchison, Dave Guth, Jen Fraterrigo, Sarthak Prasad

    Agenda:

    1. Weekly calls with Coca-Cola will be changing times to either 12:00pm, 1:00pm, or 2:30pm. Based on the poll Meredith sent, it’s looking like 12:00-12:30pm allows the most members to join.

    2. Updated Box folder documents — make sure to check out the Zero Waste Basketball Game Vision + Roadmap!

    3. 10-5-22 Discovery Call with the YAH Agency — YAH Agency is helping Coca-Cola put together a comprehensive Don’t Waste Campaign for campus. We talked through some of their questions on the last Wednesday call. If we have any additional context or information we want to provide them, we will need to do so by this Tuesday 10-11-22.

    4. Jake has provided us with the updated Don’t Waste logos — the high res versions will be added to Box once we approve.

    5. Meeting minutes of past meetings are available in the Box folder.

    6. Marty Kaufmann t-shirt/bin update — talked to Coca-Cola about the t-shirts and bins for State Farm Center for November 14. This is already on their radar; they are talking to their ad agency about t-shirts for volunteers.

    7. What would we like to put on the agenda for the Wednesday 10-12-22 call?

      1. Our sustainability funds:

        1. T-shirts — who will be funding?

        2. Who is funding the YAH Agency involvement?

      2. Vision and roadmap — need more specific details (who is doing what, and by when?)

        1. Defining Coca-Cola’s role in this event.

        2. Determining details from DIA/Marty.

        3. Pushing for a State Farm Center tour.

    8. Jen: Ohio State MyCup Program — are we interested in pursuing something similar?

    • Jen: MyCup program — initial thoughts?
      • Dave: OSU had a simple model (to not charge people for using a reusable vessel)

        • Vendors would have a really tough time

        • Nor do we have the Coke Freestyle infrastructure everywhere like OSU (we do have it in the Quad Shop, but not in the food court yet). Every vendor has a different contract with different requirements

        • Nor sure about the free system, given that these vendors make their money on beverages (margins are tight to begin with)

      • Jen: there is the potential to design a program that was more paletable to retailers/vendors.

      • Dave: tracking vendors is also a challenge

        • Restrictions that hurt the bottom line would make it hard to bring in qualified vendors that are interested

      • Thurman: it seems like OSU has not had much success. At this point they are funding free drinks without seeing the results they want to achieve

        • Have to be financially solvent, so a bunch of free drinks may not work for us

        • More inclined to get behind something that allows freshman get reusable bottles (and containers) and having a marketing campaign behind getting them acclimated to that

      • Jen: agree with the idea that OSU has demonstrated the success. No numbers to say much, except for how much money they have invested in

      • Thurman: I think OSU’s idea was to just give it shot. Which is ok, but they aren’t achieving their goals.

      • Jen: alternative reusable bottle program? Student Activities did this in the past. Didn’t do it this year because there was no funds for it. Seen programs where you pay for a cup, which then comes with a huge discount or so many refills. To Dave and Thurman: is it worth the time to look into this, or a non-starter?

      • Thurman: onboard with finding a different approach. Speaking for himself, but thinking a discount for bringing in a reusable could work (could still cover the cost). Surprised OSU didn’t see traffic driven where this program was implemented. But accepts that it is hard to track that.

      • Dave: agrees with Thurman about the discount idea. harder with the union, because there are a bunch of private vendors involved. All the OSU iterations seemed like throwing money at wall to see what stuck

  12. 10-5-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 5, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Jake Slager, Daphne Hulse, Brette Bennett, Greg Grantham, Kendall Chadwick, Jeff Holman, Meredith Moore, Shawn Patterson, Cole Kouvaris, Sarah Carten, Thurman Etchison, Shreya Mahajan, Sean Chance, Jen Fraterrigo

    • You Are Here (YAH) Agency: leading the campaign around Don’t Waste, which will be broader than just cans and bottles.
    • Jake sent Daphne the updated digital signage with the new logo.
      • Daphne has added to Box.
    • Daphne + Meredith need to determine which department needs how many bins. We will review quantities with Jake. Coca-Cola will pay for them this time around. Some of them can be used for the upcoming Zero Waste Basketball Game. Next week Jake wants to talk about sustainability audit from Circular Solutions
    • Jake would like to move the meeting up. Meredith will check with Morgan and Jen about their schedules.
    • Make sure to add Tony to the Box folder. He had helped distribute signage in the past.
    • YAH: campus ambassador work with Coca-Cola. Brought in to help support the Don’t Waste work on campus. Goal of today is to get background knowledge on the campus.
      • What will this campaign encompass: what does Don’t Waste mean to students? Ideas about content generation (videos, social media?) How to use messaging, the tone, how should the logo be used.

    What inspired the Don’t Waste campaign?

    Jake: Not late to the party here. Jake joined the project in late July 2022. There had been some folks who had met with U of I in the past. Daphne joined in September 2022. She’ll be main stakeholder and point of contact for UIUC. There are many departments across campus, which makes it challenging. This is how we got to the zero waste event.

    Meredith: Didn’t provide easy opportunities previously to provide an easy way to recycle. Also, a way to work with DIA and athletics.

    Jen: How do we reduce plastic waste on campus? Switching to aluminum wasn’t an option, but best strategy was to evaluate how well the recycling program was operating. Looking at strategies to reduce waste.

    Jake: glad to be a conduit to have discussions about things on campus.

    Was their initiative on recycling prior to Don’t Waste? Any other slogan?

    Focused on waste and plastic reduction, within the last 3 years they have not had a centralized campaign like this. Bin It was a prior intiative (about a year long, made some fun videos. Not nearly as robust as Don’t Waste, it wasn’t on bins. It was on social media and newsletters).

    Goals, apart from increasing recycling?

    Meredith: Waste reduction is primary goal, then reduce plastic, then second step is to recycle. Really trying to increase the diversion.

    Jen: There have been a couple of waste audits. They are snapshots, so not sure how it could imapct all of campus

    Meredith: They were done before the 3-stream receptacles. Not sure how helpful it would be. WTS would have more data

    Jake: Circular Solutions waste audit details to come next week. Determine a cost associated.

    Assets being developed? Found a strong connection between marketing or social media?

    Jen: We have no data analytics capacity, but it would be wonderful if we did.

    Jeff: want to make sure what we are providing UIUC is effective.

    Jen: students do use the Illinois app. There is a QR code (link COVID test results with their identity). So there is an opportunity here to explore

    Brette: is there a way to track sporting events on campus?

    Jen: Don’t know of anything.

    Thurman: The Illinois app has dining and sporting information, can use as ID in some instances, local campus radio station, geo-tagging/fencing, information about the local transit. Can find out who hosts the app

    Meredith: we can ask Tony (iSEE) who was able to get all sustainability events on the full campus calendar. In some way, we are already connected

    Greg: http://sites.superfanu.com/committotheg.com/index.html use the loyalty element and rewarding that behavior

    Are there other assets that would make a big impact on the campaign (signage, content, digital boards, non-traditional things, what might be missing)?

    Brette: can revist this and UIUC can provide feedback later.

    Jen: Basic infrastructure (rec fields, some buildings, poritions of campus without receptacles)

    Meredith: worth revisiting. Sustainable giveaways. With the quantity, this is challenging (welcome celebration - which we partnered with Coke on earlier this year - and athletics). Things like durable water bottles, that get people thinking about waste and recycling

    Jen: we did talk to some folks at OSU MyCup program (evolved to rewarding people who use reusable vessels for FreeStyle Machines, and charging all others). We haven’t talked internally about this, something to follow up on with Thurman and others.

     

  13. 10-3-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 3, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Pete Varney, Meredith Moore, Shreya Mahajan, Bryan Johnson, Marty Kaufmann, Morgan White, Daphne Hulse

    • Bryan Johnson: res life. Will be having a conversation with the res life Director. Seeing if Sustainability LLC wants to take on the sticker.
    • Waste audit: submit a request for the SSC funding. Meredith and Dave discussed this before Daphne joined, wanting to pursue SSC funding.
      • Daphne would do the request. Ask for 25,000 for step 1, and then submit the actual cost in step 2.
    • Tim Knox is on the engagement iCAP team. Tim and Marty talk every couple of weeks. Tim had been talking with COO (Roger, chief operations officer) about the need for better recycling for tailgating. This will be in the works for Fall 2023. Marty says they’ve done flyers, but probably not bags before. Maybe we do a kiosk on busy game days.
    • Picnic tables. Morgan suggested ARC put them at Vet Med, arboretum, off-of-the-beaten path.
      • Marty says athletics could maybe utilize them? Not against them, but it wasn’t a request of theirs.
      • It’s not a great time of year to get them (they would have to be stored through the winter).
      • Will continue to look into these, but it’s on the back burner for now. Will address it in the spring.
    • Temporary Coca-Cola bin discussion. No one is sold on them. But they do provide a benefit at events, to show people (especially students) that we recycle.
      • Hard to clean? Marty: we may or may not need bins at athetics, especially for the zero waste event.
    • Meeting on Wednesday: Tell Jake that we do want the bins replaced, but need to clarify where they will go. 60 total? Could all of them get delivered to F&S and deployed for various situations.
      • Determine how many we got originally, and if they can all be replaced (with the Royal Blue).
    • Meredith: getting students to help out. Morgan had asked Marty to see if he could find a RSO. Marty has a staff meeting at 2, so he will ask for those contacts. Then, we will connect the students from sustainability to this athletic RSO.

     

  14. 120 original "Don't Waste It" bins provided for convocation, quad day, welcome week

    From: Jake Slager <jakeslager@coca-cola.com>
    Sent: Monday, October 3, 2022 3:22 PM
    To: Moore, Meredith Kaye <mkm0078@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Illinois Sustainability Campaign Messaging

     

    Hey Meredith,

     

    Hope you had a great weekend too!

     

    I’m working on getting estimates for a bit sturdier bins, but with the attached graphics if you all could approve for sure or provide any other feedback.

     

    We did deliver 120 total (60 recycling, 60 trash) for convocation/quad day/welcome week, but I’m not sure who all received them and if any went to athletics. That’s part of what we need to finalize too, is how many you want replaced (or all 120), and then how to divvy them up between departments/areas of campus that need them too. My plan is to replace all that you need, and determine if we need more permanent bins anywhere such as with Athletics particularly.

     

    I was hoping to give Daphne a call this week quick to align on calendars for just the smaller group to meet. I know we said could keep the weekly at 330CST on Wednesdays, but I’d like to move it up if at all possible, so let me know if your all schedules could accommodate that or not please or we can chat on that quick too.

     

    Agenda this week can be this topic, as well as the YAH agency discovery questions/answers, and perhaps discuss the Circular Solutions audit that I’m trying to get as many details as possible for you all on too by Wednesday. Let me know anything else you want to review as ewll.

     

    Talk soon, thanks!

     

    IgWvsfeNIuPx2eyAqwAqwAK8AKsAKsACvACrACT7wCj5Ann3jt+ICsACvACrACrAArwAqwAqwAK8AKPM0KPKp6PE+zpnx2VoAVYAVYAVaAFWAFWAFWgBVgBZ4GBZgnn4anzGdkBVgBVoAVYAVYAVaAFWAFWAFW4NdX4P8BtDKrViLyG3EAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

     

     

     

     

    Classified - Confidential

    From: Moore, Meredith Kaye <mkm0078@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Monday, October 3, 2022 12:14 PM
    To: Jake Slager <jakeslager@coca-cola.com>
    Cc: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Illinois Sustainability Campaign Messaging

     

    Hi Jake,

     

    Hope you had a great weekend. Quick question – I seem to remember that Athletics received their own shipment of the recycling/trash sets. On campus, we received 60 (30 for housing, 30 for F&S) and are wondering how many DIA received.

     

    We can talk about this on Wednesday, but could you give us an idea of how the “rebranding” process will work? Will all of the bins be replaced, or just a portion, with the new “Don’t Waste” messaging?

     

    Thanks!
    Meredith

     

    --------------------------------------------
    “There are a lot of dreamers – dreaming is very important, but it’s really the dreamer and the doer. You’ve got to be the doer.” –Will Steger  

    MEREDITH MOORE
    Sustainability Programs Manager 

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
    1101 W Peabody Drive (Suite 382), Urbana, IL, 61801
    217.333.0119 | mkm0078@illinois.edu
    www.sustainability.illinois.edu
     
    signature_2127019860

    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. 

  15. 9-28-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On September 28, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Jake Slager, Meredith Moore, Jen Fraterrigo, Morgan White, Liz Doeschot, Marty Kaufmann, Kendall Chadwick, Tyler Swanson, Shawn Patterson, Thurman Etchison, John Mount

    • Daphne will be the primary point of contact going forward for UIUC.

    • Jen will get the spreadsheet of points of contact organized (Daphne can help with this).

    Agenda:

    • Liz will share sustainability insights after being on campus.

    • Update on Don’t Waste campaign.

      • Build out a broader scope of ideas to include all of campus life.

    • Updates on signage for digital and cooler bags (QR code).

    • One cost of U of I for the updated signage:

      • $10,000 budget (accrued 12 months, to spend across 18 months).

      • $8,000 to get 120 bins shipped for convocation and welcome week.

      • The next $10,000 for the next academic year could be used for the zero waste event or wherever it makes most sense to use.

      • The updated bins will be free for U of I (we already paid once for the original).

    • Colors of the bins:

      • Concern that the blue is going to be too dark.

      • One of the messages: recycling and re-enjoy it.

    • Thurman: don’t want any bins for dining. Cleaning them is challenging (especially the trash receptacles) because they fold up on you. Not a great solution for dining.

    Kendall Chadwick: currently in discovery phase. Coming to next call with list of questions to put together a plan that fits with our plan moving forward.

    Scheduling: 1 small Wednesday group, full group on the last Wednesday of the month

    • Thurman: likes to be here, doesn’t need to be here every week.

    • Shawn: likes to be here, doesn’t need to be here every week.

    • Marty: DIA, State Farm Center, keep on the weekly group.

    Do we have passionate student groups?

    • Athletics groups would be nice, and we don’t know them on the sustainability side.

    • DIA student liaison? Illini Orange? Block I? Illini Provide? Orange Crush?

    • Jen, Morgan, and Meredith have connections to sustainability student groups, but we want athletics groups too.

      • Marty will find a contact. Marketing would know.

    • On our side, we could have SECS, SSLC have a meeting with these student groups, with a couple relevant staff. iSEE is trying to make these connections.

    Meeting through Coca-Cola is a way to create synergies between different silos on campus. Right now, that’s sustainability and athletics.

    Zero Waste event: is this the right phrase? Closed-loop refers to getting it back to the original source. Think about the message:

    • iCAP has a Zero Waste chapter.

    • Hired a Zero Waste coordinator.

    • We can consider different phrases.

    Liz Doeschot: noticed on the walk that there were recycling receptacles with black trash bags.

    • Black bags are not guaranteed to cut through and recycle things.

    • Clear bags questionable. Could have recyclables in them, but may not. We can quickly identify if they do.

    • Blue bags are for recycling.

    • Dorms fall under Housing (Residence Halls).

     

  16. Don't Waste Campaign - University of Illinois + Coca-Cola Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    Below is an email from Jake Slager regarding a recurring meeting with UIUC and Coca Cola on sustainability topics.

    Attached are graphics discussed in the meeting.

     

    Hi everyone,

     

    Attached are the files reviewed on this week’s call:

    • MBS best in class recycling messaging and zero waste event criteria
    • Updated “Don’t Waste” Campaign Logos lo res files for review/feedback

     

    Recap from today’s call with full details are below in red to answer recent questions:

    • Proposals for zero waste athletic events: we are interested in hearing about what has and hasn't worked for other universities. Will we hear about proposals this week or the next?
      • Shared again that consistency around sustainability messaging is key, engaging student groups, service hour opportunities with passionate groups to educate, amplify, and execute the event could be next best steps to understand scope and timing
        • To go through all items, cost can be $20k-$30k to get everything captured/sorted-so checking what’s most feasible to execute a zero waste event that’s impactful but realistic too so we’re all able to learn from greatly overall
        • Athletics support needed: Jennifer checking with Athletics Board/DIA personnel meeting, Jake to discuss with Marty further too
    • Updated materials for the new "Don't Waste" logo
      • Attached low res updates for review and discussion today
      • Coca-Cola North America will update graphics and bins with only the 1 time cost to U of I since this tag line/messaging changed due to trademark on Don’t Waste It
        • Context provided that original slogan was ok/approved for last 18 months until recently it was caught trademark filed-using Don’t Waste on campus moving forward which is clear
    • Revised drawing/rendering of the picnic tables
      • Attached-please continue to update Coke on campus mapping approval/feedback and timing to understand if and when these are able to be placed (could push back past Nov 15 America Recycles Day of UIUC needs more time to implement)
      • Also see all answers on questions for these tables too

    Solar Table questions/answers:

    • What is the maintenance cost moving forward? (i.e. if a solar panel breaks, or if a charging station stops working and needs service/repair, how does that work or who covers the cost to fix?)
      • Battery life expectation? Maintenance for battery recycling/repair over long term question came up too..
      • There is a maintenance plan that we could offer, or we could pay an hourly rate for repairs. Brette is working to get an understanding of what other users typically need, but right now there is no budget for repairs or maintenance.
    • Graphics co-branded preferred-but should something change in future years-are they allowed to brand them differently 
      • Looking into this, but gut-check says it probably wouldn’t be a problem if they’re being wrapped.
    • Is there a way to permanently attach them to the ground? 
      • Seats look attached to table, but curious if there’s any ‘live’ pictures of an open box for more detailed information vs the rendering slides
      • Tables can be bolted down - as stated before we need to rely on the universities to do this given their property.
    • Are there lights anywhere? 
      • Black table on campus at night/safety first concern and curios if lights under the canopy or anything exist or are able to be added/included over time
      • Tables will have an LED under the umbrella
    • Refreshed annual timeline for the "Don't Waste" campaign: we are interested in hearing about the ideas Coca-Cola has for “Don't Waste” initiatives throughout the academic year.
      • Working to provide this timeline and build out strategic initiatives with agency to share back with U of I Sustainability team, YAH agency still working on details
    • Clarification on the new "Don't Waste" bins: will Coca-Cola be replacing the old bins with the updated colors? Are there any plans with providing bins to athletics?
      • Yes, the Coca-Cola Company will replace these and take care of the cost (U of I cost 1 time only)
      • We can provide bins to athletics: will need to talk through further on more permanent fixture options together- and would need to be mutually agreed upon and keep with consistent messaging across campus; including athletics approval similar to solar table being placed on campus per board approval
    • Waste audit: there will be an internal meeting for this on 9-30-22, and we are looking to determine a quote. UIUC will then circle back with Coca-Cola about our plans and timeline.
      • Circular solutions can help get a quote together-requested-will keep you posted on timing and other information needed-will share more details as they become available

     

    • Also, we discussed that it may be most beneficial and to be cognizant of everyone’s time, that we look to move the overall call with everyone to monthly or quarterly, and then still have a weekly or bi-weekly appointment with Sustainability committee leaders that can help identify/work together on specifics and then summarize it to the full group and loop in folks as needed (i.e. zero waste event, recycling audit request, etc).

     

    Please reach out for anything else needed and appreciate the continued collaboration!

     

    Go Fighting Illini Football tonight, I-L-L!!!

  17. 9-26-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On September 26, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

    Attendance: David Guth, Daphne Hulse, Marty Kaufmann, Shreya Mahajan, Meredith Moore

    • Point person for athletics? Tom Divan for facilities at State Farm Center and Marty Kaufmann for general discussion.

    • And on our end, who is in charge of this? We are all a part of the same umbrella group:

      • Monday meetings, are part of the U of I campus.

      • Wednesday, is the coke people.

      • F&S and iSEE are seeing this through on the U of I side.

    • We work closely with Tim Knox (zero waste recommendation).

    • Communication-side: DIA will work on that.

    • Tom Divan will know more about State Farm Center, Tim Knox will know more about garbage and recycling component holistically.

    • Does athletics have the temporary bins from Coca-Cola?

      • Marty needs to follow up with this (it might be more through concessions). They have some, but probably not the new ones. Also, the general waste bins did NOT have the blue plastic bags. The bins with Coke DO have the blue plastic bags.

      • The bins need to be landfill and recycling duos. Need to prepare this for the game day.

    • Digital signs for the zero waste game:

      • Don’t Waste, or support the iCAP as a display on the digital sign?

      • 15-30 second announcement once or twice throughout the game, to remind people that it’s important to recycle.

      • Based on prior calls, Marty had gone to marketing and game ops people to hold some time for announcements.

      • Graphic can be used on exterior signage and video board. Could have a couple short PAs. This communications stuff runs through Marty.

    • 8pm game. Engaging student group volunteers. Marty could get them access/pass list.

    • David Guth: Coca-Cola products - Is that going to be in a standard container, or will it be a plastic?

      • Marty: aluminum bottles for beer, plastic bottles for Coke as far as concessions goes. Question for Jake. Marketing funds sometimes go to green shirts for student volunteers. We may have used funds already, but can ask.

      • Shirts that say Illini go green, maybe a Coca-Cola logo?

    • How many volunteers used in the past? Marty says he would think a dozen or two would make a difference. If they could be paired up, more outgoing and comfortable. (12 pairs, for example).

    • Green Quad Day that week. SSC, SSLC, illini union board, Dave will reach out.

    • Giveaways? Caught green handed. Give a prize for recycling.

    • Meredith can prepare a spreadsheet for the volunteer list.

      • Cloud based.

      • Wait to publish list, to make sure they can get a t-shirt and a ticket.

    • Leveraged email blasts, athletic websites, season ticket holders to let them know in advance.

    • A lot of water is purchased. Marty would guess it would be comparable between plastic and aluminum.

      • Can we estimate how many blue bags they get versus waste?

      • Shreya: they do bails, so we don’t split up waste based on bags.

      • Everything is weighed in and weighed out, so we have data. The thing would be to segregate this game’s waste. It’s not a big game, it’s a pre-season game.

    • Could we compare this volume of recycling from the week before vs this November 14 event?

      • Segregate the game waste. It may be possible.

    • Students at football games will go through stands, can this be done at the basketball game?

      • Tom Divan would know. Could be ok, could be a union issue. Staff and extra help does that. Sometimes they do it the next day. Maybe stay away from. Probably ok during the event.

     

     

  18. 9-21-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On September 21, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    Attendance: Sarah Carten, Liz Doeschot, Jen Fraterrigo, Dave Guth, Daphne Hulse, Shreya Mahajan, Meredith Moore, Shawn Patterson, Jake Slager, Tyler Swanson, Nicole Tate

    • External ,eeting cadence: weekly or biweekly call with the high-level team, and a monthly call with everyone.

    • Did Morgan move forward with the spreadsheet of UIUC and Coca-Cola contacts:

      • Meredith: it probably hasn’t been completed.

      • Daphne will complete it.

    • Zero waste athletic events (Mercedes Benz stadium is best in class, zero waste in all facets, Atlanta Falcon):

      • Bins and messaging need to be consistent.

      • Journey there is very similar to here. It started with a waste audit and Circular Solutions for a closed loop system:

        • Circular Solutions will get far more technical than Coca-Cola will get.

      • Start off with a zero waste event, and use them as a blueprint. Their goal was a huge marquee zero waste event (March 2020 March Madness).

        • This event didn’t happen. But the time during the pandemic allowed them to work towards it incrementally.

      • Awarded zero waste in June 2022.

    • For a zero waste event, consistent branding is going to be the most important part:

      • University of Washington (PAC-12 sustainability award).

        • Turn towards the student body for support, it is much more impactful (not self-serving activation, more engaging).

        • 2 full-time interns that focused on this programming.

          • Leveraged email blasts, athletic websites, season ticket holders to let them know in advance.

          • Created hashtag and shared results after (#CougsGoGreen).

          • Engaged student groups who volunteered to help with execution at informational tables (driving guest awareness, giving sustainable swag, helping with sorting after the events).

          • Opportunity to share videos? Amplify what is happening on campus already.

          • Zero waste plan:

            • Short-term: reach out to student orgs with a need for community service hours (sorority, fraternity, student gov?).

            • Long-term: Circular Solutions could identify gaps in sorting infrastructure and how to address the gaps.

        • Tackle concessions: most visible part of the operation, and it creates a lot of waste by nature.

    • Feedback:

      • Jen: challenge is athletics not at the table. We don’t know if they are on board. We don’t necessarily have a good relationship with them at this point in time.

        • Nicole: this is not so unusual. There are a few partners with great cross-functional collaboration on campus. But everyone has different goals, different business units.

          • Recommendations: if the passion is around making it an athletic event (engage students, make an impact), step one might be identifying one point person at athletics to be the “yes”-er not even the “do”-er. If you can position this as “you can save time and energy if you allow us to set forth this plan on our end” can be a convincing point to keep them out of the minutiae of the planning. A second option is to start with a marquee student life event, than a marquee athletic event (convocation, commencement, bid day for Greek organizations)

    • Earth Day would allow us a longer lead time.

    • Jake will have a conversation with Marty tomorrow about this.

      • Meanwhile, we can try with the Athletics Board.

    • Footprint: inside or outside of the event for a green team (swag, green team, get caught green handed).

    • In venue messaging: throughout the course of the game, can there be half-time message, every x number of minutes or hours for a brief message? What can the DIA offer us?

      • Digital signage.

    • Heaviest lift: strong recycling infrastructure.

    • Ryan Squire: Executive in the DIA.

    • Don’t Waste It history: concept was ideated 18 months ago. Trademark review and it passed. Ran it through trademark again, some other company in the last 18 months decided to use it.

     

  19. 9-19-22 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On September 19, UIUC sustainability representatives discussed the following:

    • We need to talk with Coca-Cola about best practices from other schools regarding zero waste athletic events.

    • Jen: coordinating a phone call with Ohio State University — think about how we (UIUC) can partner with other campus units:

      • Reusable containers, change behaviors through Dining Services folks. Will invite people from the Union. Jen will invite Daphne to this conversation.

    • Daphne will be talking to a OSU about general waste practices and athletics specifically as part of the Big Ten & Friends Waste Affinity Survey being worked on.

    • Zero Waste Events:

      • Think about our ability to compost.

      • We could do this for the Nov 14 zero waste game, and we could collaborate with the Recycling Center (Scott Tess) — organic waste (food and yard debris), not any compostable goods (no cutlery).

      • In the upcoming call with the Landscape Center, we will discuss the feasibility of this.

      • In the previous zero waste game, Student for Environmental Concerns stood around the bins and said to passersby where to put recycling

        • Will want to get volunteers for our event (iSEE can help with their sustainability network).

        • SSLC would be a great resource.

    • Clerk for Zero Waste: how does Jen feel about glass recycling?

      • Shreya, Daphne could communicate how this is done

      • Glass: dining and catering services recycle

      • Glass: athletic events

        • Aaron: Spectra (vendor)

        • In order to be LEED Certified, the State Farm Center committed to recycling concessions

        • Aaron: the majority of what they buy comes in aluminum cans.

          • Specialty drinks like Kombucha may come in a glass bottle.

      • Waste audits: 8 buildings. Small amount of glass coming out of buildings that it isn’t an urgent issue. Glass going into landfill is wasteful, but not poisonous like plastic is

    • Picnic table cell phone charging stations:

      • Request by Jake to put together a timeline.

    • Recycling bins at DIA — Morgan is unclear about this:

      • 3 bins with Smith.

      • State Farm Center is in progress.

    • Sponsorship fee coming from advertisements on campus:

      • If we increase their advertisements around campus, when do we need to start considering that they owe us more for this increased advertising on campus?

      • OSU contract: much larger fund. Their athletic revenue exceeds ours by a couple hundred million a year. They have a 100,000 person stadium, we are around 60,000. Limits our advertising revenue potential.

      • Usually other schools are happy to talk contracts with other schools, unless there is a NDA.

      • No NDA for us. Usually there is some level of confidentiality. Releasing agreement information depends on legal offices at universities.

    • Aaron: interested in hearing from OSU, pursuit of refillable bottles. Riff with Coca-Cola? Ramifications of that, if we pursue at UIUC?

      • Reusable containers, glass, plastic, cardboard, continue to talk with Coke about this. Interns digging into research about the different materials. Coke has said plastic better for Earth than aluminum cans. Some sustainability advocates agree. Shantanu Pai had looked at plastic vs aluminum for UIUC campus and came up with: it’s not an easy answer. we could be looking long term, large scale. Our campus could identify the best option for people who don’t have reusable items

    • Long term, could Coca-Cola support the dump and run in the spring? Coke pays employees to help with our efforts?

      • Aaron: sounds complicated. company hiring interns with a tie to procurement could be a concern, in terms of tying into a contract. Aaron could look into this more.

      • Shreya suggests volunteers from iSEE or zero waste team. Morgan explains that it’s during finals week, and is not ideal for students.

        • Staff and faculty are usually swamped with graduation events, etc.

    • Dump and run: collaboration with Housing, iSEE.

    • Illini Union: go through Dave Guth. Ask for student contacts available on Wednesday? Illini Union Board interested in Zero Waste Events (do they have a liaison for this?)

    Next steps:

    • Proposals for athletic events (based on the contact Jake has) — what’s worked and what hasn’t for other institutions.

    • Acquiring materials for Don’t Waste campaign (digital signs).

    • Does Jake have revised drawings for the picnic table charging stations?

    • We are asking for support from Coca-Cola about our waste audit (September 30 meeting, internal, ISTC). We need a quote. Then we can go to Coca-Cola about financial support and human resources support.

    • Coca-Cola said they would do a refreshed timeline for the year about initiatives for the Don’t Waste campaign— we are interested in seeing this soon!

    • Clarification on the bin discussion. Are they replacing? Are they sending with the new colors? Is there something going on with providing bins to athletics?

     

  20. 9-14-22 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 

    On September 14, UIUC sustainability representatives met with Coca-Cola and discussed the following:

    • Daphne Hulse, recently appointed as the new Zero Waste Coordinator under F&S, was introduced to UIUC's Coca-Cola representative, Jake Slager.
    • "Don't Waste It" is a patented statement, so the campaign will drop the "It":
      • Allows us to use consistent messaging across campus. "It" was vague.
      • Allows us to be flexible with messaging opportunities ("I don't waste hits/shots/swings/opportunities/college experiences", etc.).
      • Graphic assets will be updated to reflect the new messaging.
      • Colorways will be confirmed for black (landfill), royal blue (recycling), so that it matches with UIUC existing colors.
    • Working towards a long-lasting partnership for sustainability:
      • Consider more deeply the carbon footprint of Coca-Cola packaging. In previous discussions it was suggested that plastic was the best packaging option.
      • UIUC wants to continue to question these statements: the labor that goes into packaging, the process of determining which material is best, who researches the packaging for sustainability metrics.
      • We want to encourage a working environment where UIUC and Coca-Cola can challenge each other without feeling accusatory.
      • Opportunities for class projects.
    • Solar tables:
      • Coca-Cola has 3 free solar tables to provide us with.
      • The Architecture Review Committee has the final say on changes made to campus.
        • We will be hearing from them soon; Morgan has reached out.
        • UIUC has a stringent filter for advertising (Aaron and Marty are familiar with this).
    • Other campuses are experimenting with sustainability:

      • University of Washington did a bring-your-old t-shirt event.
      • A few campuses are using the phrase “Get Caught Green Handed” on campus (and rewarding students who recycle with t-shirts).
    • Circular Systems Audit Infrastructure (something University of Southern California did):

      • UIUC is planning a waste audit — there is an upcoming meeting on September 30 with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.

        • We will choose a few buildings to monitor (Pete has some ideas already).

    • Zero waste athletic events:

      • The group collectively was keen to see another zero waste event (the last zero waste events happened in fall and spring of 2014, and the campus race to zero waste).
      • Morgan thinks it might be best to allow Campus Sustainability Month / Celebration and America Recycles Day (we have never done an America Recycles Day before) to shine before we attempt an athletic event. Jake will reach out to a contact with zero waste events — specifically, basketball at State Farm.
      • Pete believes it is best to allow ourselves time to prepare for a large-scale event like this; perhaps try a zero waste basketball game in spring 2023. We might think about a zero waste football game for this semester in fall 2022.

     

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