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  1. Weekly Update: Bike Repair Stations, Parade for 4th of July

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was the TBP member meeting, which I attended. A new bike fix-it station/pump was installed here at the Bike Center, as well. It is much more compact than the previous iteration and the pump is much more robust; hopefully, it’ll provide years of trouble-free service.

    Tomorrow is the 4th of July and Champaign County Bikes will be riding bikes in the parade, so I’ll mention that to folks today. Otherwise, looks to be a slow week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 23
    Sales: $798.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $140
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $60
    Memberships: 6 for $180
    Tires/tubes: 6 for $54

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  5. Bike Class Form requests in FY23

    Associated Project(s): 
    Learn How to Ride a Bicycle and Bike Rodeo
    Bicycle Education
    Bicycle Safety Classes

    In FY23, we have received several bike class requests through the Bike Class Form on the Bike at Illinois website: https://bike.illinois.edu/safety/bike-classes/. We will organize classes in FY24 based on this data:

    Bike Class Form requests in FY23
    Bike class number of requests
    Learn How to Ride 8
    Youth Cycling Instructor 2
    Smart Cycling 7
    Traffic Skills 101 5
    League Cycling Instructor 1
    Bike Commuting: Lunch and Learn 5
    Winter Bicycling: Lunch and Learn 2
    Campus Bicycle Resource Tour 1

     

  11. 6-28-23 External Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola
    Tailgate Recycling
    Reduce Single-Use Plastics
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Welcome Celebration Recycling

    Attendance: Jake Slager, Shawn Patterson, Thurman Etchison, Jen Fraterrigo, Steve Breitwieser, Travis Tate, Shreya Mahajan, Daphne Hulse

    Coke Updates:

    • Jake is now officially solely focused on colleges and universities
    • RVAT totes
      • Nothing charged for totes or for transportation
      • Chloroplast wrap and cut-outs are about $150 each x 20 = $3,000 (probably does not include transportation)
      • Keep these recycling only
      • 2-3 weeks lead time for wrap
      • Coca-Cola has the rendering for royal blue. Can make tweaks and changes
      • Couple $100 to edit or change the wrap design
      • Daphne’s to-do: Update QR code for new website
      • Make sure bins have clear messaging just for “bottles and cans”
      • These bins would be used for tailgating near to Memorial Stadium, ideally

    Reusable Cups/Bottles

    • Coke is supportive of reusable cups
      • Yeti sponsors for reusable cups
    • Making an effort to push sustainability early in the college processes
      • Encourage use of reusable bottles
      • Use tap water from filler stations
      • Cut back on waste
      • Where there are purchases, ensure that the recycling bin is used
      • Ohio State’s effort with reusable bottles has been mixed success (MyCup program)
      • Indiana did something similar. It was costly and mixed results there, too
        • Jake will get more plugged in on these programs at different schools

    Athletics

      • 100th year of Memorial Stadium
        • Ohio State did something similar with their 100th year
        • Sustainability can be incorporated in here, too

    Engagement opportunities

      • GoGreen - Eric Green - not a large sample size
        • Jake talked with David Watson, who is in contact with Eric
        • Shreya’s experience as a student: without the incentive behind it, it’s not going to encourage students to regularly use it
      • Looking into Rockwire Illinois App to see how we can encourage plastic reduction

    Welcome Week

    • T-shirts
      • Mid July get the quantities for the welcome week
      • Orange shirt may fit well with giveaway items for tailgating

    Bigger Conversations

    • Path forward - Be Orange Go Green, Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste, Don’t Waste
      • How do we differentiate, make it clear to the public what is what?
      • Is tailgating a fighting illini, fighting waste event?

     

  14. Contract renewed for Project 529 for FY24

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Registration

    The contract with Project 529 was renewed to continue our partnership in the FY24. This will allow our students, faculty, staff, and community members access to a national bicycle registration system.

    The contract was signed by Project 529 on 6/27/2023 and it was submitted to Contracts+ for UIUC signatures.

  18. ZW009 Project4Less Expansion - Transmitted

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Zero Waste Recommendations Summary
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On 6/24/2023, the ZW009 Project4Less Expansion recommendation was transmitted to Alma Sealine and Jason Ensign at University Housing with the following email. The iWG assessment is attached.

    Hi Alma and Jason,

    Thank you for meeting with iCAP representatives about the Project4Less recommendation from the Zero Waste iCAP Team (ZW009).  After our discussion, the iCAP Working Group discussed the topic again, and we have the following recommendation (highlighting added): 

    The iWG recommends that Housing keep and strengthen their relationship with Project4Less, even though there is a funding shortfall for Housing at large.  This project should remain a priority, and in fact they can talk with the student leaders about how best to use the remaining Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) funding of $1,700. There is also a possibility of future SSC funding for future expansion of the program, as needed in conjunction with the continued efforts to reduce food waste.

    We also recommend that Housing promote the various sustainability programs they are doing.  This should be done through links to the iCAP Portal and in the Housing newsletter.

    It would be great if you would identify a contact person we can work with to help promote all the great things that University Housing is doing for campus sustainability. The Formal iCAP Procedures includes a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request a reply to this recommendation by July 14, if possible. 

    Sincerely,

    Morgan and Jen

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

    MORGAN B. WHITE and

    Dr. JENNIFER FRATERRIGO
    Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP)

    iCAP Working Group co-chairs

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    sustainability@illinois.edu  
    https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/

    See the ZW009 Project4Less Expansion recommendation here.

  19. 6-26-23 Internal Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    "Don't Waste" with Coca-Cola
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Welcome Celebration Recycling

    On June 26, UIUC sustainability representatives met to discuss the following:

    Attendance: Shawn Patterson, Marty Kaufmann, Thurman Etchison, Bryan Johnson, Shreya Mahajan, Naveen Reddy, Daphne Hulse

    1. Tailgating / Welcome Week

      1. Coca-Cola ordered 20 recycling bins (metal frame)

        1. Cost will come from the wraps, Jake gathering a quote

      2. Welcome Week Dining - planning meetings that zero waste could join?

        1. Moved to Grange Grove for this year

        2. Thursday, 13th at 9am next meeting (N end)

        3. Consider t-shirts for volunteers

    2. Housing Insider Newsletter

      1. Housing marketing team willing to consider sustainability submissions for consideration in their newsletters, but likely not every edition

      2. Next steps from here? Think about Eweek, iNews, GradLinks as places to include sustainability information, get the larger population thinking about sustainability

    3. Plastic waste reduction

      1. Gathering information, exploring strategies used by peer schools

      2. Aim - engaging/lighthearted

    4. Wednesday 6/28 - meeting with Coca-Cola

      1. Discuss cost of wrap for 20 bins

      2. Assess where we are at with the shared budget

      3. Discuss volunteer shirts for tailgating & explore giveaway items/incentives

      4. Discuss volunteer shirts for Welcome Week

      5. Anything else to add to the agenda for Wednesday?

  20. Redwood Materials: Jen, Daphne, and Amy meet to follow up

    Associated Project(s): 
    Single-Use Battery Recycling
    Battery Recycling
    Rechargeable Battery Recycling
    Address Electronic Waste (e-waste)

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

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

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

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

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

    • IT would be more surplus-oriented

    • Could payment be associated with batteries collected?

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

    • ARC does battery recycling

      • Reach out about that

    • Collection sites must be supervised so nothing is mixed in

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

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

    • Electrical and computer engineering department

      • Specialization in batteries

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

      • Do they have a program? Sell to students?

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

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

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

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

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