After a few delays, the geothermal exchange project at WPP is progressing. Please see the attached report submitted to the Student Sustainability Committee.

SSC awarded Student Space Society $10,000 to build a reusable rocket.

Morgan White sent the following message to labs participating in the glove recycling program on Dec. 13, 2018:

Hello Glove Recycling Contacts,

Thank you for your support of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) waste reduction efforts, in connection with the Kimberly-Clark Professionals RightCycle program.  We are very appreciative of the initiative and time you all have dedicated to glove recycling to help reduce landfill waste from the University of Illinois over the past three years. I’m also emailing the people who have expressed interest in joining the program, so you are aware of these changes.

I am writing to let you know that we will halt glove recycling for research labs and teaching labs on campus, as of the end of this calendar year.  The RightCycle program is only intended for recycling non-hazardous materials, and the majority of our labs are using gloves as protection against hazards or potential hazards.  Therefore, we will continue to participate in RightCycle only with gloves used for food service, starting in 2019.  If you are collecting gloves to recycle from a lab on campus, please do not drop off gloves and do not ship them to Kimberly-Clark after December 31, 2018.

If you and your colleagues in research and teaching labs would like to continue actively supporting campus sustainability, please join the Certified Green Lab Program at https://go.illinois.edu/greenlab, coordinated through the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).

Please let me know if you have any questions about glove recycling, and have a happy holiday season.

Thanks,

Morgan

The updates below apply to the week ending Dec. 9, 2018.

Hi Pete and Shawn--

This past week, zero-waste activity focused on a major change to the glove recycling program. Morgan and I spoke with Monica Miller on Friday and heard concerns about the potential for labs (especially research labs) to inadvertently place hazardous materials in the recycling stream. Monica pointed out the complexities of compliance, especially when staff turns over at a lab. The determination was to stop glove recycling at labs. There may be some exceptions that DRS would need to determine on a case-by-case basis.

Morgan is drafting a message to the labs to tell them of the changes, which will take effect Dec. 31. Per Monica's request, I have contacted Serenity Desmond at Noyes and the Chem Annex to ask her to contact Monica about the change. Monica is familiar with ISTC's practices and is comfortable with their continued participation. There is no issue with Dining Services or food venues continuing to participate.

I have contacted the BER students who were trying to find the names of teaching coordinators so that DRS could talk with them under the previous plan. I told them to send the information they have already collected but that they can stop. Morgan and I hope to enlist them to help expand the program in food venues, and possibly to promote RightCycle to restaurants in the community.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan

Topics of discussion: potential to obtaining stormwater credits through best management practices; ideas for monitoring runoff from Lot F23 before and after renovation; updates on funding proposal for Red Oak Raingarden work

Hi everyone, As expected our rate of drilling today slowed when drilling the shale bedrock. The crew was able to drill an additional 25 feet to a depth of 355 feet.

Next week, since Monday will be the last day we have to drill the hole deeper, we have decided to stop coring and just drill straight through so that we can reach the target depth of 450 feet. Tuesday is needed to clean out the borehole so that geophysical logging can be done on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, we will install the geothermal loop and fiber optic cable and grout the hole closed.

Have a great weekend.

Andy

Inner Voices Fall 2018 semesterly report submitted to SSC in December 2018.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-12-11/uis-second-solar-farm-will-make-it-second-none-among-us-universities.html

All, Visitor numbers are down, sales are down, builds are ever-creeping up: It must be winter!

We’re only averaging a few actual work-on-my-bike visitors per day now, and I imagine it’ll get even slower the closer we get to winter break. The student staff has responded positively to the shift in shop build protocol away from piecemeal jobs and towards being wholly responsible for the bike, start to finish. I don’t think it has actually positively affected the quality of their work—yet—but they seemed more engaged and invested in the task at hand. 

Not sure the numbers on it but I feel like I’ve had a pretty steady flow of volunteers in for either community service or volunteer memberships. Not too many volunteer duds, as most seem pretty jazzed and impressed with the space/DIY idea.

This week I’ve got a meeting with the GM of VeoRide and separately, a TBP-UIUC meeting, as well as student staff training towards the end of the week.

The numbers:

Visitors: 43

Sales: $144.50

Memberships: 2 for $60

Thanks!

-        Jake Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

Hi everyone,

After a morning of thawing out the drilling system from well below freezing temperatures on the weekend, we were able to reach 240 feet. With the top bedrock being <60 feet, it is likely they will reach it on Tuesday.

My colleague Jason Thomason will be at the site on Tuesday while I am out of town.

Best,

Andy

SSC convened on December 8, 2018, to select Step 2 projects for funding.

Executive Director of Facilities & Services (F&S) Mohamed Attalla and Director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) Evan DeLucia approved the use of Carbon Credit Sales Funding for the geothermal monitoring well on the Bardeen Quad.

Hi everyone,

We had a successful day 2 after deicing the system. We are now down to 165 feet and heading into the oldest glacial strata. If you are following along with the log I sent, we are about 170 feet on it.

We will start up again Monday morning.

Best,

Andy

Hi everyone,

After day 1 we have drilled to a depth of 90 feet. This is excellent progress with snow much of the day, and not getting in the ground until late morning.

So far, the geology is similar to previous drilling in the area (see log attached).

Cheers,

Andy

Ideas for recommendation related to post-consumer waste reduction, recommendations to continue in Spring semester