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  1. 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

  2. Nov 10th Meeting Space + Logistics

    Below is an email between Sarthak Prasad, Sterling Laylock, Morgan White, and Carl Tutt:

    Hi Sterling,

     

    Do you know where (which hotel) your guests would be staying for the November 10 all-day workshop? Also, how many people would you expect to attend and how many would require/like the shuttle option? Please let me know as soon as you can. Thank you,
    Sarthak

     

    Sarthak Prasad

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

    Hi Sarthak,

     

    We are confirming the list of attendees and expect to have a count for you by mid-week. During that process we will verify if any attendees plan on arriving/departing by Amtrak.

     

    I'll be sure to update you asap!

     

    Thanks, Sterling

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

    Hi Sarthak + Morgan

     

    As it turns out, there aren't any attendees opting in to arrive by Amtrak. So there does not appear to be a need for the shuttle. Unfortunate but true.

     

    So far, there is a very high-level of interest in this event among attendees. This recent segment that appeared earlier this week on NBC4 Los Angeles made a significant positive impact on everyone.

     

    How IGT2030 Creates Positive Impacts:

    Latest List of Attendees

    To date, we have 35+ confirmed attendees. There is a mix of subject matter experts and non-subject matter experts. They consist of HVAC professionals, engineers, architects, teachers, public officials (elected and non-elected), corporate energy-efficiency executives, industrial hygienists, state and county staff (IL EPA, Dept of Treasury, Cook County), climate investors, K-12 school officials, etc.

     

    Of course, Erik Malmstrom, CEO of SafeTraces will be attending and William P. Bahnfleth, Chair of ASHRAE Covid Epidemic Task Force will stream in via ZOOM to kickoff our Design-Thinking Session after lunch.

     

    On Campus Attendees

    Members for Paul Francisco's team at ICRT will be attending and sharing impactful human-centered health data. When you get an opportunity, please let me know who the potential on-campus attendees may be?

     

    It would be great if we could set up a call for this coming Monday as we continue to tie down any loose ends.

     

    I'd like to send the official invite on Tuesday, Nov 1st at the latest.

     

    Thanks, Sterling

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

    Hi Morgan,

     

    I chatted with Sarthak now that he's gotten back home to India.

     

    We're hoping to get the exact location and address of our meeting space for next Thursday November 10th so we can send out the formal invitation.

     

    We have 35 plus attendees confirmed and need to get them proper logistics instructions.

     

    Please let us know as soon as you can. We look forward to seeing you on Tues/Wed Nov 8th/9th to see the space.

     

    If there's an actual floor plan we can see beforehand it would be greatly appreciated.

     

    Thank you, Sterling 

  3. Weekly Update: Reduced hours, Working Bikes this week

    All, While my jury duty service was still in effect, we had reduced hours as needed last week but were able to open fully Wed – Fri. It was the first week of noticeably fewer folks through the doors. As such, we got a few bikes on the sales floor and a dozen or so moved over from storage.

    Tomorrow we will host Working Bikes for our donation event. This is the first one since Nov 2019. We’ll have around 200 bikes to donate and hopefully will have a few folks available to help out and make it go quicker. They’ll be providing pizza for us, too. This event will halve the number of bikes left in storage. The Bike Project and I will sort through the remaining bikes in the coming weeks.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $475.50
    Build-a-Bikes: 2 for $100
    Memberships: 4 for $120

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  4. I2SL Winner Announcement

    Associated Project(s): 

    Below is the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Winners for Sustainable Achievements. UIUC was awarded excellence for the following. 

    Excellence Winners in the Renovation/Retrofit Category

    • Excellence in Energy Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Materials Research Laboratory Renovation
    • Excellence in Energy and Water Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab Renovation

    I2SL

    I2SL Recognizes Winners for Sustainable Achievements

    This year, the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) was excited to launch the new Sustainable Laboratory Awards Program to acknowledge leading people, projects, and programs in the sustainable lab community. As part of the new program, I2SL recognized eight buildings or projects for their achievements in new construction, renovation/retrofit, or adaptive reuse.

    Two projects, both submitted in the New Construction category, won Sustainable Laboratory Awards for demonstrating overall sustainability and efficiency:

    • The Universities at Shady Grove Biomedical Sciences & Engineering Education Facility, submitted by Cooper Carry, incorporated many impressive features, including sustainable building materials, waste diversion, air quality management, natural ventilation, and daylighting, resulting in a very low energy use intensity.
    • The new Merck Research Laboratory in South San Francisco, submitted by Jacobs, showcases an integrated design that focuses on indoor air quality and waste reduction, and they maintain building performance with a sustainability dashboard.

    We receive many great applications this year, so to recognize additional teams for their efforts, I2SL awarded a series of awards for buildings and projects that excelled in one particular area.

    Excellence Winners in the New Construction Category

    • Excellence in Decarbonization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Integrative Genomics Building
    • Excellence in Climate Resiliency: Webster University, Interdisciplinary Science Building
    • Excellence in Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Diversion: Wanhua Global Research Center

    Excellence Winners in the Renovation/Retrofit Category

    • Excellence in Energy Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Materials Research Laboratory Renovation

    • Excellence in Energy and Water Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab Renovation

    Excellence Winner in the Adaptive Reuse Category

    • Excellence in Adaptive Reuse: o2h co-work labs

    Winners were recognized on October 18 at the 2022 I2SL Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can find all the winners on our website and check out the Programs and Initiatives winners in an upcoming issue of the Sustainability Scoop. I2SL thanks all the winners for their commitment to sustainable, efficient, and safe laboratories around the world and congratulates them for their achievements!

    I2SL

  5. 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).

     

  6. Post-Challenge Sunday Email - Plastic Reduction Challenge

    Good afternoon,

    Congratulations on completing the Plastic Reduction Challenge!! You should be incredibly proud of yourself for your dedication this past month. We hope this challenge revealed some of your personal waste habits and prompted you to think about actions you can incorporate into your lives (and encourage others, too!) to decrease your personal environmental footprint. Please don’t forget to share what you learned this past month with friends, family, and peers. Keep up the momentum!

    If you have not already, be sure to submit your Week 4 Google Form by Monday, 10/31. As mentioned last week, we will reach out to you one last time on Thursday with some exciting announcements: the raffle winners and statistics on how we did as a group reducing our plastic waste over the past month.

    We hope you continue to keep in touch with us and reach out with any questions or comments; we always love talking about sustainability and would be thrilled to discuss with you further! 

    Thank you, happy almost Halloween, and talk to you on Thursday.

    Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

    Emily Dickett and Jenna Schaefer, iSEE Sustainability Interns 

  7. New iSEE Green Event Certifications

    Congratulations to the Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement for their recent Green Event Certifications! 

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement State of the University, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Chancellor's Medallion Presentation and Reception, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Strategic Planning Summit, Certified October 2022

    Chancellor's Office for Special Events and Commencement Illinois v. Quincy (Exh.) Men’s Basketball, Certified October 2022

    Keep up the great work!

  8. TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series - Campus Sustainability Month 10/26/22

    The October - Campus Sustainability Month TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series event was held on 10/26/22. Lucy Nifong led a thought-provoking and inspiring discussion around the topic of “climate action needs new frontline leadership.” For those that could not make it, I attached her PowerPoint presentation and hope you take the time to watch the TED Talk by Ozawa Bineshi Albert. After our conversations this evening, I feel motivated to keep writing our legislators and lead by example. We all have the power to make a difference! Be sure to check out Lucy’s Op-Ed: Students Must Get out the Vote So We Can Break the “Midterm Curse”!

    Our next TED Talk: Eco-Edition series event will be held on Nov. 15 at 7 PM in celebration of America Recycles Day. Sign up here and I look forward to seeing you there!

     

  9. iSEE, F&S met with GSA representatives

    Associated Project(s): 

    On October 28, Meredith Moore, Colleen Ruhter, Betsy Richardson, and Daphne Hulse met with Bradley Vogel and Matt Adler from GSA. The following was discussed:

    • Introductions
      • Betsy Richardson: works in environmental compliance with Colleen Ruhter. Their work revolves around regulations with EPA and permits. They signed up with GSA in 2019. Garrett Wong presented at the Green Infrastructure Conference, which is how UIUC became connected with GSA. They are trying to roll this out of compliance and into the world of Athletics, where it should be.
      • Colleen Ruhter: Civil engineer, background in stormwater, currently works on sanitary and drinking water projects as of late.
      • Bradley Vogel: Senior Memberships and Events representative. Bradley works with major athletic events to do waste diversion at games.
      • Matt: Works in the corporate and non-profit side of their services (ex: technological resources used to achieve goals).
      • Daphne: newest to the university, Zero Waste Coordinator.
      • Meredith: Sustainability Programs Manager at iSEE. Keen to see Athletics take initiative and want to help them achieve goals.
    • What is athletics currently doing?
      • Are they tracking waste, energy, and water use?
        • UIUC thinks we should be able to track their energy, because they are a campus operation.
        • F&S recently (July 2022) acquired responsibility to take care of the waste at all of their facilities (previously, Athletics contracted with other waste haulers for some facilities).
    • Approach Athletics with a money mindset.
      • How much could they theoretically save in costs by reducing their resource use?
    • Play to Zero platform.
    • Next steps
      • GSA will send UIUC a guide, and we can see about how to track their utilities in the meantime.
      • We should set up another meeting with GSA, especially if we can get Athletic leaders on the call. Keep the conversation going.
  10. Week 4 Check In - Plastic Reduction Challenge

    Good morning!

    We are feeling bittersweet that this is our last week of the Plastic Reduction Challenge. We are so grateful and impressed by each and every one of you for your participation and focus throughout this month’s challenge. There are 184 of you registered for the challenge; together, we make up an amazing community of individuals on our way to living a life with less plastic!

    Our final tip of the challenge is a guide on how to live sustainably beyond the challenge. In a few days, you will no longer have to tally your plastic items or receive emails every week to hold you accountable, reminding you to keep up the hard work. The attached guide contains tips for moving forward. We encourage you to reflect on your own. Did you discover something interesting or helpful? Did you try something new? As always, we’d love to hear and we also hope you share this knowledge with friends, family, and the Waste Reduction @ Illinois Facebook group if you choose.

    As this month-long challenge is coming to an end, we are sure you are all wondering what comes next. We will check in again on Sunday reminding everyone to submit their Week 4 Google Form. After the forms are submitted, we will raffle off three sustainability packs using a random name generator. Your name will be entered one time for each week you participated in the challenge and submitted a form, so be sure to get in your last form this weekend! Next Thursday, 11/3, we will reveal the winners and also include statistics on how we did as a group throughout the challenge.

    We will talk to you again on Sunday - finish strong and have a great rest of the week!

    Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

    Emily Dickett and Jenna Schaefer, iSEE Sustainability Interns

  11. Division of Responsibility Map (Draft for Review)

    Below is an email from Chad Kupferschmid:

    Hello,

     

    I created and attached a “Draft” version map book for Level 2 DOR. Please note the legend at the top of each page contains all of the departments identify by the team and are included in the GIS domain list. The departments that were actually assigned to GIS features in the current draft, I made bold and located them on the left side of the legend. The remainder and current non-assigned departments I left in the Legend for reference during the review process. Once the review is complete and we’ve reached a “Final” status with the map/data, I will leave unassigned departments off the list.

     

    There is a lot to take in with this level of detail so I created an ArcReader version to assist with the review process, use one of the three options below to find and access the map.

     

    Option 1:

    Click the link to Launch the Map directly in ArcReader: J:\10_Transfer\Workgroups\DoR_Infrastructure_Review\ArcReader_DOR_Level_2_Review.pmf

    Note with this option a dialogue will popup asking if you for sure want to open the file, click Open.

     

    Option 2:

    Click the link, to find the map on J-drive then double click the .pmf file to access: J:\10_Transfer\Workgroups\DoR_Infrastructure_Review\

     

    Option 3:

    Manually follow the path on J-drive to get to the map then double click the .pmf file to access: J:\10_Transfer\Workgroups\DoR_Infrastructure_Review

     

    Tips:

     

    1. Hover the cursor over a feature to reveal a popup indicating the following attributes
    • Feature Type
    • Level 1 DOR
    • Level 2 DOR
    • Comments

     

    AY5IvbM6ajWtAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

     

    1. Use the Identify tool s9aT+sPOaOgu8CkaDwGa4mWp8fY0xVVa4mn17kCasN9fu+5ogBeAHDNXPZ21GEtQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==to see a list of the attributes.

    T3+szBySmnAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

     

     

    1. Use Bookmarks to zoom to regions around campus.

     

    zHzjQL8f4sJ8+WcBQvaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

     

     

     

     

    Don’t hesitate to ask me questions if I can assist further.

     

    Thanks,

     

    CHAD KUPFERSCHMID
     

  12. Trash Cleanup 10/19/22 - Data

    The trash pickup on 10/19/22 was a great success, with beautiful weather and a lot of fun, too! We had more than 70 people volunteer, a record turn out. We picked up enough trash to fill an entire dumpster. Most groups helped track and characterize the waste, too. The categories and data are attached.

  13. Trash Cleanup 10/19/22 - Email to participants

    Hello!

    Thank you for attending the Campus Trash Pickup on 10/19! You were among more than 70 volunteers who helped make campus cleaner that day, a record turnout! Additionally, the data you collected about the kind of waste you found helps us characterize University of Illinois’ waste stream, so we can know what outreach we need to carry out in order to decrease waste and litter on campus.

    In just an hour and a half, we collected enough waste to fill an entire dumpster (we had to put overflow trash in blue receptacles, too)! Data highlights include more than 300 plastic straws, cups, and utensils; 225 beverage cans, 35 plastic bags, and countless cigarette butts. This is amazing!

    At the event, many of you had ideas about future trash pickups, such as adding an educational component before or after the event, and more. If you have any ideas and would like help or to collaborate, do not hesitate to reach out to this email! We can’t do this without your help!

    We took a lot of awesome photos from this event, as well. Check out this Box Folder for pictures.

    Looking for more ways to be involved in sustainability?

    Thanks again for joining us during Campus Sustainability Month’s trash clean up. Please let us know if you have any questions or ideas for future events.

    Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

    Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern

  14. Week 4 - Check in meeting

    This week Aparna got in touch with the staff of transit services from Arizona State University to understand their approach to achieving the Gold BFU certification. 

    Sarthak and Aparna also had a quick overview of the materials shared and brainstormed ideas/recommendations to raise awareness in the campus community as well as keep bike thefts in mind. 

    The next steps would be to familiarize with the topic better, collect all the research materials and make notes/highlight the existing implementation, and make comments on these.

  15. 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.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  16. Reasons for Recycling Rate Decrease

    Associated Project(s): 

    The reasons for the putative decrease in recycling rate include the increase in plastic production, flat change in recycling capacity, and China no longer accepting our recyclables. A Time magazine article further suggests that the estimated 9% recycling rate from 2018 was inflated because most of the plastic we sent to China was landfilled or incinerated. Another interesting point: an estimated 30-36% of collected PET is wasted in the recycling process.

     

    The original report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/US-plastics-recycling-rate . Table 2 provides estimates and sources.

  17. 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.

     

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