Team Clerk Claire Keating met with Zero Waste Team Clerk Nikki Palella and Justin Holding, a member of the engagement team.

The meeting content included brainstorming zero-waste food containers for athletes who participate in meals provided by DIA and Hendrick House.

Meeting also covered updates on Green Sports Alliance recommendation and future contacts.

Below is the link to an email from Geothermal Urbana-Champaign:

https://mailchi.mp/urbanaillinois.us/geopowerhour8-7284589?e=acd6a2962b

From: Leciejewski, Mary leciejewski.8@osu.edu
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2022 12:19 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren dlhulse2@illinois.edu
Cc: Szal, Dominika Patrycja dszal2@illinois.edu
Subject: RE: Scheduling a Waste Management Survey

Hi Daphne,

Pleasure speaking with you last week. I was going to send out an agenda for the Big 10 and Friends meeting on Thursday. Are you still interested in introducing yourself and your project to try to solicit a better response rate? If so, I can put you on the agenda.

Thanks! Mary

Biodiversity Plan intern Gabriel Harper-Hagen is looking for students and student groups to help him develop two iNaturalist surveys for the project. Here is the detailed explanation from Gabe:

The survey will act as a pilot for future surveying around campus and the broader community. We will have two surveys: one focused on animals and one focused on plants. This is because of the different methods of surveying each. The surveys will benefit from as many students that would be interested in this for either one (Or both). The survey will attempt to efficiently gather data about the diversity of plant and animal species found on campus to create a baseline for what is present and to help identify gaps on the campus where diversity may be lacking. If successful, I hope to expand the model to other parts of the community including the park districts to have larger community based BioBlitz seasonally to keep track of the diversity in the area and measure success of the biodiversity plan. 

As far as students can help, we need enough people to survey the area efficiently in a reasonable amount of time. The student groups and individual students would be helping in an initial survey that focuses only on the campus. My thought is that a date will be set for each of the two surveys where the participants can join to go over brief instructions on identifying plants with iNaturalist, adding them to the project, and explaining the purpose of surveying. iNaturalist allows for specific project data to be collected within a region which is then peer reviewed. Ideally, there will be some experts (students or professors if appropriate) that join for each survey to help with logistics and identification. I hope this will not only be a useful database for our campus to utilize, but also a fun learning experience. 

All iCAP students and environmental student groups are encouraged to participate. If interested, please email Gabe (harperh2@illinois.edu) and Resilience iCAP Team clerk Asli Topuzlu (aslit2@illinois.edu). 

All, Slower times here at the Bike Center (in terms of visitors). We’re almost slow enough that we can reinstate the First Visit Free policy. Not quite there, as we’ll have lulls but pick back up again.

It was discovered that the CBC Google Business hours were not updated when we moved to M – F, which explains why we we’ve been so slow on Tues/Thurs. That has since been corrected so we’ll see if that impacts visit numbers this week.

Last week I started sorting bikes at the warehouse for shipment/donation. We’ll be saving even more bikes than usual as we’re critically low on consumable parts like tires.

We managed to rehab a Huffy to an acceptable degree. The frame was in good shape and we piloted a new freewheel system that should hopefully help keep those types of bikes rideable for longer. That bike sold in about 20 minutes. Demand for cheap bikes is evergreen.

This week I’ll do more sorting at the warehouse and coordinating the donation, an interview or two, and otherwise business-as-usual.

The numbers:

Visitors: 78
Sales: $479.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $70
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tires/tubes: 9 for $58

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator

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.

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!

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
 


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. 

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the September 2022 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, totaling 1333.9 Megawatt hours.

The Septmeber 2022 Buyer's Share Report is attached below.

Attached files highlight the boxes that were found at each location where boxes were ogirinally deployed, and their filled status. Based on this survey, a decision will be made regarding the PPE mask recycling program

From: Scrogum, Joy Joann <jscrogum@illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2022 4:18 PM
To: Hulse, Daphne Lauren <dlhulse2@illinois.edu>
Cc: Samaras, Zach <zsamaras@illinois.edu>; Feher, Savannah <sfeher@illinois.edu>; Vogel, Kealie Diann <kdvogel2@illinois.edu>; Varney, Peter W <pvarney@illinois.edu>
Subject: Information available in the "UC Campus Waste Audit" group on Teams

Daphne, thanks for taking the time to speak with our ISTC team this afternoon.

As noted, the previous two UIUC building waste characterization reports (file names "Baseline_Waste_Stream_Characterization_Study_Final_Report" and "Waste characterization phase 2") are in the “Files” section of the “UC Campus Waste Audit” group on teams, so you can see the buildings previously audited and consider whether to include those in the new study for some temporal comparison.

The document “Waste Audit Activity Zone Summary” provides links to our recent work with Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Missouri State University (MSU). When this document was originally added to Teams, the MSU plan had not yet been published, but it was released this month, so I’ve updated the file with a link to that plan. This summary document shows the activity zones defined at each university, the number of representative buildings analyzed within each zone, and refers to the specific pages within each respective plan in which activity zones are discussed. For all three of these campuses, ISTC conducted waste characterizations using the activity zone approach, summarized current waste management practices, and collected feedback from focus groups (we conducted the focus group sessions for Northwestern an UIC, but MSU conducted their own sessions virtually during the pandemic). We then worked with campus personnel to consider the data collected, along with their waste reduction and diversion goals, and formulated recommended strategies to reach those goals as part of waste management plans.

Beyond focus group sessions, in past studies we’ve also collected feedback from conversations during building walkthroughs, as part of more informal conversations, and from surveys like the UIUC building occupant survey (also on Teams). We’re happy to work with you to find the right balance of approaches for your purposes. The questions from the previous building occupant survey, for example, need not be presented as part of a survey this time around. Perhaps those could be among the questions for discussion within in-person focus groups.

Also within the files on Teams is a copy of an email in which I described the activity zone approach and put forth some possible zones for the UIUC campus, along with some campus buildings that might fall within them (including buildings that were part of previous waste characterizations).

So, take some time to consider all of this material, and let me know some days/times that would work for your schedule later in October or early November to work with ISTC on the definition of activity zones, specific buildings to include, and whether/how to incorporate stakeholder engagement in ISTC’s proposal. We look forward to working with you!

Best wishes,

Joy

Joy Scrogum
Assistant Scientist, Sustainability
LEED Green Associate | Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Prairie Research Institute
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC)
Champaign, IL 61820
 

Morgan White suggested that SSC should create a mass mail that goes to faculty and staff asking them to provide the Illinois Green Fund Information ot their students.