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Project Updates

  1. poster being created

    Associated Project(s): 

    Vince is working on a poster to spread awareness of the Rain Garden volunteer group, planned at Vet Med.  The goal is to have a team of volunteers ready for the spring replanting of the rain garden.

  2. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 

    Hello Pete and Shawn--

    This past week's zero-waste activities were as follows:

    • Kimberly-Clark's new RightCycle representative (Sara Portillo) was in Indianapolis, so we met for coffee to go over emerging changes to the program, which I will discuss with Morgan later today. The biggest one is that we are past the first year of participation where Kimberly-Clark defrays shipping costs, so there will be a charge to ship gloves back to them for recycling. A few departments that are shipping their gloves independently of the F&S collection point at PPSB might be eligible to receive free gloves to offset shipping charges, depending on pre-existing agreements and the volume of material collected.
    • I had a phone meeting with Jill Ducker, the new VWR representative. We discussed the RightCycle program changes and the departments that VWR is working with, including Chemistry and the Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Lab.
    • I updated the participating locations map on the iCAP portal glove recycling page. You may recall that I have been contacting participating units for information on PI names and lab/room numbers for the Division of Research Safety. I learned that the Medical Sciences Building is not a participating location and (through my phone call with Jill) that the Vet Med Diagnostics Lab is.
    • I had emails with Morgan and with Becky Jonas, the PWR SWATeam clerk, regarding content for the team's poster for iSEE.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  3. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Last week was slow. For the first hour now we’re usually seeing fewer and fewer people darken the door. It seems that we’re always busier on the tail end of open hours, from 4-6 more than 2-4.

     

    Last week I began  turning pedals at the warehouse in preparation for the big shipment. Todd from the Bike Project came and helped. He also grabbed scrap this weekend. Thanks, Todd!

    This week I’ll be nailing down the date for the bike shipment with Working Bikes and turning pedals. I’ve done 67 so far, only (roughly) 400 more to go! I’ll reach out to the student staff for some help, which would expedite the process.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 80
    Sales: $746.25
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $390
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $80
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $50

    Thanks!

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager
  4. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, last week was comfortable—both weather-wise and with how busy the shop was. We saw some Build-a-Bikes walk out the door and of note, specifically, was Rafael’s. He’s from Brazil and speaks almost no English. Communication was limited to hand gestures and demonstrating how a bike part is supposed to move or operate. He finished his build on Friday and was so happy to have it done he wanted a photo with the staff.  Not all learning is language-based!

     

    First Visit Free is on a first-come first-serve basis now as we have slowed down enough to be able to accommodate small repairs some of the time.

     

    I spoke with Working Bikes last week. We have a tentative date of 10/16 set for the big shipment. I spent a good hour and a half at the warehouse organizing bikes on Friday. This week and next I’ll schedule more trips out there with Parking to sufficiently prepare for the event. Over 500 bikes will need their pedals removed and handlebars turned. 200 of those will also need their front wheels removed.

     

    Thanks to Todd for picking up scrap over the weekend.

    This week I’ll build bikes and do more warehouse prep.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 114
    Sales: $553.60

    Memberships: 12 for $360
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 18 for $98

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager
  5. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 

     

    Hello Pete and Shawn—

    Zero waste activity this past week consisted of some email with the BER student volunteers and the new VWR representative (Jill Ducker) regarding the glove recycling program. I have a phone call scheduled with Jill on Wednesday. In her email, Jill told me that VWR is working directly with some of the campus units on a system where they can ship their gloves for recycling via UPS instead of going through the campus program where people have been having to transport gloves in their personal vehicles. I hope to learn more on Wednesday and have invited Morgan to join if she is able.

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan

  6. PWR011 SmartWay Union recommendation - Successful

    Executive Director of Facilities & Services, Mohammed Atalla, responded over email to Ximing Cai (iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability) in support of the recommendation:

    "Facilities & Services, in collaboration with Jamie Singson at the Illini Union, will proceed with investigating the recommendation to join the EPA’s SmartWay partnership program.  Morgan will be arranging a webinar/conference call with the representatives from EPA’s SmartWay program and the associated departments on campus per your recommendation.  Then each respective department will determine how to proceed, when the process is clear.  Morgan will provide updates via the iCAP Portal SmartWay project page: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/smartway-transport-partnership."

     

    See the iWG Assessment of PWR011 SmartWay Union here.

    See SWATeam recommendation PWR011 SmartWay Union here.

  7. Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots recommendation - Successful

    Executive Director of Facilities & Services, Mohammed Atalla, responded over email to Ximing Cai (iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability) in support of the recommendation:

    "Facilities & Services will proceed with incorporating Green Stormwater Infrastructure in to the Facility Standards. Brent Lewis is the point person for this effort, and he will add GSI information to each of the relevant standards. This includes but is not limited to the sections on parking lots, transportation, sustainability, and stormwater.

    Thank you very much Morgan for your work to coordinate this activity with Jim and Brent."

     

    See the iWG Assessment of Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots here.

    See SWATeam recommendation Water004 GSI Standards Parking Lots here.

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, last week was steadily busy but with more minor repairs than B-a-Bs which kept things flowing nicely.

     

    New hire Hank started on Friday. Unfortunately, he’s tall so this shop won’t be friendly to him, height-wise. He’s been enthusiastic and willing to learn-as-you-go, which has been good.

    Last week I counted all the bikes in the warehouse. We’ve got approximately 504. Working Bikes is still interested but may be doing a full shipment from down here instead of carting the bikes back to Chicago. That will happen sometime next month, I believe. Details are still being ironed out.

    We also had Light The Night 2018! Barry did the counts but we didn’t sell out at Illinois/Lincoln and did at Alma.  

     

    This week I have a TBP meeting tonight and am teaching a Bike Maintenance 101 class tomorrow night from 7 – 8pm. Other than that, business as usual.

     

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 80
    Sales: $773.20
    Memberships: 14 for $420
    tire/tubes: 10 for $51

    Thanks!

     

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 

    Hi Pete and Shawn,

    Zero-waste activities this past week were:

    • Following up with departments participating in the glove recycling program for their lab/room number and PI information. We’re gathering that information for our work with the Division of Research Safety (DRS) to ensure that we have good measures in place to prevent biohazards and dangerous chemicals from entering the recycling stream.
    • Updates to the glove recycling information on the iCAP portal to clean up location information. I also updated the project team information with the name of our new Kimberly-Clark contact (Sara Portillo).
    • Organizing contact, lab/room number, and PI information into spreadsheets for DRS and for the BER student volunteers who will help us identify teaching coordinators in the participating labs.

    I entered 3.3 hours to cover these activities.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

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