The Energy Conservation and Building Standards SWATeam gathered for the first meeting of the FY2017 on September 12. The team briefly reflected on the progress made thus far (e.g. Zero Net Growth policy was passed in 2015 and a 30% campus-wide energy reduction goal was achieved 3 years early). Updates on current projects were also presented, such as on the new leadership of the Illini Lights Out program. 

From: King, Matt [mailto:King.Matt@epa.gov]
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2017 3:25 PM
Subject: Registration is open for the sixth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge

Greetings,

I’m an Illinois alumni at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I want to make sure my fellow Illini are aware of an environmental design challenge that may be of interest to them. Any assistance you could provide in spreading the word within the U of I communication network would be greatly appreciated.

EPA just launched its sixth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a design competition that is open to colleges and universities across the country. Through Campus RainWorks EPA seeks to engage with students to foster a dialogue about responsible stormwater management, and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices.

Registration for the 2017 Challenge is open from September 1st through the 30th. Student teams must register in order to submit their entries by December 15th. Winners will be announced in the Spring of 2018. Each first-place team will earn a student prize of $2,000 to be divided evenly among student team members and a faculty prize of $3,000 to support green infrastructure research or training. Second-place teams will win $1,000 for student teams and a $2,000 faculty prize.

Water pollution associated with stormwater runoff requires infrastructure solutions that are innovative, resilient, and affordable. Today’s scholars are tomorrow’s design professionals. The Campus RainWorks Challenge will harness their creativity and knowledge to jointly advance the agency’s mission to protect public health and water quality. 

Learn more at:  www.epa.gov/campusrainworks

Thank you for your consideration!

Matt King

U.S. EPA

Office of Water

Green Infrastructure Program

202-564-2871

https://news.yale.edu/2017/09/11/yale-launches-carbon-charge-campus-buildings-and-departments

Updated instructions for battery recycling were sent today so that the F&S page can be updated with current program information.

The "parent" ID number for Call2Recycle should no longer be used. It was used for tracking payment as well as shipping addresses, and continued use could result in battery collection boxes being shipped to the wrong location on campus. Unfortunately, dropping the ID number means that we won't be able to obtain centralized reports of volumes of recycled batteries.

Locations of outdoor trash bins has been completed.

Hi Tracy—

This past week, my zero-waste activities were as follows: 

• I completed mapping where all the outdoor waste bins are. I scanned in the maps, uploaded them to Box.net, and shared the folder with you and Morgan. I also created a spreadsheet with the counts of how many bins are mapped on each sheet and what the totals are.
• I sent updated battery recycling instructions to Steve Breitweiser to post on the F&S page about battery recycling and posted related updates to the project history on the iCAP portal. 
• I had a phone call with Shantanu Pai at ISTC regarding glass recycling and glove recycling.
  • For glass recycling, I told him that for now, Housing is willing to provide pickup service to buildings on campus. He mentioned a couple of alternatives, but they would involve the Waste Transfer Station sorting and storing glass. My understanding is that you don’t have any current plans to have the Waste Transfer Station take on that activity.
  • With regard to glove recycling, Joe Pickowitz could pick up gloves at collection sites and transport them to the trailer at the Physical Plant. However, ISTC would need to charge for his time. I will follow up with you and Morgan about whether that is a possibility and if so, how it would be paid for. 

Best regards,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Marya Ryan surveyed the core campus (north of Pennsylvania Avenue) and counted the existing outdoor recycling bins.

The ALUFS SWATeam had its first meeting of the year, during which the scope of the teams' focus was reviewed. Because of the range of topics, the team decided to narrow down its focus for the year, particularly on the university's farm properties, nitrate sampling, and best management practices.

All, last week was a blur! According to our sign-in data, we had 277 visitors. That seems high but numbers don’t lie. We were pretty much all-stands-full within the first half an hour. Unfortunately that means some members have had to wait for stands to work on their build-a-bikes. Nothing we can do about that, unfortunately.

The numbers:
Sales (overall): $1,867.60

Bikes (refurbished): 1 for $180
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $46
Memberships: 26 for $780
Tires/tubes: 47 for $244

This week sees the beginning of the fix-a-flat class that Lily has shepherded into existence (Thanks, Lily!). I already have told people about that to much positive interest. There also is a community ride happening in the middle of the week that I will attend. I will also help with LTN preparations this week. A couple new student workers are starting this week, too, which will be good.

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

Hi Tracy—

Here’s what I was up to this past week: 

• I’ve come very close to finishing the maps of the trash bins, with just 3 of the 14 sheets left to wrap up next weekend when I’m back in town again.
• I talked to Michael Olinger at Housing. They are willing to pick up glass for recycling from the Wounded Vets Center and other buildings when we are ready. I introduced Michael to Nick Osborne at Wounded Vets via email so that Michael can arrange a site visit. Midwest Fiber is charging $80/ton for glass drop-offs. Michael will consult with Dawn Aubrey about what the expectations would be for cost sharing on the part of buildings that Housing picks up glass from. As we work through setting up Wounded Vets, I am writing up a process for setting up buildings with glass recycling so that it can be replicated as we add more buildings.
• I learned that it’s best if we don’t ask units to use the Call2Recycle site ID when they order battery collection boxes. It could muddy the waters with regard to who is responsible for payment and where the boxes would be shipped. Therefore, the instructions in the iCAP portal are fine as they are. This coming week I will send them to Steve Breitweiser so he can update the F&S page on battery recycling.
• The potential volunteer for transporting gloves from labs to the trailer referred me to Shantanu Pai. Shantanu had to postpone our call this week, so hopefully, I will learn more from him this coming week about who may be willing to help with transportation. I learned that over the summer, Michael Olinger had sent a trailer load of gloves to Kimberly Clark. 

Best regards,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the August 2017 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, see attached file.

Gopal and Morgan reviewed the Big Ten schools in the Green Sports Alliance.  Gopal will find associated scores for the schools that are in that program.  He pulled data for the DIA buildings from the Energy Billing System, and put them into the consolidated format.  He also began reviewing the Green Sports Alliance programs.  During the next month, Gopal will contact the SWATeams to brainstorm potential ways DIA can help acheive the iCAP objectives for their topics.  He will also start a draft word document for the DIA CAP and list recommended actions for each chapter of the iCAP.

All, last week was—according to the visitor numbers—an unprecedentedly busy week. According to our tracker for visitors we had 239 people into the shop last week. I pored over the list of visitors and cut down two duplicate sign-ins from the original 241, but other than that the numbers bear out: we averaged about 50 sign-ins per day. Most must have been those looking for bikes and since we’re sold out, moved on quickly, because the shop never felt unbearably busy.

Sales: Overall: $1,865.70; refurbished bikes: 3 for $440; B-a-Bs: 3 for $199; memberships: 17 for $510; tires/tubes: for 31 for $147.

Yesterday was Quad Day. I think it went very well. We handed out bike registration flyers and successfully registered a few people’s bikes thanks to the iPad Lily brought. I will be interested to see how many people show up for registration stickers this week (hopefully a lot). Most people did not realize it was required to register your bike on campus.

On Friday, Lily, Scott (from Parking), Officer Briggs from UIPD and I had a meeting to discuss theft and removal of abandoned bikes on campus. We will have a follow up meeting at a TBD date to discuss ways to streamline removal of abandoned bikes without advertising that fact to thieves and the like as well as how to better educate students about bike registration and locking technique.

This week I will build bikes, have volunteers count and sort all the Light The Night light sets, and attend the TBP member meeting. I will brainstorm ways to expedite the registration sticker procurement process here at CBC, as last week we had a long line of people who didn’t understand (despite many announcements) that they could do the majority of the registration process on their phones beforehand.

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager