You are here

Projects Updates for collection: Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects

  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was ever-so-slightly on the busy side of things. Friday in particular. Alana dropped off shirts (thanks!) so all CBC staff will now have nice new Campus Rec t-shirts. I finished constructing the shelving behind the tool wall so now I need to buy some paint for them. The majority vote on colors is: Pink and yellow. Neither color muted, either. Loud ones.

    Last week I emailed all of the owners of expired build-a-bike tags here at CBC to alert them to their expiration. Two or three have come to update their tags in the last week. This week I’ll cull the remaining abandoned ones and either finish them as Shop Builds or return them to the available stock.

    This week is the Bike Project Members’ Meeting (tonight). The weather is looking to be warmer all week, so I’ll staff accordingly. Hopefully warm weather means selling some bikes. I’ll build bikes, too.

    The numbers:
    Sales: $186
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Visitors: 32

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here’s what I did this past week for the zero-waste effort: 

    • Continued communications with Roger Adams Lab regarding their interest in glove recycling. Continued correspondence with Serenity Desmond at Noyes about lettng RAL drop off gloves there, since it will be difficult for RAL to get them to PPSB.
    • Received a Purchasing report of glove purchases across the campus. Morgan and I intend to use the information to help promote the glove recycling program.
    • Received a report from UIC on outdoor trash and recycling collection costs before and after implementing Big Bellies on the campus. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  4. PWR SWATeam Meeting - 2/5/18

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste SWATeam
    Recycling for the Quad
    Battery Recycling
    Single-Use Battery Recycling
    Recycled-Content Paper Policy in CAM
    SmartWay Transport Partnership

    The PWR SWATeam had their first meeting of the semester, where they discussed several updates related to purchasing, waste, and recycling. The Team discussed concerns about recycling bins on the Main Quad, persistent issues with the purchasing of recycled paper on campus, challenges with a centralized battery recycling program, and the formal adoption of EPEAT standards for electronics on campus. The SWATeam also discussed and provided feedback on a formal recommendation for the expansion of SmartWay to other campus units.

    Attached Files: 

  5. Food Handling info from SSF

    Associated Project(s): 
    Vermicompost
    Food Waste Reduction

    Matt Turino at the Sustainable Student Farm provided this overview of the food waste handling / transportation related to the Vermicompost project.

    "So we only collected Pre-consumer waste from Busey-Evans so only the things that were cut off the usuable parts of vegetables and fruits.  We had special  30 gallon trash cans that only existed in the kitchen of the Busey-Evans so there was almost never other kinds of trash.  If we saw some while handling we would remove it but we did not need to sort it.

    We had no packaging or animal products in the compost.

    We used a pick up truck to transport the containers and we did not have a good way to load these.  We often had to lift 50-90 lb trash containers up into the truck bed, and us not having the correct equipment contributed to it not being a sustainable program for us.  The waste was extremely wet and so something that made it tricky to handle and and to transport.  We were using leaves from U of I landscaping for the Brown material.

    I did not track the cost of our transportation because we would often drop our produce off and pick up the waste on the same trip.  We were driving a pickup truck about 3 miles per trip 2-3 times a week.  We were picking up between 60-100 gallons of food waste per week during the semester. 

    Also we were using a vermi-compost unit which was not the most effective system for this, if you wanted to do a composting set up I would recommend a larger windrow set up."

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was pretty quiet. Made some progress on a construction project: A member came in on Thursday and we affixed the tool pegboard to a more secure structure than just having it hang on the sewage pipes as it was before. Now it’s screwed into some 2x4s that are hung from the ceiling. This in turn actually bumped it back a few inches, providing a smidge more room, something that is always welcome.

    This week that same volunteer will come in on Tuesday morning and we’ll begin construction on some more shelving directly behind the tool wall to facilitate better storage options for new and used parts. I will then paint the new shelves to make them easier to ID and distinguish. Informal poll of staff thus far: 2 votes for pink.

    CBC will be closed tomorrow (Tuesday) for a staff meeting. I’ll put that on the website and Facebook.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 37
    Sales: $182.68
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    (No bike sales)

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Tour FSHN Pilot Plant with SSC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Sustainable Agricultural Food System
    Sustainable Student Farm

    At this year's Explore ACES, join the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and the Food Science & Human Nutrition (FSHN) Pilot Plant for a special SSC tour of the Pilot Plant facility! The plant gives students an experiential opportunity to test new food processing technologies, examine nutritional breakdowns, and contribute to the local food system. This special SSC tour will explore flour milling, tomato sauce processing, hot sauce processing, and more! You'll even get to taste hot sauce with peppers produced at the Sustainable Student Farm. We look forward to seeing you on March 9th at 9:15am, 11:00am, or 1:30pm. Signup here: https://goo.gl/forms/WAtT3klPwxmp8Eaq1

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, still slow here. One of the student staff finished the three-wheeled bike and rode it home. That was easily the highlight of the week. Sale bikes are creeping upward but I’ve been selling a few here and there as well. Hovering around 20 total. I had Evan, a student worker, come in last week and help with shop builds.

    This week I will send out email alerts/reminders to all the current build-a-bikers that their tags are out-of-date. No one has been in to work on their bike since before Winter Break. One or two have come to update their tags but that’s been it. I’ll give them a week to reply and then transition those bikes to shop builds, which should help our stock of for-sale bikes.

    Sales: $455
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $270
    Bikes (b-a-b): 1 for $68
    Visitors for the week: 26

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are my zero-waste coordination updates from this past week: 

    • I met with two students from Business in Environmental Responsibility, a campus RSO. They are interested in volunteering to help with the glove recycling program. Not many of their members have cars, so they are not in a good position to assist with transporting gloves from collection sites to the trailer at PPSB, so we talked about help they might give with identifying locations on campus that use disposable gloves. I will consult with Morgan on whether we might use that information to promote the program more broadly across campus.
    • A lab in RAL is working on becoming a participating location. They are very interested but would like assistance with transporting gloves to PPSB. I will consult with Morgan on whether we have any options for them.
    • I contacted Rebecca Seymour, who manages the campus Starbuck’s locations. She is moving forward with providing used coffee grounds to John McNally, a local farmer who can use them for fertilizer. He had inquired about payment for providing transportation to pick them up, but we don’t have any funds for it. Nonetheless, he and Rebecca are moving forward with the arrangement, starting with the Starbuck’s located in the Illini Union. My contacts with the Sustainable Student Farm and a few other local farmers and the Urbana Park District’s gardening program did not result in any additional interest in the program. One or two contacts indicated that they could use the grounds but would need them to be delivered.
    • I updated the glove recycling page in the iCAP Portal to show that Krannert Art Museum is participating. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  10. Pollinator pocket maps

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Sustainability staff asked Lesley Deem at the Pollinatarium if the proposed pollinator pockets should be within a specific distance of each other, such as every half mile. Ms. Deem replied, “I think if we put them in the best spots available there will be enough coverage. For example, honey bees can fly for a few miles to find food. They use up less of their energy if it is closer but they should be able to find it even it is a mile or two away.”

  12. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was uneventful. Monday was the Bike Project Members’ Meeting which went well. The shop is still predictably slow. I’ve had good, consistent volunteer help this week. Cleaning and organizing is going very well because of them. Tubes are almost completely organized and sized, storage for new parts is coming along as well. Currently for sale are 19 bikes and should be 21 by the end of today.

    Business as usual this week as far as building bikes and organizing.

    Visitors: 30
    Sales: $155
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  15. Final project reports for Fall 2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    CEE 398 Project Based Learning (PBL)
    Sustainability Minor
    Independent Student Projects
    Energy Dashboard Project
    Develop Local Foods Network
    Biomass use on Campus
    Smart Grid for Campus
    Retrocommissioning (RCx)
    Rain Gardens on Campus
    Solar Energy on Campus
    Green Roofs on Campus
    Methane Capture on Campus
    Reduce Foodwaste

    The CEE 398 Project Based Learning and the Sustainability Minor's ENVS 492 Capstone students completed their nine fall 2017 reports.

    There were five projects completed for capstone partners:

    1. Energy Dashboards for Accenture
    2. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Johnson Controls
    3. Food Hub Study for The Land Connection
    4. Sensors and Green Buildings for CERL
    5. Biomass Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for Chip Energy

    There were four other projects completed by CEE students:

    1. Rain Garden Design
    2. Solar and Green Roofs Analysis
    3. Food Waste to Energy
    4. ADA Sidewalk Repair Cost Analysis
    Attached Files: 

  16. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here’s what I have from this past week for zero-waste coordination activities: 

    • Drafted a glove recycling participant form and forwarded it to Morgan and Anna for comment
    • Drafted a glove recycling informational flyer and forwarded it to Morgan and Anna for comment, for information on permissions for using Google satellite images, and for information on F&S/UIUC templates to use for the final format
    • Updated the iCAP Portal map of glove recycling locations to include Krannert Art Museum; posted a project update on the site to document the addition
    • Continued communication with Rebecca Seymour at the campus Starbuck’s
    • Sent Morgan notes from my Jan. 24 call with Carly Rizor at UIC about their experience with Big Belly trash/recycling bins 
    • I replied to a request for a meeting with a student organization (Business in Environmental Responsibility) that would like to help with the glove recycling program. I told them I can have a phone call with them during the week or meet in person over the weekend. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

Pages

Subscribe to