Kimberly-Clark reported the following waste diversion statistics related to the glove recycling program:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/Illinois Sustainable Technology Center: 3,000 lbs
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/Illinois Chemistry Department: 440 lbs
The time frame was not included in the report. Additional information will be sought.
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."
Krannert Art Museum started participating in the glove recycling program in the fall of 2017. The location was added to the map of participating locations on Feb. 4, 2018.
Project team listed until Dec. 14, 2017:
Replaced Glove Bin Poster.pdf file of the glove bin sign with a newer version sent from Jonathan McClintock. The newer version (UIUC KC RIGHTSYCLE BIN SIGN.pdf) includes a campus logo.
Archived and replaced the following description on Dec. 10, 2017:
In lab buildings, protective gloves can be a major component of the waste stream. For example, at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), plastic gloves were found to be over 8% of their total waste by weight. There is a recycling program for nitrile gloves that can be purchased through Fisher Scientific, for Kimberely-Clark nitrile gloves. This program is being implemented at various locations across campus.
see file
The Student Sustainability Committee funded Local Grains and Locally Processed Foods for Dining Services in October 2017.
This project aims at developing methods that promote locally processed grains for U of I students. This project connects to the Vegetable Crop Farm, FSHN Pilot Plant, and Sustainable Student Farm, offering the final puzzle piece required to offer campus grown grains to UIUC community members. This project will purchase reusable containers to transport grains, and other campus products, between campus farms and campus processing facilities. Moreover, project leaders will analyze both taste and nutrients for Vegetable Crop Farm product.
The SSC funding will go directly towards:
Ximing Cai and Morgan White met with students Sohinee Oswal and Devaki Belwalkar about their food waste reduction app "Dibbs." We discussed the possibility of connecting their efforts with iCAP objectives. They are focused primarily on grocery stores, so the best option for working together is for Dibbs to connect with Dining Services and their convenience stores (Chomps, 57 North, and Penn Station).
Having a resource to transport gloves from the locations where they are used to the centralized collection point (a trailer at the Physical Plant) would help boost participation in the glove recycling program. Staff and volunteer resources are being explored at present.
Content for an informational flier, web page, and signage to cooridnate and promote the Right Cycle program on campus is drafted and being reviewed.
Development of materials for units that want to participate in the campus glove recycling program is under way. The current plan is to provide a web page with information about the program, a web form for units to let F&S know of their participation, and links to signage and other informational materials.
Minutes from the Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeam on May 9, 2016. The meeting covered several topics, and was the last meeting with Bart Bartels in attendance.
HI All,
As you may be aware, I am leaving the University at the end of the month. So I am providing you with a communication document about the Nitrile Glove Recycling Program, just to make sure everyone is on the same page. I am also including all contact information so if there are any questions, you know who to call. Please see the attached.
All the best,
Bart
Here is a copy of the project I created for Jen's class last semester
Enjoy
--
Joseph Edwards
The storage container has arrived, for collecting recyclable gloves from various places on campus. The SWATeam is working on spreading awareness of this program and implementation protocols.
This project is complete. The bins and the process were supposed to return to the pre-project status as of April 15. That means the round bins can be taken away.
Bart (ISTC) talked to Ron (Grounds) about reversing the bins on the Ikenberry project after one week. The project actually started the morning of April 1 so it would be great to have the bin placement reversed on the morning of April 8th. This means moving the traditional bins to the current location of Housing’s recycling station and vice versa. On the morning of April 15th everything can be returned to normal.
A project is planned for March to evaluate a new outdoor recycling station in comparison to existing bins with revised signage. Housing has the station located inside the entrance of Ikenberry Commons. For the project, that station will be placed outside along the North entrance, directly across from the existing bins. After one week, waste audits will be conducted on both stations, the stations will then reversed, and the experiment will run for another week. The project looks to compare the recycling and contamination rates of the two station types. Results will aid in the decision making of future bin purchases.
