The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) has listed its policies for sustainably purchasing, using, and managing IT equipment at the end of its life. These policies, which include ideas adapted from both campus and beyond, are in the attached file.
At ISTC computers are required to be at least EPEAT Bronze rated.
There is mention of EPEAT Bronze in the legislation at the State level—see http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=041501500K65. Note that the phrasing in this is a little odd because some of the products mentioned (e.g. mice, VCRs, etc. ) aren’t part of the EPEAT registry. But since a wide variety of people (i.e. people who are not campus procurement personnel) may purchase equipment, office supplies, etc., and not be aware of what EPEAT is, let alone that the state has expectations related to it, it’s perfectly possible that there are researchers or IT professionals who are buying items for University use with little thought about EPEAT.
Procurement would have to confirm whether or not non-EPEAT related computers, laptops or tablets were available from vendors in UI punchouts in iBuy.
The old CRT TV’s and CRT monitors are routinely sent to the Surplus warehouses for disposal. The University utilizes the State of Illinois contracted e-waste recyclers and items are sent directly vs. sent to Springfield. FYI – starting October 1, 2016, the State and their e-waste recyclers started charging the University for the e-waste of CRT TV’s and CRT monitors. But, based on a review of alternative paths for these e-waste items, the State e-waste recyclers continue to be the most cost-effective means of disposal of these items at this time. UIUC can and should continue to let units know those CRT’s should be sent to surplus for processing using the standard equipment disposal request process through FABweb.
Because there is no longer a market for the leaded CRT glass, it’s very difficult for collectors and recyclers to sell all of the components of CRTs at this point, so fewer and fewer companies are willing to take them. See the Champaign County Electronics Recycling Guide at http://www.urbanaillinois.us/sites/default/files/attachments/Brochure_Electronics%20Recycling%20Reuse%20Options_113016.pdf. Goodwill accepts CRTs from residents, but there’s no reason to take them there when they can be processed through the electronics recycling system the university has in place; that way they can also be easily/efficiently counted as part of the total amount of electronics that the university is recycling.
Fully functional microwaves will be sent to Surplus as well, while the broken microwaves will be sent to Twin-City Recycling after the Surplus Coordinator issues a scrap ticket to the unit, after the unit has submitted a disposal request through Fabweb.
Colleagues, I wanted to remind you of the upcoming webinar, Tuesday, November 18 from 2-3 pm providing an overview of the State Electronics Challenge (SEC). Register at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/414238999. See the forwarded invitation below for further details.
I’ve mentioned this free, voluntary program for public entities and non-profits at previous UI Sustainable Electronics Campus Consortium meetings, and the benefits of participation. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to attend the webinar, and in the meantime, visit http://www.stateelectronicschallenge.net/. ISTC is a SEC partner, as is Engineering IT Shared Services. Currently there are only seven organizations within IL taking advantage of this program. I’d love to see that number grow!
The webinar will be archived and available for later viewing at www.glrppr.org if you are unable to attend.
Best wishes,
Joy
Joy Scrogum
Emerging Technologies Resource Specialist
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC; www.istc.illinois.edu)
Coordinator, Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI; www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu)
Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR; www.glrppr.org)
ISTC is a Division of the Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
217-333-8948; 1 Hazelwood Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; MC-676
University Housing and Facilities & Services are collaborating to facilitate an e-waste collection day as part of Recyclemania, a national competition to change behavior and reduce waste. The event is tentatively scheduled for March 18th. All electronics will be accepted free of charge. Locations and hours of operation will be announced in the next couple weeks. To volunteer please email Bart Bartels at bbartel@illinois.edu.
Options are being discussed for recycling e-waste. Possibilities include a single day event in March or a collection during move-out. More to come.
Hello sustainable electronics enthusiasts! Thanks to those of you who came to ISTC yesterday for the preliminary group meeting. It’s both inspiring and somewhat daunting to consider the breadth of activities across campus that relate to sustainable electronics in some way, and the number of paths we could pursue to bring about positive change within our University. I’m confident that if we focus our attentions, as discussed yesterday, on topics that smaller groups can meet about and pursue, while also coming together as a larger group periodically to share ideas and insights, we’ll accomplish wonderful things and strengthen the ever growing “culture of sustainability” on campus.
ISTC, through its Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI), will continue to coordinate meeting arrangements and information sharing among the smaller subgroups (research, education, and operations for now, though those names and themes are subject to change). I’ve set up a page on the SEI web site for this campus consortium—see http://www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu/services/campusconsortium.cfm. Through this page we can share meeting minutes, scheduling details, and relevant documents for the subgroups and broader consortium, in one place.
Some of the attendees at yesterday’s meeting expressed interest in having a list of contact information for those who came or had planned to come. I can compile a list of attendee names, email addresses, departments/affiliations, and phone numbers to distribute. If you would prefer not to share your contact info, let me know by October 9.
I’ll be in touch with a few of you directly in the near future to discuss possible presentations for small group meetings. Everyone should watch their email inboxes for notes and Doodles related to subgroup meetings around the topics of research, education, and operations/policy. When meeting dates and times are established, I’ll post those to the web page and send everyone an email notice. We’ll tentatively plan to make the SJW conference room at ISTC available for those initial small group meetings.
If you have colleagues or students who you think should be involved in these efforts, please direct them to the web page listed above or have them contact me to be added to the mailing list. If you are receiving these messages but would like to be removed from the mailing list, just email me to let me know.
Best wishes,
Joy
Joy Scrogum, M.S.
Emerging Technologies Resource Specialist
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC; www.istc.illinois.edu)
A division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Co-Coordinator, Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI; www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu)
International Sustainable Electronics Competition (www.ewaste.illinois.edu)
Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR; www.glrppr.org)
GLRPPR is a member of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx; www.p2rx.org)
217-333-8948
