At the PWR SWATeam meeting on Feb. 22nd, the team discussed the current campus paper policy. The team will work on reviewing and improving the paper policy to ensure all departments are meeting standards for recycled paper content and identifying reasons for lack of participation.
At the PWR SWATeam meeting on Feb. 3, the team reviewed the status of the Illini Gadget Garage. It is going very well, and they have hired students to help promote and market the open hours. The team also discussed the proposed recycled-content paper policy. This policy was not approved at the System level, and UI at Chicago is working to implement their own policy for their campus. UIUC can do the same, through an update to the existing policy. Morgan will bring the policy to the next SWATeam meeting for discussion. Morgan also asked about the SWATeam recommendation process and invited team members to send her comments and suggestions. The Chair was selected as Fanxing Liu, with plenty of help from iSEE and the SWATeam Clerk, Meghan Killinger, because Fanxing just joined the team.
This policy proposal was taken to the University Administration SAVPAC committee that decided not to implement it at this time. Associate director for campus sustainability, Ben McCall gave the SWATeam two reasons: 1) the UA representatives thought this should perhaps be handled at the campus level, and 2) they thought the paper purchased on campus was already primarily paper with recycled content.
Ben, Dave Grogan, and Cindy Klein-Benai at the UI Chicago Office of Sustainability are working to provide additional information to the committee, regarding the impact of the proposed policy.
