You are here

Projects Updates for Zero Waste

Pages

  1. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

     

    Hello Pete and Shawn—

    Zero waste activity this past week consisted of some email with the BER student volunteers and the new VWR representative (Jill Ducker) regarding the glove recycling program. I have a phone call scheduled with Jill on Wednesday. In her email, Jill told me that VWR is working directly with some of the campus units on a system where they can ship their gloves for recycling via UPS instead of going through the campus program where people have been having to transport gloves in their personal vehicles. I hope to learn more on Wednesday and have invited Morgan to join if she is able.

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan

  2. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn,

    Zero-waste activities this past week were:

    • Following up with departments participating in the glove recycling program for their lab/room number and PI information. We’re gathering that information for our work with the Division of Research Safety (DRS) to ensure that we have good measures in place to prevent biohazards and dangerous chemicals from entering the recycling stream.
    • Updates to the glove recycling information on the iCAP portal to clean up location information. I also updated the project team information with the name of our new Kimberly-Clark contact (Sara Portillo).
    • Organizing contact, lab/room number, and PI information into spreadsheets for DRS and for the BER student volunteers who will help us identify teaching coordinators in the participating labs.

    I entered 3.3 hours to cover these activities.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  3. PWR013 Zero Waste Coordinator recommendation - Assessment Started

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Zero Waste Recommendations Summary
    Zero Waste

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on September 17, 2018, to discuss and start the assessment of the PWR 013 - Zero Waste Coordinator recommendation. The iWG's draft assessment was:

    "The iWG supports moving forward with hiring a Zero Waste Coordinator, and we would stress that their responsibilities are twofold: educate the campus on recycling, and to push for system changes to improve campus recycling."

    See SWATeam Recommendation PWR013 Zero Waste Coordinator here.

  5. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    It was a quiet week for zero waste. I got a few responses from labs participating in the glove recycling program and had some email with the student volunteers from BER. I plan to wrap up lab contacts this week and report back to Morgan and DRS with as much information as I was able to gather.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  6. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn--

    Zero waste activities for the past week were

    • Morgan White and I had a phone call with Monica Miller of the Division of Research Safety and Shantanu Pai. We are working with her to ensure that labs/facilities participating in the glove recycling program are employing best safety practices to prevent biohazards and dangerous chemicals from entering the recycling stream. I have emails out to participating labs to gather lab names, room numbers, and PI contact information so that we can start assessing any additional instructions, training, or other program components that will support safe practices.
    • With the students back in town for the semester, I re-contacted the Business in Environmental Responsibility (BER) volunteers we spoke with in the spring. They are helping with the glove recycling program. They helped us over the summer by identifying contacts for nonparticipating departments with $2,000 or more in nitrile glove purchases for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2017-2018. I emailed their contact person, Meghna Vijayan, and caught her up on events over the summer, such as the relocation of the trailer at PPSB and our work with the Division of Research Safety. I asked whether they could help identify teaching coordinators in the teaching labs to assist with that work.
    • Morgan agreed with Robert McKim's suggestion that the battery recycling proposal his committee formulated this spring and summer be adopted by the PWR SWATeam. The committee that drafted the proposal is one that he and several other interested faculty members formed (the Campus Committee on Recycling Batteries). He solicited input from me, Morgan, and Joy Scrogum. He will take it to the PWR SWATeam meeting on Sept. 10.

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan

  7. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn,

    • Morgan finalized plans for a glove recycling meeting with the Division of Research Safety to discuss whether training may be needed to prevent gloves that have been in contact with harmful chemicals going into the recycling stream. Our instructions for participating labs note that gloves that such gloves cannot be recycled, but we want to discuss whether further instruction or training should take place. The call is scheduled for Sept. 4.
    • I posted glove recycling statistics that Kimberly-Clark sent us in the spring and back-dated the entry accordingly (April 10, 2018).

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

    Zero Waste Coordinator

  8. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Last week’s zero waste activities were

    • Entering my weekly updates from the past year into the iCAP portal. I had been posting specific activities to specific projects, but the new entries will show a fuller (and more centralized) history of the past year’s discussions, efforts, and challenges.
    • A few emails with Morgan to try to set up a meeting regarding the glove recycling program.

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  10. Information Distributed to Housing Paraprofessionals - August 2018

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    F&S staffed a table at iSEE on Aug. 13, 2018, as part of the Housing Paraprofessionals Amazing Resource Race. Teams of paraprofessionals from the residence halls visited various sites on campus to learn about resources available on campus. When they visited the table at iSEE, each of the 9 teams that came to the site received a blue desk side recycling bin with flyers explaining campus zero waste efforts and several iSEE programs. They heard a brief overview of recycling efforts and got their questions answered.

  11. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Last week’s zero waste activities were

    • Staffing a table at iSEE for the Housing Paraprofessionals Amazing Resource Race. Nine of the 18 teams stopped by to receive information about zero waste efforts on campus. Each team received a blue desk side recycling bin with recycling information fliers. iSEE placed flyers about academic and additional “green” programs in the bins.
    • Sharing photos of our WTS conveyor belt system with interested parties on the CURC list serv. A participant from University of Massachusetts-Amherst sent out a call for photos and information about conveyor belt systems, since they are considering using one. The list does not allow participants to attachments through the list, so I replied that I had photos and sent them to him. Participants from USC, UCLA, City College of San Francisco, and Oklahoma State contacted me individually for the photos.
    • Sent the map showing our new glove trailer location to contacts at departments that participate in the glove recycling program.
    • Recontacted Jordan Powers at Fisher Scientific to try to get the name of the current RightCycle contact person at Kimberly Clark.
    • Reviewed a revised battery recycling program proposal from the Campus Committee on Recycling Batteries, a group of interested faculty members and others, whose efforts Robert McKim has been coordinating. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  12. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Zero-waste activity this past week consisted of 

    • Emails and other preparation for participating in the Parapros Amazing Resource Race tomorrow. I’ll staff a table at iSEE, along with Micah Kenfield and hand out blue desk-side recycling bins with information about the campus recycling programs. Morgan has everything set up, so I’ll pick up the bins at her office in the morning and head over to iSEE to meet with Micah. 
    • I pinged Jordan Powers from Fisher Scientific for the name of the new Right Cycle contact at Kimberly-Clark. I believe the person will have been in the new position for about a week now, so hopefully, they are ready for us to post their contact information on the glove recycling page of the iCAP portal. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  14. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are last week’s updates on zero-waste activities: 

    • The glove recycling program participation web form is now live and posted on the iCAP portal.
    • The glove recycling drop-off instructions have been updated to show the new location of the trailer at PPSB; the new instructions are posted on the iCAP portal.
    • La Casa Cultural Latina is a new glove recycling participating site and has been added to the locations map on the iCAP portal
    • I learned that Jonathan McClintock, who had been our Kimberly-Clark contact, has moved to a different position. Jordan Powers of Fisher Scientific has promised to send me the name of the new contact in a week or so, once the new person is in place at K-C.
    • In response to a request on the CURC LISTSERV, I sent some photos of the conveyor belt system at WTS that Morgan passed along. The LISTSERV message bounced, and I have a note to the moderator to see if they can help get it through.
    • I sent an inquiry to CURC to see whether the results of the spring campus recycling survey are available yet. We participated in the survey. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  15. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    [This past week, there were] just a few emails, including one from the BER student volunteers. I had sent them a spreadsheet showing departments that were not yet participating in the glove recycling program but had $2,000 or more in nitrile glove purchases this year. They identified contacts for each department and will do some outreach when the fall semester begins. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  17. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Zero-waste activities for the past were 

    • Prepared and sent a scope and timeline request to SSC for the zero-waste projects. The request was granted, so we have one more year (through July 31, 2019) to spend the rest of the SSC funding on outdoor dual bins (geNng estimates and using remaining funds for the bins themselves)
    • Drafted a spring 2018 semester report for SSC and sent it to Morgan for review.
    • Investigated bounced email to our Kimberly-Clark contact, Jonathan McClintock. I’m seeing if he still works there and is still our contact for RightCycle. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  18. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    Here are the zero-waste activities for the week: Morgan, Brent Lewis, and I met with Shawn Hopkins of Bigbelly to discuss possibilities for indoor bins. 

    • I responded some emails about styrofoam recycling.
    • I participated in a CURC listserv discussion about conveyor belt sorting systems. I asked Morgan about any pictures, videos, schematics, and data we might be able to share,
    • I drafted a semesterly report and scope-and-timeline change request for the SSC funding to see if they can give us another year and if we can focus the remaining funds on replacing the outdoor bins with dual bins. Morgan has the draft to review. 
    • I responded to an inquiry from La Casa Cultural Latina about participating in the glove recycling program. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  19. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    It was a quiet week this week, so I have no updates on zero-waste activities to report.

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

  20. Weekly Update for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn—

    This past week, I 

    • Fielded email about the styrofoam recycling drop-off at Dart.
    • Updated the Styrecycle page in the iCAP portal.
    • Rescheduled a meeting with Shawn Hopkins of Big Belly, at his request. He, Morgan, Brent, and I will meet next week.
    • Reviewed my records to estimate how much time I’ve spent on bins/source separation, glove recycling, and other zero-waste activities so that Morgan and I can provide the relevant information in the final SSC report. 

    Best regards,
    Marya Ryan
    Zero Waste Coordinator

Pages

Subscribe to