Hi Pete and Shawn—

This past week was pre3y quiet with regard to zero-waste efforts. This coming week, I will respond to the CURC survey with information on recycling at U of I and will refocus on cleaning up the glove recycling location information. 

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Ohio State Tailgate: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/collegiate-game-changers-OhioState-case-study.pdf

Penn State Stadium: http://www.natureworksllc.com/Ingeo-in-Use/CaseStudies/Penn-State-Pursuing-Zero-Waste-at-Beaver-Stadium

Hi Pete and Shawn—

I have no significant zero-waste activity to report from the past week, except for some email exchanges related to finding takers for Starbuck’s coffee grounds. Two farms expressed interest, and I need to follow up with Rebecca Seymour at the Union to see what resources there are for delivering grounds to the farms. 

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Pete and Shawn—

My intentions to make progress on zero waste this weekend were scuttled by illness. In the coming week, my focus will be to find community gardens that would like used coffee grounds from Starbucks, update the glove recycling page on the iCAP portal, and work on the SSC report. 

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Pete and Shawn—

This past week, activities were as follows: 

• At Morgan’s request, I contacted Interstate All Battery Center today and learned that they charge $2/pound for alkaline, cordless tool, cell phone, and laptop batteries (nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion). They take any lead acid batteries at no charge (most are purchased by the U of I from them). They accept drop offs, but there is no difference in price between drop off and pick up. Some of the battery types they accept are rechargeable. There is no price difference between single-use and rechargeables. I provided an update to Morgan on this and offered to share it with the PWR SWATeam and other interested parties, as appropriate. 
• Also at Morgan’s request, I contacted Division of Research Safety to find out what they offer by way of battery recycling. They told me that will pick up batteries from those who submit a request for disposal. They will take any battery type, and it must be University property. Rechargeables are recycled through Call2Recycle; alkaline batteries are not recycled. There is no charge to the unit requesting disposal. DRS gets reimbursed by the Office of the Provost through a chemical waste disposal account. Again, I updated Morgan and offered to share the information as appropriate. 
• I contacted Call2Recycle to see whether we might be eligible for their free battery recycling program, but they told me it is available only to municipalities, not to universities. I followed up with a resident of Ashton Woods on her efforts with Housing to have the City of Champaign provide recycling at Ashton Woods so that they can include glass, tin, and more plastics in the collection there. She had already been in touch with Nichole Millage at the city and received confirmation that the City is willing to provide service. I let her know that if it’s just Ashton Woods that switches away from F&S service, there wouldn’t be any substantive issues on our part but that if the whole Housing operation switched over, we would need to talk with them about a transition plan because of the revenue that supports a couple of staff positions.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—

Here are my updates on zero-waste activities from the past week: 

• I updated the information on glass recycling on the iCAP Portal page.
• I drafted instructions for units that would like glass recycling pick-up from Housing; they are with Morgan and Housing for review.
• Although no new changes have been made to the battery recycling program, there was quite a bit of correspondence about it during the past week.
• I participated in some correspondence about the best way to wind down the Styrecycle program and transition to decentralized EPS recycling.
• Anna Barnes notified me the previous week that she has time available to work on glove recycling materials, so I re-sent drafts of content I had developed. 

While I’m on this email, I have a question for you that came up in my work on glass recycling. You told me a while back that campus units can purchase blue desk-side recycling bins through Central Stores. I’ve been trying to reach Marcy Wright at Purchasing to see if the larger indoor bins and outdoor toters/bins should be purchased through iBuy. Do you have information on that question? I tried to get in and look through iBuy catalogs on my own, but I wasn’t able to find a way to do so; I think it may require an iBuy login, which I wouldn’t be eligible for, given that I don’t have any purchasing responsibilities of my own. 

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—

Morgan is reviewing a Styrecycle change-of- program message for our participants that I wrote week before last; she will also give me feedback on the updates I made to the iCAP Portal regarding EPS recycling. There were no new activities for me this past week.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator

Hi Tracy—
Here are the zero-waste activities from the past week: 

• I updated the battery recycling location information on the iCAP portal and sent updated content to Steve Breitweiser for the F&S page.
• I moved content for glove recycling promotional materials forward for Anna to work on.
• I contacted Morgan about a request from a vendor of biodegradable gloves to discuss his product. The VWR representative I spoke with a couple of weeks ago had put him in touch with me. 

Best regards,

Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator