Good morning, Tracy—

Here is what I’ve been up to this past week:

• Morgan and I met with Nick Osborne at the Wounded Vets’ Center last Tuesday to discuss glass recycling. I have a call in to Matt Snyder at CRI and will call him again to get costs, pickup schedules and other information we’ll need to get glass recycling set up at Wounded Vets and about a dozen other locations where it is needed to meet our LEED certification requirements.
• I attended the PWR SWATeam meeting last Wednesday and followed up by putting Meghan Killinger in touch with Ryan Welch and Brent Lewis on an effort to learn the waste pick-up routes on campus. They have also requested information on the status of composting, which I will provide in the coming few days.
• I have email in to Ryan and Brent to clarify what is needed by way of mapping waste bins around campus for the Dual Bin project.
• Jordan Powers from Fisher Scientific has been in touch with me. We are arranging a meeting to include Tanya Lisowski in the coming week or two.
• Morgan and I met for a couple of hours so that she could give me the history of waste reduction and diversion efforts related to glass, styrofoam, compostables and the anaerobic digester, gloves, and batteries.
• I signed up to get information from CURC. I got my F&S badge from Traice Quinn.

Best regards,

Marya Ryan

Zero Waste Coordinator

The new Zero Waste Coordinator started work on March 13.

The SSC funding for Zero Waste Coordination ($64,862) covers four different recycling efforts.

1)      Campus-wide infrastructure, $29,750: Expanding the “Dual bins on the Quad” to north of Green and eastward to Goodwin Avenue, in collaboration with F&S Superintendent of Grounds Ryan Welch.  Ryan’s Grounds workers are mapping the existing bins, as a first step.  All of this funding is for the physical infrastructure (bins and lids, etc.).

2)      Campus-wide education, $1,032: The key message of personal responsibility for waste management needs to be communicated through multiple channels on campus, in order to effect the culture shift that we deeply need on campus.  F&S will create educational materials to explain the recycling options available to the campus community, to reduce confusion.  The funding is based on 8 presentations throughout campus and development of educational materials (which will be used in future years as well).  All materials will thank SSC for their funding support.

3)      Building specific solutions, $30,520: Per the completed Waste Characterization Studies, there are various changes that can be implemented in the studied buildings to improve waste diversion.  These changes need to be approved and implemented in coordination with building occupants, so there is a need for a staff coordinator to work with the individual units.  The funding is based on two weeks of staff time per building, for eight buildings.

4)      Special recyclables expansion $3,560: There are new programs available for interested units on campus to recycle nitrile gloves, styrofoam, alkaline batteries, and glass.  Unfortunately, very few units are aware of these opportunities.  We are requested funding for student employees to reach out directly to potential participants and help them incorporate the applicable programs.

According to the 2010 Illinois Climate Action Plan, the University will exceed the state local food procurement standards by making more than 30 percent of food purchases from local sources (within 100 miles) by 2015. The University will commit to a Zero Waste campus policy by 2012, a large-scale food composting project by 2012, and target an increase in the University’s waste diversion rate to 75 percent by 2020.

On March 18, 2014 was the first E-cyclemania event as part of Recyclemania at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.  57 volunteers from numerous student organizations collaborated with Champaign County Bikes.  E-waste was picked up by bike from several building drop-offs points that included Nugent Hall, Daniels Hall, Sherman Hall, The Cohen Center, Orchard Downs, The Bike Shop, and Bousfield Hall.  That material was transported on bike trailers to collection sites located at Allen Hall, Ikenberry Commons, and the ISTC Building in the research park. The event managed to fill two 26 ft. box trucks with electronics for recycling.  The weight of that material will be recorded in the national RecycleMania database.