Here's a neat idea for campus to consider, as we continue to look at options for ground cover under solar panels.

All, the major news of last week was the Light The Night event. We installed roughly 870 light sets this year! We completely sold out, which is a first for me in the 4 or so years in which I’ve been involved with this event. With it still being warm out, I hope we can get some valuable feedback from people who’re using the lights in regards to which ones they like, how they’re performing, etc.

Last week was also the Members’ Meeting for the Bike Project wherein it was decided that used tubes will henceforth be free of charge for in-shop repairs. While this will cut into profits, it is a better choice as we do not have the ability to maintain proper quality control with our used tube selection. If a person wants to buy a tube for later use, however, they must still pay for it.

Late Friday I got a message from Working Bikes in regards to coordinating for emptying the Bike Warehouse. They would like to do the event next Monday (October 9th). I will discuss with the Bike Project and decide if this is doable.

The numbers:

Sales (overall): $867.95
Memberships: 12 for $360

Bikes (refurbished): 0
Bikes (Build-a-Bike): 0
Tires/Tubes: 26 for $180

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager

The Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeam kicked off the semester with a discussion of their past and continuing efforts and proposals, their progress in achieving iCAP objectives, and goals for the upcoming year. They also gave recommendations on the creation of a Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan.

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 Transportation SWATeam had it's first meeting of the year. They discussed progress on the Transportation iCAP objectives, the status of related projects and proposals, and their priorities for the year. The team identified the following three areas on which they plan to focus in the coming meetings: 

1. Exploring options for offsetting air travel emissions

2. Pursuing a comprehensive intermodal transit survey (one for students and one for faculty)

3. Assessing the feasibility of various options to reduce emissions from the campus fleet

The next meeting is on October 12th.

Hi SWATeam,

I’m working with two interns, Kate Gardiner and Hursh Hazari, to address the recycled content paper habits on campus.  Hursh did an analysis of the paper purchases by college from FY15, and we are seeking updated data from OBFS.  That is attached in excel here.

Kate is working on putting the policy in the CAM format, and the first stab of that is attached here.

We just got off the phone with one of the F&S folks who orders paper, and she always orders from Office Max in iBuy.  She showed us (shared her screen) how she places the order in office max and got the current pricing for us.  Then she went into iStores from F&s and got the price for 30% recycled content paper.  She said she doesn’t usually go into F&S stores (“iStores”), and it isn’t a punchout in iBuy.  I had thought it was, but we couldn’t find it on the screen (see attached photo).  She couldn’t find the virgin paper pricing in F&S Stores, so we got off the phone and I logged into iStores to get that price. Here are the prices per ream:

Office Max – virgin paper $3.10

Office Max – 30% rec. content $3.55, which is 15% higher

iStores – virgin paper $2.97

iStores – 30% recycled content $3.03, which is 2% higher

Comparing Office Max virgin paper to iStores 30%recycled content paper, users could save 7 cents per ream by switching.  Also, Office Max pricing is based on buying at least 10 reams (or one case), and iStores has that pricing for any quantity, even just one ream.

HOWEVER, it is apparently pretty difficult to use iStores.  Can one of the staff or faculty on your team try to login to iStores and see if you need to get special permission to access it?  I already had access, but that could have been from sometime in my past 20 years on campus.  The logon is at https://my.fs.illinois.edu/fsportal/portal/.

Any and all feedback on the other documents is of course welcome.

Thanks!

Morgan

On September 26, 2017, the Student Sustainability Committee held a full committee meeting. During this meeting, members discussed working group progress, a potential SSC conference, Slack (a communication app), and the Illini Bike Share project.

Hello ALUFS SWATeam members,

Thank you again for your willingness to help our campus achieve the Climate Leadership Commitments.  There is great value provided by the bi-weekly meetings of student, faculty, and staff representatives evaluating our progress and recommending additional actions campus units could take.

The following is a list of current activities I am aware of, and suggestions I have about useful next steps.  I am happy to follow up with you on any of these, as needed.

Thank you very much,

~Morgan

ALUFS

1.      Ag Emissions – During the 2015 iCAP process, we included the goal to reevaluate the emissions from ACES and create a new emissions baseline for south farms.  This effort was not started, but there is still an opportunity to do such an evaluation.  I believe Madhu Khanna and Evan DeLucia would be good resources for this evaluation, and perhaps Ximing could help facilitate it.

2.      Best Management Practices (BMPs) - The previous SWATeam considered dropping the Ag Emissions evaluation objective and adding one to encourage use of Best Management Practices for south farms.  The BMPs are an important aspect for increasing campus sustainability, and the concept should be extended to include land that is leased out to other farmers within the campus boundaries (if any). 

3.      Sustainable Plantings – Brent has made progress on the campus plant lists.  It would be helpful to have a map of existing native planting areas on campus, in GIS format.  We can provide the map of low mow zones as a starting point.

4.      Once there is a map, additional locations can be suggested for pollinator pockets, to support monarch butterflies and other pollinators.  Such locations can also include spaces that would reduce difficulty for the Grounds crew in riding mowers, such as nooks and crannies on campus, as well as steep slope areas.

5.      I suggest you invite Eliana Brown to give an overview of the efforts underway for the Red Oak Rain Garden.

6.      The Campus Master Plan is in final review and will be moving toward Board of Trustee approval.  The website is at https://masterplan-illinois.com/, but I’m not sure if they will have another review draft for the public.

7.      Local Food – great work in Dining!  I’m curious what the current percentage is from FY17.

8.      We need to look at what we are doing for other campus food areas, such as coffee shops and small cafes.  Your team could submit a recommendation about local food for dining in one or more of the non-housing areas.

9.      Soil sequestration – Other than prairies and trees, are there sequestration efforts campus should consider? 

10.  To reduce nitrate in Ag. Runoff, I suggest your team look at applicable recommendations in Nitrate Reduction Plan, and suggest the most promising ones for campus to implement. 

11.  At one point, we considered woody bioreactors in South Farms – see https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/potential-bioreactor-project.  These are still an option, I just didn’t have time to move it forward in 2014.

12.  The Now Mow Zones were renamed Low Mow Zones, and there will be a press release and F&S website update to reflect the locations and benefits.

13.  Brent Lewis can share an update about the use of more electric equipment for Grounds operations.

14.  An updated Tree Inventory has been funded.  Brent is working on getting two quotes, so that the purchase order can proceed and the efforts can be started.

All, The big event for last week was an unruly member who I had to kick out of the shop on Wednesday. Other than that, the week went smoothly.

Lily and I tabled at the Volunteer Fair in the Union on Tuesday. We got a dozen or so signatures (maybe more?) for general volunteer interest in the Campus Bike Center and help with Light The Night.

On Wednesday, I got a count of the bikes that we’ll be donating from the Bike Warehouse to Working Bikes. This year a portion of the bikes will be going to Houston to help with hurricane relief. Tally for the bikes was 332, give or take.  I will be coordinating with Working Bikes and Parking this week to finalize a date.

This week is Light The Night on Tuesday. I will close the shop for the event. The signs for the event were dropped off on Friday.

The numbers:

Visitors: 131
Sales: $1,584.85
Memberships:  24 for $720
Bikes (Build-a-Bikes): 2 for $171
Bikes (Refurbished): 0
Tires/Tubes: 36 for $196

Sincerely,

• Jake Benjamin
  Campus Bike Center Manager