Category: ISTC Impact

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ISTC Technical Assistance Program assists U. of I. campus with waste characterization study

ISTC and F&S staff sorting waste samples.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) Facilities & Services (F&S) Waste Management department recently released the results of a campus building waste characterization and opportunity assessment conducted with assistance from the ISTC Technical Assistance Program (TAP). This project was the latest example of collaboration between the two units on reducing waste and improving sustainable materials management on campus since the development of the original Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP).

Beginning in 2014, shortly after the inception of its Zero Waste Illinois program, TAP conducted its first university campus waste audit in the form of a two-phase project for U. of I., examining the types and amounts of waste generated in eight campus buildings, as well as the availability and location of waste and recycling collection bins. That study also included a survey of building occupants to gauge knowledge of current programs, gaps in service, and overall satisfaction with the campus recycling program. With this data, TAP made recommendations for waste reduction and diversion at the campus and individual building levels. The TAP zero waste team went on to conduct similar waste characterization studies for other institutes of higher learning, industrial clients, local governments, small businesses, and school districts in Illinois and beyond, as well as contributing to statewide systemic change through efforts like the Farm to Food Bank feasibility study and pilot projects. In 2019, TAP assessed indoor solid waste and recycling collection infrastructure for U. of I., leading to the initial deployment of branded three-bin collection stations for waste and recyclables in high-traffic campus locations. F&S continues to deploy those newer three-bin stations as funding permits, as part of ongoing progress toward iCAP zero waste goals.

In the fall of 2021, TAP, F&S, and other campus stakeholders began discussion of a new round of campus building waste audits. Plans were paused until after the hiring of Daphne Hulse, the first full-time U. of I. Zero Waste Coordinator, in fall 2022, to ensure the availability of dedicated staff to address waste audit results and recommendations. A spring 2023 grant from the U. of I. Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) supplemented available F&S funds to secure TAP services for waste audits of eight high-usage facilities in October 2023.  

Due to the size and volume of waste and recycling generated on campus, sorting all material was not feasible. Thus, TAP and F&S used an “activity zone” approach, developed by the TAP zero waste team after their work on the previous U. of I. campus audits. This involved selecting a representative set of buildings classified according to their main functions and services. Waste audit data from those representative buildings was used to formulate recommendations for waste reduction and improving the quantity and quality of collected recyclables. Those recommendations for improvement can then be applied to other buildings that fall within the same activity zone categorization. For this waste audit, activity zones and their respective buildings included:  

  • Academic: Business Instructional Facility (BIF) & Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)
  • Academic + Laboratory: Roger Adams Laboratory (RAL) & Noyes Laboratory
  • Multi-Activity: Illini Union & Activities & Recreation Center (ARC)
  • Student Living: Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls & Allen Residence Hall

TAP conducted walkthroughs of study buildings to assess current conditions and infrastructure, discuss waste and recycling challenges and successes with facility managers and other key personnel, and determine the best method for sample collection during the waste audits. The audits involved the collection of samples from trash (landfill-bound) and recycling streams from each of the selected buildings, which were then hand-sorted by TAP staff and volunteers into pre-determined categories defined in conjunction with F&S waste management staff. Following the waste audits, TAP held four focus group sessions (one per activity zone) to obtain input from campus community members (including students, faculty, and staff). Stakeholder engagement helped to gauge expectations, barriers, and sources of confusion, as well as garner suggestions for ways to reduce waste and improve collection of recyclables for the buildings included in the study. An online form was made available for submission of written feedback from those unable to attend focus group sessions and to allow session participants to submit any additional comments and suggestions. 

In addition to presenting methodologies and findings, the audit report outlines current waste and recycling management practices across campus and within the examined activity zones. This includes detailed descriptions of bin liner color-coding standards and the rationale behind them, procedures at the campus Waste Transfer Station (WTS), process flow diagrams, and a list of processors and destinations for the major categories of collected recyclables. The goal was to create a document that could support F&S’s efforts to educate and engage the campus community in improved waste management and the creation of a zero-waste culture. 

There are long-standing misconceptions about campus waste management practices according to Joy Scrogum, an Assistant Research Scientist with ISTC’s TAP and a member of the campus Zero Waste iCAP team. “When I was an Illinois undergraduate, I would hear people say it didn’t matter if you accidentally put recyclables in campus trash bins because everything would be sorted at the campus Waste Transfer Station. That was frankly decades ago, and I still hear people make that incorrect assertion. Although the U. of I. is an innovative research institution, our Waste Transfer Station is low-tech, with a small crew that hand sorts only a fraction of the materials collected. There’s no cutting-edge equipment using lasers or air currents to extract recyclables, just humans pulling items from certain colored bags that are emptied onto a conveyor belt. It would be physically impossible to hand sort all the waste generated on campus, and most people aren’t even aware of the fact that different colored bin liners are meant to signify different actions at the transfer station. The contents of black bags, for example, aren’t emptied for a hand sort, because that color is supposed to signify waste collected from restrooms or laboratories.” 

Graphic from the audit report illustrating the campus bin liner color-coding standard.

The study uncovered a lack of awareness, confusion, and/or inconsistent compliance regarding the bin liner color-coding standard, suggesting that improved communication and efforts to ease supply chain barriers could result in increased capture of recyclable materials. Observations during building walkthroughs and feedback compiled from stakeholder engagement indicated that greater consistency in collection bin style and signage, along with improvements in communication of proper waste management and recycling procedures to students, faculty, and staff could result in improved collection and reduced contamination of recyclable materials. 

Key findings from the analysis include: 

  • 34 percent of campus waste reviewed was avoidable 
  • 23 percent of all landfill materials were some form of paper towels
  • Recyclable materials made up 13 percent of the total waste stream
  • 17 percent of waste was compostable
  • 18 percent of recyclables were contaminated and therefore unsalvageable
  • Liquids contributed to contaminating 5 percent of all the recycling items sorted
Disposable single-use items, such as these beverage cups, are examples of potentially avoidable waste.

TAP made 39 recommendations for waste reduction and improved management grouped into seven themes (education & outreach, infrastructure, policy, programming, purchasing, research, and retail). Many of the suggestions encourage colleges and departments to look upstream at the source of waste generation to proactively reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

F&S Zero Waste Coordinator Daphne Hulse said, “ISTC’s important and updated insight gives us the ability to turn their work into meaningful results that have an impact across campus. To accomplish our goals, we need to keep looking at how we can all continue to make progress by taking all available actions to properly reduce, reuse, and recycle where we study, work, recreate, and live.” 

A more detailed summary of study findings, along with the full report and executive summary for download, are available on the F&S website at https://fs.illinois.edu/campus-building-waste-characterization-opportunity-assessment/.

Daphne Hulse will also discuss the audit results, the details of campus waste and recycling management, and ongoing zero waste initiatives in an ISTC Sustainability Seminar presentation entitled, “Landfills Are Organized Littering: How the University of Illinois Is Moving Toward Zero Waste.” This hybrid presentation (with in-person and online attendance options), is scheduled for September 11 from 2-3 PM. Learn more and register at https://calendars.illinois.edu/detail/6229/33493027. ISTC Sustainability Seminars are recorded with archives available online within a few weeks of the seminar’s completion. 

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Farm to Food Bank project publishes 2022 year in review report

Friend of the Food Banks signage

As previously reported on the ISTC blog, the Farm to Food Bank program recently developed six case studies highlighting work with farmers during the 2022 growing season. Each case study includes a summary of the project, as well as lessons learned. Pilot project models included food flowing from farm to food bank, farm to food pantry, and utilizing aggregation sites.

Now the program has released “Illinois Farm to Food Bank Program 2022 Year in Review.” This report outlines all the different pilot projects that occurred in 2022 along with key takeaways. It also details central challenges and opportunities that exist in expanding this statewide program. The report was authored by the ISTC Technical Assistance Program (TAP) Zero Waste Program, in collaboration with Steve Ericson of Feeding Illinois.

Learn more about the Farm to Food Bank project on the TAP website and the Feeding Illinois website. You may view the complete list of Farm to Food Bank project publications on IDEALS.

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ISTC Technical Assistance Program launches new webpages

TAP homepage

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (TAP) has a new web presence. You may now find information on TAP at https://go.illinois.edu/techassist.

TAP makes companies and communities more competitive and resilient with sustainable business practices, technologies, and solutions. TAP works at the intersection of industry, science, and government to help organizations achieve profitable, sustainable results.

The new website makes it easier to find information on TAP programs, services, and projects. Visitors can sign up for free site visits or learn about fee-for-service opportunities to engage our sustainability experts. Any Illinois organization, business, manufacturing facility, institute of higher learning, government entity, public utility, or institution may request one free site visit (per location) at no cost to the facility.

General inquiries may be addressed to istc-info@illinois.edu. You may also reach out to specific TAP team members for assistance in their areas of expertise.

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Article on microplastic contamination in karst groundwater systems co-authored by ISTC researchers among journal’s most cited

The University of Illinois-led study included researchers from the Prairie Research Institute. Pictured, from left: Walton R. Kelly, John Scott, Nancy Holm, Wei Zheng and lead author Samuel V. Panno. Photo by Fred Zwicky
The University of Illinois-led study included researchers from the Prairie Research Institute. Pictured, from left: Walton R. Kelly, John Scott, Nancy Holm, Wei Zheng and lead author Samuel V. Panno. Photo by Fred Zwicky

An article co-authored by ISTC’s John Scott, Wei Zheng, and Nancy Holm is among the top cited research in Groundwater.

“Microplastic Contamination in Karst Groundwater Systems” was a collaborative effort of researchers from ISTC, ISWS, and ISGS. Published in 2019, it was the first to report microplastics in fractured limestone aquifers – a groundwater source that accounts for 25 percent of the global drinking water supply.

Read more about the research from the University of Illinois News Bureau.

 

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‘Plastics don’t ever go away’—ISTC scientist John Scott studies impact of microplastics

Discarded disposable masks on sidewalk
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the plastic waste problem with increased use of single-use products like masks.

Plastic products permeate our environment and over time they break down. The microscopic size of particles, how long they last, and what is associated with them raise health concerns.

Although the health effects are still largely uncertain, recent research at the Illinois Sustainability Technology Center (ISTC) has provided some insight into what happens to plastics once they’re used and thrown away.

Microplastics are everywhere: in what we eat, drink, and breathe, according to ISTC senior chemist John Scott. They’re found in surface water, sediments and soils, air and dust, wildlife, and everywhere else scientists look.

“Plastics don’t ever go away, they just break down to smaller and smaller sizes,” Scott said. “They’re always out there. If I analyze something that doesn’t have microplastics in it, I think there’s something wrong.”

Plastics have been mass-produced since the 1950s, with an estimated 8.3 billion metric tons produced globally. Nearly 80 percent of plastic waste ends up in landfills and in the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the plastic waste problem with more shipping and packaging and the worldwide use of single-use products, such as gloves, gowns, and booties.

Since plastics have been engineered to last, the breakdown rates are incredibly long. Nylon fishing line lasts some 600 years, plastic bottles last 400 years, and plastic straws last 200 years.

“A child’s diaper can be around for 400 to 500 years—five to six times the child’s lifespan,” Scott said. “Even if we stopped producing plastics now, because of these legacy products, we would still have a plastic waste problem for many decades.”

What they absorb

Plastics act as sponges, absorbing all kinds of contaminants in the environment. In 2020, Scott and collaborators at the Annis Water Resources Institute submerged samples of different types of plastic for three months in Muskegon Lake in Michigan.

Findings showed that many pollutants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and even pesticides concentrate on these materials at hundreds of times the background levels.

The group also found a group of chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), can stick to microplastics submerged in lake water. PFASs are human-made chemicals used in products such as non-stick cookware, cleaning supplies, and food packaging. Their stability and water and oil resistance are useful for various products, but the PFASs don’t break down readily in the environment or in humans, causing potential adverse health effects.

Scott’s team also tested PFAS adsorption on plastic in the laboratory, without the presence of organic matter such as biofilms. In the laboratory, the amount of PFASs that was absorbed into the microplastics was small (about 25%), yet the lake-exposed samples showed 600 times more PFASs were attached to the microplastics compared with those in the laboratory tests.

“We found only small concentrations of PFASs, but what was interesting was the discovery that they don’t stick to the plastic,” Scott said. “We believe that they stick to a biofilm of organic material that develops over time on the plastic from the lake environment.”

The initial findings are published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. A second paper reporting PFAS in currently in draft.

How to measure them

To understand microplastics and make accurate comparisons of plastic size and concentrations, researchers need to use a standardized method of detection limits. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a method in 2015, which was designed to measure large plastic debris in surface water and on beaches.

The smallest size detected through this process is 300 micrometers, which does not account for microplastics that are small enough to cross biological membranes.

“We needed to push the detection limits to measure smaller microplastics,” Scott said. “If we use the NOAA method, we’ll underestimate the amount of microplastics in a sample.

In 2020, Scott and Lee Green, ISTC chemist, developed a way to count microplastics down to the size of 20 micrometers, sizes that would have been missed by the NOAA standard.

Another challenge was to find a standardized way to report findings. Estimating the number of plastic particles per liter wasn’t accurate because the particles can further break down during the estimation process. Instead, Scott and his team applied a detailed analysis of particle dimensions to estimate its mass.

More study details are available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107799.

What happens to them from the landfill to the treatment plant

Microplastics might be everywhere, but the hotspots are landfills. Plastic breaks down in landfills and becomes more mobile. Leachate, or water and waste from the landfill, is piped to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), which are not designed to handle microplastics.

The sludge produced by WWTPs is commonly used on crop fields since the biosolids are high in nutrients. Once applied, the sludge material—and microplastics—is taken up by plants and runs into surface water and groundwater.

Scott plans a pilot study to examine the feasibility of treating wastewater to remove microplastics that come into plants before sludge is pumped back out into the environment.

Ideally, though, keeping plastics out of the landfills by reducing the amount produced, using fewer single-use plastic products, and better plastic recycling would be the way to go, Scott said.

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Media contact: John Scott, 217-333-8407, zhewang@illinois.edu
news@prairie.illinois.edu

This story originally appeared on the Prairie Research Institute News Blog. View the original story.

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UIC releases Sustainable Materials Management Plan developed with ISTC

Document cover, saying "Sustainable Materials Management Plan," along with the UIC logo and a photo of trash arranged to form the logo.The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) recently released a Sustainable Materials Management Plan, a concrete step in the university’s goal to become a Zero Waste Campus.

During the past academic year, many stakeholders observed current waste management practices and coordinated and conducted a waste characterization study to represent campus-wide activities. Study results and annual material generation data were analyzed and extrapolated, campus focus groups were held to provide input for ideal material management, and the research and recommendations were collated into one comprehensive plan to increase waste diversion and ultimately achieve a zero-waste campus.

UIC partnered with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center’s (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program to conduct the waste audit, engage stakeholders, and spearhead plan development. The plan identifies nearly 100 strategies for waste reduction and diversion and was informed by the results of a November 2019 waste audit, along with insightful input received from students, faculty, staff, and community members.

UIC’s Waste Characterization Study

The waste characterization study included more than 3,300 pounds of trash from 14 buildings and outdoor campus collection bins sorted into 32 Multiple bins and buckets, each containing a different type of waste identified in the waste auditmaterial categories.

The audit team used an activity zone approach to capture waste from buildings by use, such as administrative offices, academic and lab settings, student residence halls, and multi-use spaces.

Landfill and recycling bins from various outdoor areas of campus, such as along internal walking paths, busy urban corridors, and in parking structures, comprised an “On-the-go” activity zone. The study team and an enthusiastic group of student, staff, and faculty volunteers sorted the waste over the course of a wintery week.

UIC’s Sustainable Materials Management Plan

Co-led by ISTC, and UIC’s Office of Planning Sustainability and Project Management (PSPM), a team of staff, faculty, and students from various departments, external partners and industry experts developed the Sustainable Materials Management Plan.

Together team members worked to document and understand current waste management practices and analyzed waste generation. The Plan categorizes campus waste to show what is avoidable, currently recyclable, compostable, potentially recyclable, and non-recoverable.

The data revealed that 33% of the overall waste stream on campus is compostable material, such as food scraps. Nineteen percent of the waste stream is composed of recyclable materials such as paper or plastic bottles. Eighteen percent of the waste stream on campus consists of avoidable materials such as paper towels and disposable beverage cups. Five percent of the waste stream is comprised of potentially recyclable material such as plastic film and gloves that could be diverted through source-separated streams.

The remaining 24% of the waste stream consists of materials that are currently non-recoverable, i.e. items for which recovery end markets or programs do not yet exist, or for which solutions are not yet available at UIC or in surrounding areas. This includes items like single-use equipment and other non-recyclable paper, glass and plastic items.

“Data has been a critical part of our success in reaching almost a 50% recycling rate at UIC over the past decade, even while the number of students on campus has grown by 20%. With the help of data, the recycling program at UIC has vanquished a once prevalent view that Chicago doesn’t recycle. With the report from the ISTC led waste audit, the volume of food scraps, and the presence of currently recyclable materials point to impactful steps we must take in waste reduction, outreach, and education,” stated Joe Iosbaker, UIC’s Recycling Coordinator.

Bar graph showing the percentage of various types of materials present in the UIC waste stream during the November 2019 waste audit

The study team also gathered input from members of the campus community through an online survey and a series of focus groups. Discussions shed light on knowledge, perceptions, and expectations of waste management infrastructure, the overall campus culture surrounding resource recovery, waste-related priorities, and challenges. This feedback from the UIC community was used to develop strategies to increase recycling and waste reduction. Through this multi-layer process, UIC now has a comprehensive roadmap to build from the 47% recycling rate today and prime the conditions for a zero-waste campus by 2050.

“The comprehensive presentation in the Materials Management Plan provided by ISTC gives us a greater understanding of the tasks we have,” Iosbaker asserted. Assistant Vice-Chancellor and Director of Sustainability Cindy Klein-Banai reinforced those sentiments stating, “This study has provided the data and next steps for robust strategies for reaching our Zero Waste Goal within the UIC Climate Commitments. It also demonstrates the need for broad responsibility in developing our program across all units and departments of the university.”

“ISTC’s Zero Waste team acknowledges the great potential of a comprehensive, campus-driven Sustainable Materials Management Plan,” shared April Janssen Mahajan, Sustainability Specialist at ISTC. “We fully embraced the challenges and opportunities this project offered to help UIC reconsider, reimagine and redefine campus waste and materials management in support of the university’s mission to become a Zero Waste Campus.”

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New project uses biochar to absorb excess nutrients from tile drainage

In a new $1 million three-year project, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) researchers will develop a bioreactor and biochar-sorption-channel treatment system to remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from tile drainage water, which will reduce nutrient loss from crop fields to local waterways.

Excess nutrients in surface water contribute to harmful algal blooms that produce toxins and threaten the health of water ecosystems. A variety of treatment techniques have been studied to reduce nutrient losses.

Woodchip bioreactors, which are buried trenches, have proven to be a cost-effective and sustainable solution to reduce nitrate-nitrogen loss from tile-drained crop fields. However, concentrations of ammonium-nitrogen are often elevated after water has flowed through a bioreactor. Also, woodchip bioreactors do not have a significant effect on phosphorus removal.

Principal investigator Wei Zheng and colleagues plan to develop an innovative treatment system by integrating woodchip bioreactor and designer biochar treatment techniques to reduce the losses of both nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients from tile drainage.

Designer biochars are applied in biochar-sorption-channels to capture dissolved phosphorus and ammonium-nitrogen simultaneously. Researchers will seek to produce the most efficient designer biochars by pyrolysis of biomass pretreated with lime sludge.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-funded project will evaluate the new system by conducting a scale-up field study at a commercial corn production farm.

Researchers will also apply the nutrient-captured biochars as a soil amendment and a slow-release fertilizer in fields to improve soil fertility.

The results from this project will help federal and state agencies and farmers evaluate their current nutrient management practices, inform science-based regulatory programs, and offer an innovative, feasible, and cost-effective practice to mitigate the excess nutrient loads to watersheds, prevent and control algal blooms, and improve agricultural sustainability.

Media contact: Wei Zheng, 217-333-7276, weizheng@illinois.edu, news@prairie.illinois.edu

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Technical Assistance Program helps UI Facilities & Services improve recycling collection

History and context

In 2008, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI) signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, becoming part of a network of institutions of higher education committed to campus carbon neutrality by the year 2050. UI developed an Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) as a roadmap to reducing the campus carbon footprint and achieving carbon neutrality. The iCAP identifies relevant goals, objectives, and potential strategies in the following categories: energy conservation and building standards; energy generation, purchasing, and distribution; transportation; water and stormwater; purchasing, waste, and recycling; agriculture, land use, food, and sequestration; carbon offsets; financing; education; outreach; and research.

Cover of 2015 Illinois Climate Action PlanSince the development of the iCAP, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (TAP) has worked with UI Facilities and Services (F&S) on multiple projects to facilitate achievement of a 45% campus waste diversion target by 2020, as part of the overarching campus carbon neutrality efforts. In 2014 and 2015, TAP gathered baseline data on the types and magnitude of waste generated on campus and identified opportunities for waste reduction, diversion, and improvement of material collection. The results of those efforts can be found in the 2014 Baseline Waste Characterization Study and the 2015 Recycling and Waste Reduction Opportunity Assessment. An educational project coincided with the second phase of this waste characterization effort, in which TAP staff guided UI students in the creation of a sculpture crafted from materials from the campus waste stream. The sculpture, along with campus waste characterization data and facts related to waste generation and management in the US, were displayed at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts during Earth Week in 2016, to raise awareness about campus materials management. In 2015, TAP also collaborated with F&S to retrofit existing refuse containers located on the main Quad, creating combined waste and recycling stations in an effort to improve capture of recyclable materials.

TAP has since collaborated with campus Waste Transfer Station (WTS) staff to increase diversion rates across campus, as well as improve the efficiency of current waste management operations. Key components of this collaboration have included the development of a streamlined materials tracking system, as well as analysis of material flows through and from campus buildings to the WTS, to identify opportunities for process improvement.

In 2018, TAP worked with F&S staff to digitize collection truck weight tickets and create a new online tracking portal. The portal, rolled out in December 2018, allows WTS staff to measure, analyze, and report on the material moving through the system. This level of detail can allow targeted modifications to hauling routes, pickup frequency, and collection container deployment to improve capture of specific waste streams, as well as provide data to inform potential outreach efforts and policy changes.

Recent efforts to improve collection of recyclables

In 2019, ISTC and WTS staff began an analysis of collection practices within buildings with the explicit intent to increase the capture of source-separated recyclables. TAP staff shadowed building service staff to identify current practices and opportunities for improvement. The processes for handling waste and recyclables for typical academic and residential buildings were mapped out, including movement of waste materials from the building to dumpsters, and ultimately to the WTS. TAP staff also worked with F&S to document (in terms of current deployment and unused inventory) the number and variety of landfill and recyclable collection bins found in buildings across campus.

Examples of the variety in size, color and signage of older collection bins on campus.
Examples of previous generations of bins and associated signage found on campus.

This information allowed TAP to make various recommendations to UI F&S related to:

  • building construction and renovation standards for recycling space allocation;
  • collection container allocation, placement, and related training for Building Service Workers (BSW);
  • updating collection containers to improve clarity and consistency across campus;
  • improved signage for clarity and consistent messaging;
  • use of bin liners and existing dumpsters to streamline material flows to, and separation at, the WTS; and
  • a campus-wide recycling campaign.

TAP is currently working with F&S on implementation of these recommendations. At the end of 2019, new collection containers were identified which would collocate landfill (trash) bins and bins for the two types of recycling streams on campus—mixed paper and aluminum cans plus bottles. The new collections containers use color-coding to distinguish the different streams—black for landfill, green for the mixed paper stream, and blue for the combined aluminum cans and bottles. Matching directional signage featuring pictures of example materials appropriate for each waste stream attaches to the back of the bins to assist with proper source separation. A URL for more information on campus recycling is also prominent on the bin signs. Images on the container access doors (for emptying the bins) reinforce proper placement of materials. The containers are themselves constructed from at least 1000 recycled plastic milk jugs, reinforcing the importance of not only recycling but  “closing the loop” by using products made from recycled materials.

New collection bin station with sections for landfill, mixed paper, and aluminum cans plus bottles
New collection containers being deployed on UI campus.

105 containers have been deployed over 30 buildings, beginning primarily in first-floor hallways. Additional containers are being obtained and deployed to locations keeping factors such as building occupancy and status of currently existing collection infrastructure in mind. F&S sees the deployment of the new containers as a key factor in raising awareness of recycling opportunities and processes on campus, as well as combating persistent misconceptions about campus recycling practices.

The new collection containers and implementation of other recommendations made by ISTC’s TAP not only foster achievement of campus iCAP goals but also relate to the recently released F&S Strategic Plan 2019-2023, which includes key performance indicators for diverting waste from landfill in its “Lead in Energy Management and Sustainability” section.

For further information

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Biochar project set to improve ag sustainability

A newly developed system in the lab could become a boon for farmers in the field. Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) scientist Wei Zheng and colleagues are creating a designer carbon-based biochar that captures phosphorus from tile drain runoff water and recycles it in soils to improve crop growth.

Zheng hypothesizes that this is a win-win strategy that will lead to increased crop yields and less nutrient runoff into water from agricultural fields.

Fertilizer phosphorus applied for plant growth tends to dissolve and leach out through field tile lines, so it promotes algae growth in nearby waterways. Harmful algal blooms (HAB) appear in lakes in the summer and die off once the growing season ends, contributing to oxygen-depleted waters, which result in fish kills and other adverse effects on aquatic life.

The yearly HAB prompted development of Illinois’ Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, which aims to reduce phosphorus in Illinois waters by 25 percent by 2025.

A sustainable, novel approach

Zheng and his colleagues at the University of Illinois (U of I), the Illinois Farm Bureau, and other groups believe their strategy will address this problem. By installing a bioreactor in the field with a biochar-sorption filter, water that runs through the tile system is filtered to remove nutrients before it reaches lakes and streams.

The filter holds biochar—a biomass product that looks like charcoal and is made mostly of carbon with high calcium and magnesium—which traps fertilizer nutrients. The biomass is made into small pellets that won’t block water flow.

In the lab, Zheng is studying different types of designer biochars made from sawdust, grasses, or crop residue pretreated with lime sludge, for example, to find the one that is the most effective in capturing phosphorus.

“We have generated some designer biochars that have extremely high capacities for holding dissolved phosphorus,” Zheng said. “Our previous studies have shown that biochar can not only strongly adsorb nutrients such as phosphorus, but also has a high sorption capacity for other contaminants, such as pesticides and antibiotics.”

This year, Zheng and his collaborators will scale up their technology to develop a bioreactor and biochar-sorption-channel system for a field trial on a commercial farm in Fulton County. In the second year of the project, the team will establish a bioreactor system that is able to treat drainage water received from a 12-acre field. Water testing will confirm how successful the system is at reducing phosphorous runoff.

An additional part of the project, also slated for next year, is to remove biochar pellets from the channel after fertilizer season and apply the phosphorus-captured biochars to the fields where they will slowly release phosphorus and other nutrients into the soil. As a result, producers can keep fertilizer costs down and increase crop yields when applying the biochar pellets at optimal times in the growing season.

“The goal in adopting this technique is to keep applied phosphorus in the agricultural loop and prevent it from leaching into waterways,” Zheng said.

Benefits of a research team-organization collaboration

Wei Zheng demonstrates his bioreactor at Fulton County Field Day in July 2019.
Wei Zheng demonstrates his bioreactor to local farmers at Fulton County Field Day in July 2019.

Illinois Farm Bureau is involved in this project at the state and Fulton County level to foster interactions between farmers and U of I researchers. Their participation helps to ensure that the research is focused on applicable, realistic practices for Illinois farmers, according to Lauren Lurkins of the Illinois Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau helps identify producers who are willing to participate in research and in funding and outreach opportunities, such as field days.

“Research including Wei’s can help to add practices to or update the science behind existing practices in the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy,” Lurkins said. “PRI has a lot of researchers and resources that our farmers utilize. They cover everything from groundwater for rural area consumption to weather monitoring, which are all important to agriculture.”

Results from the project are expected in 2023. It is funded by the Illinois Nutrient Research & Education Council.

In late 2019, Zheng was appointed Vice Leader of the American Society of Agronomy’s Biochar Committee for his research in various projects on biochar. Several project descriptions are available, including: Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Sustainable Agriculture,  Sorption Properties of Greenwaste Biochar for Two Triazine Pesticides, and Carbon Sequestration Using Biochar.

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Media contacts: Wei Zheng, 217-333-7276, weizheng@illinois.edu; Lauren Lurkins, llurkins@ilfb.org; Prairie Research Institute Communications Team, news@prairie.illinois.edu

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ISTC researcher demonstrates nutrient reduction project at Fulton County Field Day

On July 16, farmers and researchers came together at Fulton County Field Day. The event allowed researchers to showcase peer-reviewed applied science and demonstrate to working farmers that these conservation practices work. Individual farmers could then take aspects of what they learned and apply it in on their land.

ISTC researcher Wei Zheng demonstrated the system he has developed  for using biochar to recycle nutrients from tile drainage systems. The project is funded through a grant from the Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council (NREC).

The event was hosted by the Illinois Farm Bureau, Fulton County Farm Bureau, Illinois Nutrient Research & Education Council, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Prairie Research Institute and University of Illinois Extension. Read more about the event in FarmWeek.