Category: Training/Continuing Education

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Free Green Lunchroom Challenge Kickoff Workshop & Training, Sept. 17

A free kickoff workshop and training for the Green Lunchroom Challenge, a voluntary competition among K-12 schools to improve the sustainability of their food service operations, will be held on Thursday, September 17 in the Stephen J. Warner conference room at ISTC from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The workshop will provide an overview of the Challenge, presentations on relevant tools and programs, discussions of barriers and opportunities related to food waste prevention and reduction in K-12 schools, and a school food service training session presented by Greg Christian, Founder and CEO of Beyond Green Partners, a food service and consulting company focused on nutritional and environmental impacts of school food.

 

Registration for this workshop is limited to 40 participants. Please note that you do NOT need to participate in the workshop in order to participate in the Challenge itself. Interested schools may sign up for the Challenge at any time during the Challenge period (Sept. 1, 2015 – April 1, 2016) at www.greenlunchroom.org.

 

The training presented by Greg Christian will take place during the final two hours of the half-day workshop, and will cover the problem of food waste, multiple barriers to its reduction, front and back of house waste, measurement techniques to identify opportunities for improvement, and a systems approach to waste reduction, drawing on Greg’s personal experiences and methods for maintaining a zero waste kitchen. The two hours of in-person training can be counted by school nutrition/food service professionals as continuing education for the USDA Professional Standards which went into effect on July 1, 2015 (See http://www.isbe.net/nutrition/htmls/snp-prof-stds.htm). Attendees will need to keep track of the training agenda, hours, and proof of attendance. ISTC will have a sign-in sheet at the event and can send you an email afterward confirming your presence at the training.

 

For more information on the workshop and to register online, see www.greenlunchroom.org/?kickoff. Questions may be addressed to Joy Scrogum.

 

The Green Lunchroom Challenge is sponsored by US EPA Region 5.

 

Green Lunchroom Challenge logo

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PCB Expert to Update Legacy and Emerging Issues at A&WMA Union League Club

Dr. Amanda Hughes was a primary presenter at the Prairie Research Institute's scientific workshop on PCBs at the University of Illinois in Chicago in September, 2014.
Dr. Amanda Hughes was a primary presenter at the Prairie Research Institute’s scientific workshop on PCBs at the University of Illinois in Chicago in September, 2014.

Amanda Hughes, one of the star experts at the Prairie Research Institute’s Sept. 17 workshop on “PCBs and Their Impact in Illinois” will be the special guest speaker at the Air & Waste Management Association, Lake Michigan States Section June Environmental Breakfast on Tuesday, June 23.

 

Hughes, of Geosyntec Consultants, will speak on “The Longstanding and Emerging Challenges of Addressing Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) seemed great in their day — a set of durable synthetic molecules prized for their toughness in a variety of industrial uses. When they were found to pose human health risks they were banned, but they are still around.

 

From the Institute’s work, a report was published which can be downloaded HERE.  Panel presentations by Dr. Hughes and others are also available for viewing at the workshop website. There is also an informative Library Guide published by the U of I Libraries HERE.

 

Registration is required for the 8-10 a.m. breakfast and payments ($40 ($20 students)) can be made at the organization’s website. The event is CLE and PDH credit-eligible.

 

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College, University Recyclers Set the Stage for Generation ‘Green’

Multi-bin recycling is a key to zero-waste strategies.
ISTC’s Zero Waste Program is innovating on the University of Illinois campus as a partner of student and administration leadership

College and university administrators going to the Illinois Recycling Association’s (IRA) June workshops for higher education will be inspired by the great ideas included on The Best Colleges dot org website.

ISTC is one of the sponsors of two training workshops for Illinois colleges and universities on planning, audits, analyzing data and other issues. Kennedy-King College will host a workshop for the City College of Chicago from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 10. The deadline to register is June 10. Illinois Central College will be the site of the second workshop from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. (Meet in the morning at nearby Embassy Suites, East Peoria.)  The deadline for that one is June 12. The East Peoria workshop is conveniently scheduled the day before the IRA/ILCSWMA/SWANA Annual Joint Conference. For more information and to register, visit http://www.illinoisrecycles.org/events/2015-conference/pre-conference-college-seminars/.

As far as hip green universities go, we can all envy UC Davis’ commitment to zero-waste, which they plan to achieve by 2020. They have had their version of the U of I’s ‘Dump and Run’ since 1975. Such programs allow students to ‘donate’ good stuff they don’t want to take home and sell it back to other students next semester.

Maine’s College of the Atlantic is another beacon of greenness, where students recycling enterprise is ubiquitous.  It is easy to recycle on campus and reportedly, no pizza crusts ever escape the compost bins.

Here in Illinois, take notes from Loyola University Chicago, which is featured in the latest One Billion Gallon Water Challenge Research Update. Faculty, students and staff there are the focus of experiments to improve water conservation behavior on campus. Their goal is to save up to three million gallons of water a year. They are designing a Resource Tool Kit to share their results with other Illinois colleges and universities.

Talk about student leadership of the green hue, it is hard to beat the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where year’s ago students voted to charge themselves a Sustainability Fee. Since then the Student Sustainability Committee has used the fee to drive green initiatives in many fruitful directions. Read here some recent results of their leadership.

 

 

 

 

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Noon Extension Seminars Explore Planning for Climate Change

GAMEBOARDThe U of I Extension Webinar series begins tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the theme of “Planning for Climate Change.”

 
Don Fullerton, Gutgsell Professor of Finance and Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the U of I, will lead off the series with a discussion of how the “U.S. Clean Power Plan Provides Opportunity for Significant Cuts in Budget Deficits.”

 
The fall ISTC seminar series is now also viewable on-line at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/ sustainability_seminars.cfm dealing with Sustainability Planning and Climate Change.

 
Together they promise a valuable resource for groups and organizations of all sizes to engineer society’s pivot toward a carbon-limited future.

 
Register for tomorrow’s Extension webinar at: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lgien/.
More highlights:
Tuesday, Feb. 17, Edith Makra, The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, “The Greenest Region Compact.”
Tuesday, March 10, Andy Robinson and Todd Rusk, Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, “Case Studies in Municipal Energy Conservation.”
Tuesday, April 14, Eliana Brown and Lisa Merrifield, IL-IN SeaGrant, “Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management.”

ISTC will announce its Spring Semester Sustainability Series shortly.

Previous ISTC sustainability planning webinars are available on-line:

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Upcoming Food Waste Training & Toolkit Piloting Opportunities

Several upcoming training opportunities are available for those interested in zero waste, specifically the reduction of waste in food service operations.

 

The US EPA Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) program will present a webinar on January 15, 2015, entitled “Food Waste Reduction Alliance, a Unique Industry Collaboration.” The webinar will take place from 12:00 to 1:30 PM CST. Online registration is available.

 

As defined by EPA, sustainable materials management (SMM) is “a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire lifecycles. It represents a change in how our society thinks about the use of natural resources and environmental protection. By examining how materials are used throughout their lifecycle, an SMM approach seeks to:

  • Use materials in the most productive way with an emphasis on using less;
  • Reduce toxic chemicals and environmental impacts throughout the material life cycle;
  • Assure we have sufficient resources to meet today’s needs and those of the future.”

The Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) is a collaborative project of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (representing food and beverage companies), the Food Marketing Institute (representing food retailers), and the National Restaurant Association (representing the food service industry), working to reduce food waste generation, increase food donations to the needy, and to divert unavoidable food waste from landfills through recycling.

 

In addition to the webinar overview of the FWRA, there will be a series of free webinars to guide users through the waste assessment and reduction process presented in the Reducing Wasted Food & Packaging Toolkit (available at http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/tools/). All are welcome to participate. The schedule for that series is below. Click on a webinar title to register online.

 

US EPA Region 9 is also inviting food service facilities (restaurants, cafeterias, grocers, and other commercial and institutional kitchens) in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands to pilot the toolkit. Along with the free webinar series, pilot participants are offered one-on-one technical assistance from an EPA team member; the opportunity to participate in peer groups to troubleshoot the tracking process; the chance to present in future EPA webinars; and the ability to jumpstart or enhance participation in the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge. Learn more about the opportunity to pilot the Reducing Wasted Food & Packaging Toolkit at http://go.usa.gov/MuGA.

 

Questions can be directed to Amanda Hong at hong.amanda@epa.gov. Thanks to Amanda for sharing information on these opportunities.

 

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MREA PV 320.03 Solar Training Academy Begins in Normal, January 2015

MREA Solar AcademyThe Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) will be offering its PV 320.03 Solar Training Academy beginning January 17th, in Normal, IL.

 

The MREA Solar Training Academy is a series of weekend classes that will walk students through the photovoltaic (PV) design and installation process. The format of the Solar Training Academy will be MREA’s class progression that will include Basic Photovoltaics, PV Site Assessor, Intermediate PV, PV Design Lab and PV Sales and Finance. Classes will be held one weekend each month beginning in January and concluding in early May. Topics of this training will cover PV equipment selection, utility intertied and battery based systems, batteries, mechanical and electrical integration, PV design, PV residential site assessment, National Electric Code, system commissioning, solar financials. Participation in the Solar Training Academy will also include opportunities to meet with professionals in the solar industry.

 

Upon successful completion of the Solar Training Academy, students will qualify for:

  • Completion of 63 hours of classroom training for North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) PV Installation Professional and NABCEP PV Technical Sales Professional
  • Sit for the NABCEP Entry Level Exam
  • Sit for the MREA PV Site Assessor Exam (To sit for the MREA PV Site Assessor Exam, students will need to complete two practice site assessments outside of class.)

The course instructor is Alex Jarvis, of Solar Systems of Indiana.

Non MREA Member Price = $2,200.00; MREA Member Price = $2,000.00.

 

For complete information, and registration, visit https://www.midwestrenew.org/civicrm/event/info?id=728&reset=1.

 

For more information on training available through MREA, see https://www.midwestrenew.org/training.

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University of Washington Offers Online Green Chemistry Certificate Program

A new certificate program from the University of Washington will help chemists, environmental and sustainability professionals, health and safety professionals and product managers make informed product decisions that take into account sustainability, toxicity and human health concerns. The certificate in Green Chemistry & Chemical Stewardship will be offered through the Professional and Continuing Education program at the University of Washington.

 

There will be three online courses in the certificate, and individuals can sign up for a single course on a space available basis:

 

The online certificate program is intended to give professionals working in chemicals management experience using comparative chemical hazard assessment tools for product selection. The classes will be offered sequentially, beginning in January, 2015, and concluding in August, 2015. Students will complete a capstone project requiring them to evaluate a chemical or product within a sustainability framework.

 

To learn more about the certificate program, see http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/green-chemistry-chemical-stewardship.html.

 

To learn more about green chemistry, see the Green Chemistry Sector Resource on the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) web site.

 

For more sustainability and pollution prevention training opportunities, be sure to check the GLRPPR calendar.

 

Thanks to our colleague, Donna Walden, of the Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN) for sharing information about this training opportunity.