Orange and Blue Go Green

Sustainability Week 2012

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) participated in several events during the 2012 UI Sustainability Week, October 22-26, 2012. The center was one of the stops on the Sustainability Scavenger Hunt. ISTC gave out biodegradable plastic sports bottles at its location in the hunt and has also donated reusable tote bags made from recycled plastic as part of the grand prize for the winners of the hunt.

 

ISTC also was at the Orange & Blue Go Green Sustainability Expo on Thursday, October 25 from 11:00am-2:00pm. The Sustainability Expo was located in the Lobby of the Student Dining & Residential Programs Building (SDRP), 301 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign. ISTC had a table with information on our Center and ways to be more sustainable as well as a few sustainable giveaways.

 

ISTC hosted the award winning documentary Bag it: Is your life too plastic? from 7:00pm-9:00pm on Thursday, October 25. Dr. BK Sharma, Senior Chemist at ISTC gave a 15 minute presentation before the film on how he converts plastic bags, non-recyclable, and not easily recyclable plastic into oil to potentially be used as fuel or lubricants.

 

Award-winning documentary “Bag It” comes to the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is hosting a screening of the  award-winning environmental documentary Bag It at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center located at One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 on October 25, 2012 from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. Click here for a map and directions.

 

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he tries to make sense of our dependence on plastic bags. Although his quest starts out small, Jeb soon learns that the problem extends past landfills to oceans, rivers and ultimately human health.

 

The average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year, for about twelve minutes each. This single-use mentality has led to the formation of a floating island of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Texas.

 

The film explores these issues and identifies how our daily reliance on plastic threatens not only waterways and marine life, but human health, too. Two of the most common plastic additives are endocrine disruptors, which have been shown to link to cancer, diabetes, autism, attention deficit disorder, obesity and infertility.

 

The screening will also include a short talk about ISTC’s research project “Plastics to Oil” in which Dr. B.K. Sharma will discuss how he uses pyrolysis to convert plastic bags into oil. One potential use for the oil is as a substitute for food oils in biolubricants.

 

ISTC recognizes the importance of reducing single-use plastic use for the safety of its community and the environment. Its mission is to be at the forefront of environmental and energy research and innovative technological advances that protect natural resources and reduce wastes.  ISTC imparts this knowledge to the general public, businesses, state agencies, and the scientific community to improve the environment and economic viability of Illinois, the nation, and the world.

 

Screening Date: October 25, 2012

Screening Time: 7:00 to 9:00 P.M.

Screening Location: Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820

Admission:  Free

This event is open to the public.

Champaign County Residential Electronics Collection, Saturday, October 13

Champaign County (IL)  will offer a residential electronics collection event from 8 a.m to noon on Saturday, October 13, 2012. The drop off location is the News-Gazette Distribution Center at 3202 Apollo Drive in Champaign, IL. Click here to view a map of the location, a list of acceptable electronic items being collected, and information on what becomes of the devices that you bring in for recycling (Note: disregard the date on the PDF; the pertinent information is the same for the October 13 event.)

 

Champaign County hosts approximately four of these events a year. If you are unable to go to the event this Saturday, other collection events will be held next year.  Stay tuned for more information.

 

Between collection events, check ISTC’s Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) fact sheet on take back and donation programs for a variety of options on what to do with your unwanted gadgets. You can also always check Earth911.com to find recycling locations near you for a wide variety of items by entering your Zip code.

 

Students: If you are interested in volunteering to assist Champaign County with administering a survey to collection event participants, please contact Courtney Rushforth, 217-384-2302,  for more information. Volunteers would need to arrive at the event site by 7 AM.  This is a great way to get some real world experience with social science research methods, as well as participating in a community outreach activity focused on sustainability and the responsible management of end-of-life electronics. It’s a learning experience and something interesting to list on your resume.

 

If you have any questions regarding the county collection events, call 217-328-3313.

Champaign County Residential Electronics Collection, Saturday, August 4

Champaign County will offer a residential electronics collection event from 8 a.m to noon on Saturday, August 4, 2012. The drop off location is the News-Gazette Distribution Center at 3202 Apollo Drive in Champaign, IL. Click here to view a map of the location, a list of acceptable electronic items being collected, and information on what becomes of the devices that you bring in for recycling.

Champaign County hosts approximately four of these events a year. If you are unable to go to the event this Saturday, another event will be held at the same location, 8 a.m. to noon on October 13, 2012.

Between collection events, check ISTC’s Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) fact sheet on take back and donation programs for a variety of options on what to do with your unwanted gadgets. You can also always check Earth911.com to find recycling locations near you for a wide variety of items by entering your Zip code.

If you have any questions regarding the county collection events, call 217-328-3313.

International e-waste competition underway

Current college/university students and recent graduates have an opportunity to create useful and appealing products from e-waste—computers, printers, cell phones and similar materials that would normally end up in landfills. And their efforts could win them prizes.

The International E-Waste Design Competition (www.ewaste.illinois.edu), allows participants will explore solutions to this problem at the local level and beyond. At the conclusion of last year’s competition, $20,000 in prize money was awarded to six teams and three honorable mentions. Prize money was contributed by corporate sponsors including DELL and Walmart. The prizes for the 2012 competition have yet to be announced. The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) (www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu) and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) (www.istc.illinois.edu) coordinate the competition.

Registration is free and opens September 1, 2012. College students and recent graduates are encouraged to submit their ideas for products or services that prevent e-waste generation through life-cycle considerations (E-Waste Prevention Category). or that incorporate e-waste components into a new and useful item (E-Waste Reuse Category). See the rules posted on the competition web site for complete details regarding eligibility and descriptions of project categories. One entry per person or team is allowed. Students are not allowed to be on more than one team, but students are allowed to submit a project with one team and additionally submit one individual project.

Registration closes November 1, 2012 and winners will be announced in early December as the finale of ISTC’s Sustainability Seminar series for Fall 2012. That series will be focused on sustainable electronics. The awards presentation will also be broadcast as a webinar.

As part of their entry, participants will upload a “video commercial” for their project to YouTube. (See “Registration” on the competition web site for complete entry requirements.) Expert jurors from industry, professional organizations, government agencies, universities and non-profits will award monetary prizes to individuals or teams in each category, for a total of six prizes. Honorary mention awards may be given at the discretion of the judges. Competition sponsors have included leading manufacturers, retailers and professional organizations, and will be listed on the competition site as they are confirmed.

Instructors at colleges, universities and trade schools are encouraged to promote this competition to their students and to consider incorporating entry into course curricula. Various institutions beyond The University of Illinois have done this over the years, particularly with industrial design courses. The competition is open to students from all disciplines. Past entries have been received from students in mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, biomedical engineering, industrial design, and fine and applied arts.

The competition began as a local event on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009. William Bullock, a professor of Industrial Design with the School of Art + Design taught a course on e-waste issues. As part of that class, the students conducted an e-waste collection on campus to gather unused CPUs, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, scanners and cell phones as fodder for design projects. From that, the idea for a local reuse competition was born, and the competition was open to the entire campus. In 2010, the competition expanded to a global scale where applicants were asked to submit ideas online, including videos of their entries. The competition has grown to encompass ideas for waste prevention as well as waste reuse.

E-waste is an important social and environmental issue. The U.S. EPA estimates that Americans currently own nearly 3 billion electronic products and that about two-thirds of the electronic devices removed from service are still in working order. However, only about 15% of this material is recycled while the majority is disposed in landfills.

For more information on entering the competition, incorporating it into courses, or being a sponsor, contact Joy Scrogum, SEI Education Coordinator, jscrogum@illinois.edu or at 217-333-8948. For videos from last year’s competition, see www.ewaste.illinois.edu/.