Green Lunchroom Challenge Webinar Recording: Food Donation for Schools

In case you missed it, the recording and presentation slides from the recent Green Lunchroom Challenge webinar on food donation for schools are now available online at https://www.greenlunchroom.org/archivedWebinars.cfm. Dr. Kathleen Dietrich, Executive Director of Food Bus, Inc. described how that organization assists schools in donating excess food to local pantries and food banks.

 

The Green Lunchroom Challenge is an ISTC project, funded by US EPA Region 5, focused on engaging K-12 schools in IL in food waste reduction and prevention strategies through a voluntary, friendly competition. Interested schools or school districts can sign up at https://www.greenlunchroom.org/, and complete any combination of suggested activities during the Challenge period (Sept. 1, 2015 – April 1, 2016).

 

Though any school or distict in IL can participate, ISTC is particularly interested in recruiting participants from Pulaski, Alexander, Marion, White, and Fayette counties. According to data from the ISBE, over 70 percent of K-12 students in those counties are eligible for assistance through the National School Lunch Program. By preventing and reducing food waste in these areas particularly, and throughout the state, it is hoped the Challenge will not only achieve environmental benefits, but also stretch federal and state assistance and resources through increased efficiency.

 

To learn more about the Challenge, visit www.greenlunchroom.org or contact Joy Scrogum. Watch the Challenge web site’s Upcoming Events page for information on other relevant webinars and events hosted by ISTC or other agencies in the weeks to come.

Tips for a 2015 Waste-Free Holiday

old maps used as wrapping paper on gifts with a little bit of white and red ribbon to finish the look.

Imagine a simple holiday season without a bunch of stuff to clean up in the end. You might think that it can only happen in your dreams, but it is easier than you might think. Take a look at the blog we wrote last year called, “9 Ways to have a Waste Free Holiday.”

 

Are you traveling over the holidays? Whether you are going to Grandma’s or heading south for some warmth and sun, we all like to take our favorite things with us. But, consider this: how much volume will all those one-time-use travel toiletries and bought-on-the-go travel snacks take up in the landfill? Holiday traveling can indeed be waste-free! Check out the “Waste Free Holiday Travel” blog by KathrynH on Second-Hand Tales or “Philippines: a Zero Waste and Plastic Free Holiday” by Erin Rhoads on Rogue Ginger for some helpful zero waste travel tips.

Take a Good Look at the Bad Old Days, and How Science Saved the Future

bttf-30thThe 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) gathered together many of the original leaders of the effort to get a handle on hazardous pollution in the environment.

 

It was a valuable window into the spirit of the times before 1985 that convinced Illinois lawmakers to create a center for research, industry assistance and public information. Thousands had been killed in Bhopal, Love Canal had blighted whole neighborhoods, the Cuyahoga River had burned, and in Illinois, contamination at Waukegan Harbor and Lake Calumet had brought home to citizens the need for scientific evidence about the threats.

 

ISTC took the opportunity to tell this story at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Nov. 9. It was a proud moment for the original players who participated in the event, and for ISTC’s parent Prairie Research Institute, and all of their current researchers who continue to drive sustainable economic development in Illinois. Videos on the presentations will be made available soon at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/news/30anniversaryhome.cfm.

 

Green Lunchroom Challenge Webinar, 11/18: School Food Donation

Are you an IL school or district administrator, nutritionist, educator, or parent interested in food donation as part of your school’s food waste reduction strategy? Join the Green Lunchroom Challenge for a free webinar, Wednesday, November 18, from 3-4 PM to hear Dr. Kathleen Dietrich, Executive Director of Food Bus, Inc. describe how that organization assists schools in donating excess food to local pantries and food banks.

 

The Green Lunchroom Challenge is an ISTC project, funded by US EPA Region 5, focused on engaging K-12 schools in IL in food waste reduction and prevention strategies through a voluntary, friendly competition. Interested schools or school districts can sign up at https://www.greenlunchroom.org/, and complete any combination of suggested activities during the Challenge period (Sept. 1, 2015 – April 1, 2016). Participants earn points for each completed activity, and relative progress will be displayed on an online leaderboard. Resources and guidance will be available on the Challenge website and from ISTC technical assistance staff for each recommended activity. On Earth Day 2016, the school and district with the most points will be declared winners, and will receive public recognition and prizes (to be determined) to foster continuous improvement in food waste reduction. Donating excess food for human consumption is among the suggested Challenge activities.

 

Register for the webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/731005178672176385. Feel free to attend even if your school has not yet signed up for the Challenge, or if you don’t represent a school or school district and are simply interested in learning more about how schools in your area can donate excess food to prevent waste. Webinar participants will be able to ask questions and participate in discussion through the GoToWebinar chat box. If you are unable to attend the webinar live, it will be recorded and posted to the Challenge web site for later viewing. Questions about this webinar, the Green Lunchroom Challenge, or suggestions for future Challenge webinar topics may be addressed to Joy Scrogum.

 

Green Lunchroom Challenge logo

 

 

Sustainable Electronics Campus Consortium Meeting 11/17: Update on Illini Gadget Garage Project

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) is an ISTC project focused on the development and implementation of a more sustainable system for designing, producing, using, and managing electronic devices. Part of SEI is the coordination of a loose group of staff, faculty, and students interested in sustainable electronics research, education, and the host of environmental and social impacts surrounding electronic devices throughout their product life cycles–the UI Sustainable Electronics Campus Consortium. There will be a consortium meeting at ISTC in Champaign from 2:00 to 3:00 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, November 17, to discuss the status of the Illini Gadget Garage project. In particular, the project team wish to discuss ideas for locations around campus for “pop-up” electronics repair clinics, fundraising, and ideas for how to make the Gadget Garage financially self-sustaining beyond its seed funding. This meeting is open to anyone with an interest in the project–you need not have ever attended a consortium meeting before. If you wish to receive consortium emails and meeting announcements in the future, you may sign up for the mailing list at tomorrow’s meeting, or by sending a request to Joy Scrogum.

 

The Illini Gadget Garage is a collaboration of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative, the UI School of Art and Design, and the UI Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and is focused on launching a repair center for student and staff owned electronic devices, with seed funding from the Student Sustainability Committee. This venture is meant to extend the useful life of products while providing experiential learning for students (through associated classes, volunteering, and participation in the iFixit Technical Writing Project), and empowering people to see do-it-yourself repair as a viable option for addressing minor damage and performance issues. The space currently occupied by the Gadget Garage is in need of several renovations to bring it up to compliance with ADA standards, and thus there has been a delay in the project proceeding as planned, open to the entire campus community in a fixed location. While additional funds are sought to complete the renovations, “pop-up” repair clinics will be held at already accessible places across campus. Classes will continue to be held in what will eventually be the fixed location for the Gadget Garage; student volunteers are also working with “test pilots” in the space so they can gain experience with working with the public, checking in patrons, and logging impacts (e.g. number of devices repaired, pounds diverted from the landfill through repair, etc.). Read more about the project and developments on the SEI blog and the SEI web site.

 

Bring your ideas to the table for discussion tomorrow, or just come to listen and learn more about how you can get involved. No RSVP is necessary; this is an informal discussion, and will be held in the Stephen J. Warner conference room. If you’re unable to attend the meeting, but have questions or suggestions, please contact Joy Scrogum.

 

Illini Gadget Garage identifying mark
Identifying mark developed by Lu Lawrence, Amanda Henderson, and Ruchita Mandhre, as part of ARTD 591/391 with Professor William Bullock.

Free Champaign County Electronics Collection Event, Oct. 10

A free countywide residential electronics collection event will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2015 from 8 AM to noon at Parkland College, 2400 W. Bradley Ave., Champaign, IL. The collection will be in Parking Lot M; enter from Duncan Rd.

 
Residents may bring the following electronics items (working or non-working) to the collection event. The limit is 10 items per household.

Computer components:

  • Computers, printers, copiers, monitors*, keyboards, speakers, mice, cables, PDAs
  • Software, CDROM/floppy disks, UPS, tablet computers
  • Computer parts including but not limited to: circuit boards, hard drives, optical drives, power supplies, ribbon cables, RAM
  • Networking equipment, hubs, switches, routers, cables, modems, scanners
  • Ink cartridges

Entertainment:

  • Televisions*, VCRs, radios, stereo equipment, tape recorders, record players, remote controls, MP3 players, compact disc players, e-readers
  • Electronic toys, amplifiers, electronic keyboards
  • Hand-held gaming devices, game consoles, Walkmans, sewing machines
  • Digital cameras, camcorders

Communication Devices and Other Electronics:

  • Cash registers, typewriters, adding machines, calculators
  • Copiers, duplicators, voice recorders
  • Label makers
  • Portable power banks and coin counters
  • Telephones, PBX systems, answering machines, fax machines
  • CB radios, ham radios, cell phones, pagers, Black Berry/Palm Units, GPS units, Bluetooth serial port adapters
  • Rechargeable batteries, battery chargers and adapters, surge strips
  • Video recorders, video monitors, security systems, walkie-talkies

Miscellaneous: cables/cords/wire

 
*not accepted: broken glass cathode-ray-tube televisions or broke glass cathode-ray-tube monitors. For a complete listing of items not accepted, please visit the Champaign County RRR webpage at www.co.champaign.il.us/rrr.

Researcher Spotlight: Shantanu Pai

Shantanu PaiShantanu Pai is an assistant sustainability researcher at ISTC working in the Zero Waste Illinois program, which assists in waste diversion and pollution prevention benefits for Illinois business, industry, and government. He joined ISTC in 2013.

 

Shantanu graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 2013 with a BS in Waste and Soils Resources. During his studies, he served as a research assistant at the Center for Land Use and Planning and at the Center for Waste Education. He also worked with Marathon County, WI, on framing their zero waste plan.

 

His research interests include fate and transport of waste materials through market driven initiatives; the role of affluence and directed public policy in solid waste management; and solid waste industry in the developing world. His passion for these topics is captured in a 2014 Prairie Research Institute lightning talk.

 

Shantanu counts the Solid Waste Characterization and Zero Waste Assistance program at the Forest Preserve of Cook County as his greatest ISTC accomplishment to date. He is also proud of and dedicated to the many ISTC projects that have helped manufacturing facilities across Illinois reduce waste.

 

Connect with Shantanu on Twitter or LinkedIn.

 

Check the ISTC home page periodically for more Researcher Spotlights. Thanks to Lauren Quinn for writing the original profile of Shantanu for the home page!

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

U of I Awarded Second Santucci Greenovation Award for Reducing Solid Waste

RightCycle Award for recycling nitrile glovesThe University of Illinois received its second Greenovation Award July 28 from Kimberly-Clark Corporation for its leading role in supporting the recycling of nitrile gloves in its laboratories, kitchens and housing facilities. One of Kimberly-Clark Professional’s RightCycle program’s top performing partners, the University has recycled a lot of gloves – nearly 3,500 pounds of them through April, 2015.

 

The local recycling program originated with engineers at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and was quickly taken up by the University’s Housing, as well as Facilities and Services Departments. Bart Bartels, technical assistance engineer at ISTC and part of the Center’s Zero Waste Illinois team, is assisting the university with its program.

Cook County Recycling Helps Keep America Beautiful

CookCountyRecyclyingA zero waste audit by ISTC for the Forest Preserves of Cook County led to an expansion of the parks’ recycling capabilities, thanks to a grant from the Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful (KAB) Recycling Bin Grant Program.

 

One of the recommendations from the waste audit was to apply for the KAB grant. The new recycling bins are now used at large special events at the preserve attracting up to 4,000 visitors. More on the Cook County Forest Preserves recycling efforts.