Category: Webinars

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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

 

 

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ISTC hosts Events on Environmental Effects of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products

As P2 Week kicks off this week, we are reminded of the important legislation of the past that has helped achieve cleaner waters in the U.S.; however, there is still work to be done. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 in response to the growing awareness that raw sewage, industrial wastes, and other pollutants were regularly being dumped into waterways. The goal of the Clean Water Act was to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our nation’s waters.” The law called for “zero discharge of pollutants into navigable waters” and water quality was to be improved so waters were both fishable and swimmable again. Progress has been made, but even after more than 40 years, water pollution is still a problem in many areas of the U.S. with excess nutrient runoff, mine drainage, oil or chemical spills, overflow of sewage during high rain events, etc.

 

In the past 10 years, the widespread occurrence of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and steroid hormones, in waterways has been recognized as a critical environmental issue. To learn more about new research in that area and to provide opportunities for collaborations, ISTC is arranging a meeting on Thurs., Sept. 24 from 11 a.m.- noon for U of I faculty and staff from campus units studying PPCPs to discuss their projects. At noon, Dr. Wei Zheng from ISTC will present a talk on his PPCP research work. The talk will be broadcast live and also archived on the ISTC website. To register for the Sept. 24th webinar, visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6647723536738560514.

 

In addition, on April 4, 2016, ISTC is organizing a conference, along with IL-IN Sea Grant and funded by the U of I Extension, titled ”PPCPs in the Environment”. The event will be held at the I-Hotel Conference Center in Champaign. The call for abstracts will be announced in December. More information on the conference will be available on the ISTC website at that time.

 

 

 

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Sustainability Seminar Series Fall 2015: Water Quality & Water Conservation

The ISTC Sustainability Seminar series continues this fall with the theme “Water Quality and Water Conservation.” The series kicks off with a talk by Walt Kelly of the Illinois State Water Survey titled “State & Regional Water Supply Planning in Illinois” on Sept. 10, 2015, from noon to 1 pm (abstract below). For more details on these seminars, please visit ISTC’s event calendar. To be added to the seminar and events email list or to receive links to the live broadcasts of the seminars, please contact Beth Meschewski at elm2@illinois.edu.

 

State & Regional Water Supply Planning in Illinois

Presented by Walt Kelly – Illinois State Water Survey on Sept. 10

In 2006, Executive Order 2006-01 called for the development of state and regional water supply planning under the direction of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Illinois has been divided into 10 regions for water supply planning. For each region, a regional water supply planning committee (RWSPC) is formed, comprised of members from major stakeholder groups (e.g., agriculture, industry, mining, environmental, municipal, etc.). The State Water and Geological Surveys are responsible for scientific studies of Illinois’ water resources, working closely with the RWSPCs to optimize planning efforts. Plans have been developed for three regions (Northeast Illinois, East-Central Illinois, and the Kaskaskia River Basin). In 2014, funding was made available to start planning in two new regions (Middle Illinois River Basin and Northwest Illinois) and a sub-region (Kankakee River Basin). In this presentation, I will discuss past, current, and future water supply planning activities in Illinois, focusing on scientific work being done at the Water Survey.

 

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Superfund Webinar to Cover New Remediation Approaches for PCBs, TCE, Phthalates

The Superfund Research Program (SRP) will present a webinar “TCE, PCBs, and Phthalates – Exposure, Mechanisms of Disease, and Clean-Up Remedies” from noon-2 p.m. CST Monday, Aug. 24.

 

The webinar is part of SRP’s Progress in Research webinar series which highlights promising research from two SRP Centers.

 

Researchers at the Northeastern University SRP Center are studying chlorinated solvents and phthalates, contaminants that could be linked to high preterm birthrates in Puerto Rico.

 

The University of Kentucky SRP Center explores how nutrition and exercise might offer protection from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) toxicity and are developing new sustainable remediation approaches using nanotechnology.

 

“An Updated Look at PCBs” was recently published by the Prairie Research Institute, stemming from a scientific workshop held on Sept. 17, 2014.

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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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PCBs are “Permabanned” from Clinton Landfill

Caution sign: PCBs - a toxic environmental contaminant requireing special handeling and disposal in accordance with the USEPA In the gaming world, a player caught cheating, using derogatory language, or other equally bad behavior will be “permabanned” or permanently banned from using the site where the bad behavior occurred. Well, that is exactly what the DeWitt count board did with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and MGP (manufactured-gas-plant) wastes. On April 23, 2015, the DeWitt county board voted to approve a settlement agreement with the owners of Clinton Landfill (near Clinton, IL) that keeps PCBs and MGP wastes out of the landfill. This ends a 7-year dispute between the landfill owners and groups opposed to PCB disposal there. Two articles from The News-Gazette sum up the happenings before and after the board vote.

 

Before the ban on PCBs and MGP wastes in the landfill, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) hosted a one day workshop on “PCBs and their Impact in Illinois” to assess PCB disposal problems and solutions. Find out more about PCBs and watch the videos from the workshop.

 

In addition to the workshop, the Prairie Research Institute recently produced a document on PCBs titled, “An Updated Look at PCBs,” which contains a summary and recommendations about PCB disposal, a review of how PCBs are a persistent pollutant, and a literature review of remediation technologies for PCBs and manufactured-gas-plant wastes.

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Sustainability Series Explores Recent Trends in Reuse and Recycling

30yearISTC-Seminar-Spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISTC’s Spring Sustainability Series, commemorating the Center’s 30th anniversary year, deals with new developments in the original green practice, practiced for thousands of years, recycling.

 

The series opens at noon, Thursday, Feb. 12 and continues for four more Thursday noon hours through the semester. The live presentations will take place at 1 E. Hazelwood Dr. in Champaign, IL. Each will also be available by webcast at the listed websites.

 

Feb. 12, “How Sustainable is Information Technology? Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities,” Eric Masanet, Morris E. Fine Junior Professor in Materials and Manufacturing and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7017258394988082434

 

March 12, “Building a Local Circular Economy in Chicago,” John Mulrow – Interim Executive Director, Plant Chicago. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3276792405148335106

 

April 2, “Bioprocessing of Microbial Biomass: Enabling Sustainable Zero-Discharge Seafood Production,” David E. Brune, Professor of Bioprocess and Bioenergy Engineering, Division of Food Sciences and Bioengineering, University of Missouri at Columbia. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/502302355428424705

 

April 9, “Rubbery Shrubbery: Should We Use Rubber Mulch in Our Landscapes?” Linda Chalker-Scott, Extension Horticulturist, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3502265956143542273

 

April 30, “Zero Waste Illinois,” Shantanu Pai, Waste Research Specialist, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7792068845789351938

 

Following each event, the recorded presentation will be available at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/sustainability_seminars.cfm. For more information about the individual seminars, visit http://www.istc.illinois.edu/calendar/.

 

 

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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.