Month: February 2017

Progress and Plans:

1. Progress on actionable items for Mini May Move Out, and ideas for promotion (written down in a planning document)
   
   1. select date (Wed or Thurs)
   2. promotion (faculty, staff)
   3. cow
   4. stickers ordered and on way
2. Revised May Move Out schedule (adjusted as our academic calendar shifted this semester):
   1. Monday, May 8: noon – 8pm
   2. Tuesday, May 9: noon – 8pm
   3. Wednesday, May 10: 9am – 1pm
   4. Sunday, May 14: 9am-1pm
3. Progress on reusable food container project
4. Progress on activity courses
   1. switch time or dates
5. Progress on locations to grow perennial crops on campus
   1. Map locations then talk to B&G
   2. SIP to pay for plants and plan to plant
6. Plan for Green Week. If it is ok with Eva, we can meet Monday eve at the Haüs of Tree to attend the Green Week meeting. We should have a plan for what we are doing (as a class) for Green Week.
   1. 499 Green Week Coordinators: Maddie & Larynn?
7. Blurry!

 

 

2/22/2017 May Move Out Meeting with Dan Vroegop / Goodwill

Dan’s responses in italics. Actionable items in red:

Dan will share any suggestions for improvements from his perspective.

Overall a process that is working. Goodwill happy to have trucks stop by and pick up materials from the pods every day. Students will be the primary staffing.

We also hope to work recycling into the May Move Out this year. We are working on getting stand-up recycling bins which can be placed by the pods. When our Buildings & Grounds person comes around in the morn to open the pods, he will grab any recyclables and take them to the recycling dumpster.

No problem. Goodwill will leave behind recyclables that are left in the pods.

We need to finalize the date for the Mini May Move out, so letting us know about the availability of one of your trucks for the day is important.

• Option: Wed March 22, noon-5
• Option: Thurs March 23, noon-5

Decision within the week on which day and time. Goodwill can show up earlier.

Estimated dates for the May Move Out (I think these are off due to OWU schedule shift)

• Wednesday May 3: noon – 8pm
• Thursday May 4: noon – 8pm
• Friday May 5: 9am – 1pm
• Monday May 8: 9am – 1pm

Waiting to hear from Res Life.

The last few years we had a group of students come down to help sort stuff at the Del. Goodwill store on a Sat or Sunday, just to see how your process works. It would be good to consider scheduling that again this spring.

• Some time in late March or early April

Once we have volunteers (or most of them) schedule this for a weekend.

For the last few years OWU has paid a company (College Hunks Moving Junk) to clear out things left in the dorms. This includes junk, but also things students did not want to move, or things they did not want to throw away (but did not move to the pods). We are contemplating having our students help move the stuff out (B&G will then donate the savings to a Green Fund). This effort would potentially involve help from Goodwill to take away any of the donate-ables pulled from the dorms.

• Alternative: does Goodwill do this kind of thing? Worried about having enough of our own “college hunks” to move the junk.

Goodwill does pickups but does not clear buildings like College Hunks

They are willing to help with this but we need a better sense of how much stuff has to be removed

College Hunks filled at least two pods last year, but also took a few truckloads of stuff

We may be able to get Goodwill to help clear some of the left behind things, but let College Hunks do the final clear

Contact Kathy Wink (Goodwill marketing) for materials other Goodwill sites use for May Move Out type efforts

Set up meeting with Tanna & Res Life

May Move Out Meeting on Wed. Feb 22 at 10-11 am with Dan Vroegop from Goodwill. 207 Science Center. Discussion:

1. Dan will share any suggestions for improvements from his perspective.
2. We also hope to work recycling into the May Move Out this year. We are working on getting stand-up recycling bins which can be placed by the pods. When our Buildings & Grounds person comes around in the morn to open the pods, he will grab any recyclables and take them to the recycling dumpster.
3. We need to finalize the date for the Mini May Move out, so letting us know about the availability of one of your trucks for the day is important.
4. The last few years we had a group of students come down to help sort stuff at the Del. Goodwill store on a Sat or Sunday, just to see how your process works. It would be good to consider scheduling that again this spring.
5. One more thing: for the last few years OWU has paid a company (College Hunks Moving Junk) to clear out things left in the dorms. This includes junk, but also things students did not want to move, or things they did not want to throw away (but did not move to the pods). We are contemplating having our students help move the stuff out (B&G will then donate the savings to a Green Fund). This effort would potentially involve help from Goodwill to take away any of the donate-ables pulled from the dorms.

 

2/17 Meeting with Jennifer Way-Young (Delaware Health)

The meeting agenda is annotated in red with information gleaned from the discussion.

Contact: jway-young@delawarehealth.org

Handouts

• Draft Sustainability Plan
• Spring 2017 Sustainability Progress
• Food/Farm Collaboration Honda Grant (pending)

Agenda

1. Mini May Move Out (Wed March 22) & May Move Out (May 1-?)
   1. Delaware involvement (May Move Out)?
   2. Recycling as part of May Move Out

• Food and Farm Initiatives

1. Honda Grant
   1. Consider the Delaware County Community Foundation for funds for community outreach type projects.
2. Campus Garden, aka, A Long String of Failed Attempts I
   1. Collaboration with MTSO/Seminary Hill Farm (Tadd Peterson): creation of gardening activity courses, late spring and early fall each semester. Focus on early and late crops. Additional effort to establish perennial crops (mint, asparagus, etc.)
   2. Additional outreach to Del Master Gardeners (Chris Burger: chrisbu@columbus.rr.com)
   3. Ready Set Grow offered February 25th: basic gardening skills
   4. Maddie C: Are there any public health laws or restrictions that would not permit us from using our own crops in the dining halls?
      1. Answer: No
   5. Maddie C: Are there any city ordinances that would limit the placement or size of a campus garden or food shed?  
      1. Answer: No
3. Used Food on Campus:
   1. Food Recovery Network: limited, primarily pre-wrapped food and food from the dining halls
   2. Ryan B: Catering Food Recovery: Claims that the food left over at events cannot be recovered due to health laws. Clarify if this is the case, and help us understand the specific regulations. Ideas for the distribution of leftover food (is it at all possible to put leftover food out in the evening and just let people come and eat?)
      1. Jennifer is going to check on the laws with her department, but does not believe there is any specific law forbidding the distribution of food. There are “good samaritan” laws that protect efforts to share left over food. Unless there is intentional negligence, there are no laws in particular that would stop OWU from distributing left over food
      2. One of the problems is to find a partner who can take food from campus and get it to people who need it. The food would have to be wrapped and kept cool. This can be a challenge with perishable food. It is easier with non-perishable food. Consider collaborating with a church or other organization. Consider small grants (Delaware Community Foundation) to fund distribution efforts.
      3. Leaving food out might not be the best way to distribute it to those in need. Mention of the family shelter south of campus, a planned domestic abuse shelter, and other similar programs in town. Work with other orgs. to get the food to these locations.

Composting, aka, A Long String of Failed Attempts II

1. DIY shipping pallets behind SLUs
2. Purchased composters behind SLUs
3. Zera (zera.com) for SLU
4. Worms: Blue House Worm Farm (Aleksandar Ilic)
5. Collaboration with Ray Leard: http://www.thecompostexchange.com/local-garden-partners

Jennifer: 

1. Consider a grant in collaboration with Delaware and potentially other partners on establishing a composting program. Current technology: In Vessel Systems. (in vessels system do not discriminate between fats and dairy products; http://forsolutionsllc.com/in-vessel-composting-system/). Contact Jenifer for more information (she has EPA contacts)
2. Problem with food waste: too much moisture, food waste is smelly and messy. Price Farms Organics taking food waste, and is very selective (only takes from Ohio Stadium when people are sitting and babysitting amount of compost that is put into it.)
3. For pallet composting: remember to have green and brown waste and bury the food waste. (ask if B&G can supply leaves, or if we can dry out scraps from gardening and bury those)
4. Animal problems are typically minimal: only had beetles, worms, garter snakes, etc. did not ever have large mammals
5. No health rules about composting, only that bins cannot smell (someone can report this to the County, they don’t go out looking (smelling) for stinky composters.
6. Aesthetics matter: http://earth911.com/home-garden/bokashi-composting/

• Sustainable Residence Hall Proposal

1. Start with a floor; expand in future: adjust physical amenities to allow for more sustainable living on campus

• Recycling in Delaware and on Campus

1. Ryan B: give us some more detail on the recycling system in Delaware, and the way recycling on campus is related to recycling in Delaware
   1. Jennifer would like to meet and discuss how OWU is doing recycling, who gets it, if the City of Delaware picks up any of our recycling
   2. Recommends joining CURC: http://curc3r.org/

• More communication and collaboration

1. How to develop relationship between Delaware and campus sustainability efforts?
   1. Liaison: Sustainable Delaware?
   2. Liaison: Watershed Coordinator, Delaware Health?

General Issues Week 4:

1. Review revised sustainability plan (presentation Wed noon at STF meeting)
2. Try to attend STF meeting
3. Two-Minute Promo Movie?
4. Inclusion of something sustainable in new student orientation?
5. Info to post on progress for projects other than Chartwells and May Move Out.

Meeting with Dan McGee (Chartwells): Wed Feb 1

1. Review below outline and let Krygier know of modifications
2. Continued problem with check out and return of boxes
   1. Continued problem with failure to return boxes (loss of boxes). From Jan 18th to Feb 2, 740 went out, 680 returned. Many returned to Merrick
   2. Limited technology limits return options. Followup with Denison to see if they have found a workable method with their reusable food containers. Seek other universities who have successfully implemented reusable food containers
   3. Allow students to cut in line to return boxes
   4. Additional return options in the residence halls?
   5. Allow drop off at any food outlet (return with staff who picks up materials at end of day)
   6. Option to buy a weeks worth of boxes at once
3. No-cost Reusable Containers
   1. Find examples of such a program at other universities so we have a better idea of the potential problems.
   2. Potentially target certain student groups or organizations to get access to no-cost reusable containers (more accountability?)
   3. Estimate the costs for replacement of a certain percent of boxes, and sources for funding this loss (WCSA?)
4. Promotion 
   1. Develop materials to help staff promote reusable boxes
   2. Make reusable containers more evident at checkout
   3. Develop promotional 8.5″ x 11″ poster with key information to post near checkouts, buttons, etc.
   4. Recruit a group of students (SLU, floor of residence hall, Fraternity, Sorority) to use the reusable containers, suggest improvements, etc. Continue to get new groups to do the same.
   5. Consider a redesigned Bishop Box to fit in with general OWU style
5. Means of driving down use of throw-away containers
   1. Get throw-away containers that hold less food (equal amounts)
   2. Charge for throw-away containers. Check if this happens at other universities. Dan will check on this also.
6. Seek sustainable option for Papa John’s pizza
   1. Dan will check with Papa John’s contact
   2. Tie into promotions at OWU
7. Observation or time serving at checkout to observe the situation 
   1. “After the meeting Izzy and I were waiting for dinner and Dan offered for us to go in the back and watch to see what containers people were using. In the first 30 minutes there were 9 people who selected green boxes. By then end of our 45-60 minute time about 16 people used green boxes. We noticed that most people asked for the paper to go boxes. One of the Chartwell workers grabbed for the green as someone said to go and then the student said that she wanted a paper one…. Which was pretty frustrating to see. Also the staff kept talking about to us about how they see so much waste and really like the idea of the green boxes but brought up the size difference and return process.”
   2. Consider more of these observations? Put in time at the checkout?
8. Followup: outline next steps and strategy (by Friday, Feb 10)

Meeting with Peter Schantz and Jay Scheffel (B&G): Friday Feb. 3

1. Review below outline and let Krygier know of modifications
2. Review materials for last year and update for this year (on shared drive)
   1. Work to revise the master document (so we can adapt and reuse next year)
   2. Review below outline and let Krygier know of modifications
3. Walk the locations with Jay Scheffel (schedule this)
   1. Make adjustments in pod and dumpster locations (make pods more convenient, dumpsters less convenient)
   2. Get May Move Out banners back
4. Plan Mini May Move Out (detailed plan draft by Friday Feb. 10)
   1. arrange with Goodwill to have truck parked by Chappelear
   2. arrange a food truck (check with Zanna Wright)
   3. stickers and other swag
   4. puppies, goats, cows, whatever
   5. promote donations to students, faculty and staff
5. Recycling in Pods
   1. B&G will obtain cardboard recycle bins with clear plastic bags; keep in or around pods to collect recyclables. Will be picked up when B&G staff opens the pods in the morning.
   2. Include recycling option in promotions
6. Meeting with Res Life and Tanna and Goodwill (schedule this)
   1. Jay/Peter: will get numbers from Tanna on stuff left behind, costs
   2. Consider paying the cost of Junk Hunks to an OWU Green fund and get student volunteers to haul out stuff, sort into pods and dumpsters
   3. Promotion to RAs. Make effort known at last floor meeting

Meeting with Dan McGee (Chartwells) and Tadd Peterson and Noel Deehr (MTSO, Seminary Hill Farm): Monday Feb. 6

1. Hyper Local Salad Bar: Dan is seeking permission to move forward with a project Gene and Tadd discussed before Gene left, to have Seminary Hill Farm supply greens and vegetables for a hyper-local salad bar. Goal: Fall 2017.
   1. This is an experiment that can expand if successful
   2. Potential to use vegetables and greens from OWU gardens
   3. Potential to use vegetables from proposed perennial, low maintenance crops
   4. Justification: OWU’s historical relationship with MTSO, connection through internships for OWU students at MTSO, connection through Cooking Matters collaboration, connection between OWU and MTSO presidents.
   5. When this proceeds, students will help support the effort, Transcript article, promotion, etc.
2. Ideas for additional local, organic, vegan/vegetarian options tied to this salad bar
   1. Ellen Sizer in Geog 360
3. Composting
   1. Seminary Hill Farm uses compost from FreshAire Composting, Dan Young, Union City, Ohio. Compost no longer available from Price Farms.
   2. Set up meeting between Alex the Worm Guy and Tadd and Noel (schedule)

Meeting about Environment & Sustainability Proposal: Tuesday Feb. 7

 

Meeting of Sustainability Task Force: Wednesday Feb 8