Attendees: Tracy Artley, Alec Cooley, Mark Darling, Judi Dunn Gray, Barb Kviz, Michael Meyering, Ed Newman, Becky Valentich, Ron Vance, Christine Von Kolnitz Cooley, Michael Youdelman
Absent: Jack Debell, Rob Gogan, Judi Gard, Mary Jensen
1. Congress Update
Barb reported the planning for the CURC workshop is moving along and requested volunteers for the roundtable sessions. She stated that Karyn Kaplan offered to cover zero waste, Michael Y. would cover waste minimization, Mary would cover building key relationships, Robin would cover move out. She thought that Erica Spiegel had been recruited to cover Eco-reps. Christine offered to cover tracking the waste stream, Mark offered to cover campus composting, Becky offered to cover how to start a recycling program and Tracy offered to cover marketing and outreach. Remaining topics include C&D waste recycling, single stream recycling, recycling operations 101 and campus environmental policy. Mark suggested to Barb that she send an email out to the CURC steering committee to let them know that this is their final chance to volunteer to lead a roundtable. If they don’t volunteer for a topic, they will then be assigned to one. Becky inquired about the set up times for the CURC booth and how that might interfere with her ability to volunteer at the workshop. Alec suggested that Roger Guzowski might be interested in covering Recycling 101. Discussion ensued on getting folks to lead topics. Barb noted that there would be a CURC workshop subcommittee meeting on July 9 to discuss further details. Tracy inquired about how to register for the workshop. Alec pointed out that registration is available on the Congress’s special website (http://recyclingconference.org) .
2. Grant Updates
Alec stated that Kate has not gotten a response from AF&PA on the grant money for a CURC speakers bureau.
3. Scholarship Update
Alec reported that they have received 10 applications for the scholarships so far. The application deadline is July 25. The committee will then meet to discuss who will receive scholarships.
4. Webinar Updates
Michael Y. and Michael M. offered to be a part of the webinar subcommittee. This subcommittee will work to come up with ideas for the series and will work to secure speakers for the various topics. Michael M. indicated his interest in moderating some of the webinars. Christine is looking for at least 1 more person for the group. Discussion ensued on the CURC vs. non-CURC attendees of the webinars. As the webinars have progressed, there have been more non-CURC members attending. Alec reported on his marketing of the series to the listserves, AASHE and a private list he has. Ron reported that the series is also promoted through WasteWise.
Christine stated that the group needs to start thinking about the next series before this one ends in October. Ed volunteered to participate with ideas and topic forming.
5. RecycleMania
Alec stated that there were 2 issues related to RecycleMania that CURC had to address: a. Karyn Kaplan has stepped down from the RecycleMania steering committee and her position needs to be filled and b. a 2-division system for schools participating in RecycleMania has been proposed.
a. Alec reported that the RecycleMania charter states that the original members of the steering committee are lifetime members until they choose to step down. Once they step down, the CURC steering committee is charged with appointing someone to that vacancy for a 2 year term. After that term has expired, the person needs to be reappointed or someone else needs to be chosen. Alec also reported that 3 candidates had been discussed by the RecycleMania steering committee, that any of the 3 would be excellent additions but that one had been selected by their group. Michael Y. moved to approve the recommendation of the RecycleMania steering committee. Judi D. G. seconded the motion. Mark put the motion to a vote which passed unanimously, with Judi D.G. refraining from the vote.
b. Alec stated that the first division, Division I, would be for schools participating with their entire campus who are able to meet basic tracking and reporting standards (e.g. verify actual weights, use of approved conversion factors). The hope is that this will help level the playing field. Public rankings will come from Division I schools. Division II is for schools who do not meet the criteria for participation in Division I. They will not show up in the public rankings, but will be offered a private profile page in which they can compare how they are doing to other participating schools. Alec reported that the RecycleMania steering committee is in the final stages of formulizing this. CURC will then review the changes. After this revision, the changes will be made available for public comment for a 2 week period. Alec shared an email Mary sent to the RecycleMania steering committee about scheduling a special conference call the week of July 7 to discuss this. Michael M., Christine, Mark, Michael Y. and Judi D.G. can all make a conference call on July 9 around 12 pm, EST. Alec will type up the changes agreed upon at this conference call by July 11 and will send them out for those not on the call to make comments.
Additionally, Kate Krebs met with the NCAA last month. They expressed an interest in a possible closer relationship with RecycleMania. This relationship could be anything from the NCAA reaching out to campus athletic departments, to encouraging recycling at athletic facilities to sponsorship of RecycleMania. Alec noted that this would play out over the course of a few years.
6. Adjourn
Mark adjourned the call at 12:58 pm EST.