October 2011
Progress Report
Prepared by the Resource Conservation Team
Amanda, Corey, Sylvia, Kristina, Katie, Carson, and Clara
Free Store (all)
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Statistics
o Total visitors: 172
o Total items taken: 855
 Clothes: In: 28 Out: 356
 Books/School Supplies: In: 25 Out: 184
 Dormware: In: 0 Out: 72
 CDs/Electronics: In: 3 Out: 28
 Miscellaneous: In: 17 Out: 215
o New Inventory sheets will leave out “In” section, so RCT members will be in
charge of keeping track of major donations in the comments section
Fall Break Makeover (Corey)
o Made green laminated signs to aid in organization
o Keith secured two new tables for the Free Store
Hours Statistics
RCT Weekly Mtg
17
Office Work & Communication
12.5
Free Store
40.5
Recycling
15.5
Composting
21.75
J-House Garden
31.5
Education/Outreach
4
Building Walkthroughs
8.25
Big Swap
1
Commencement/Orientation
0
Other
5
Johnson House Garden
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Built Cold Frames to extend growing season
During Fall Break used OSWAMP volunteers to create a J-House Garden Rain
Garden to reduce stormwater runoff and help drainage in the garden.
Redesigned the beds to align with onsite drainage
Held Friday/Saturday garden hours 2-4pm
Recycling
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Recycled notepads
o Created 100 recycled notepads for a ResEd conference with information
specific to Oberlin on how to recycle
o Revived recycled notepad service by continuing to bring one-sided paper to
Printing Services
Burton Paper Pilot Program
o Developed a program to both gauge the efficacy of educating dorm residents
about source separation and to make better use of the Abitibi bins
o Researched and ordered paper-only bins and one central outdoor barrel with
lids in order to begin pilot program; confirmed with Molly Tyson and Scott
Callow for permission
o Created signs for audit, communicated with residents and RAs about audit
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Shift to source separation
o Met with Jeff Baumman and Rob Lampa about recycling system in Oberlin
Building Walk-throughs
o Updated logs for October and began to fix issues highlighted in log
Improved signage
Working with ENVS 101 group to develop a waste audit for source separation vs. comingled
Composting
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Kahn (Clara)
o Emptied green tumbler in J-House because it was almost full and contents
were juicy
o Brought black tumbler to Kahn for future use
o Maggots found in the tumbler
 Situation remedied by adding dry leaves
o Closed the system over Fall Break
On-campus pick up system (Kristina)
o Had an update meeting with Molly, Scott, Dennis
 No complaints from staff, all seems to be running smoothly
o Compost runs started and have been successful!
 We have taken over 355lbs of food waste to the J-House Garden
 Captains have been helpful and have participated in compost runs
o Working with an ENVS 101 group to find the best way to compost
 They will be building an enclosure for the compost piles starting in
November
 Are researching the best options
Meeting during Fall Break with Facilities, CDS, and Lorain County Reps
o Discussed possibility of starting the process of creating a city-wide compost
system
Big Swap
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Met with Keith on Oct 10th to discuss how the Big Swap can be most successful
o Advertising
o Distributing colored bags
o Coordinate “Pick up” times, like a bus going around to dorms to pick up things
o ResEd helpers 6-16 (depending on how many RCTers stay for
commencement)