Project Description
UC Berkeley used their Reuse Assistance Grant funds to establish a
materials exchange on campus that was
operated
by paid student interns. UC Berkeley already had a system to deal with large
furniture and inventoried items, but a system to deal with smaller equipment,
office supplies, and other reusables did not exist. The materials exchange provided an opportunity to promote reuse. In addition to diverted tonnages
and deferred disposal fees, this program promoted the ethic of reuse and
conservation within the campus student and staff population of over 40,000
people.
The steps required to accomplish their project are as follows:
Task 1: Hiring Two to Five Students to Assist in Staffing and Developing
the Program. (5/1/01 to 6/1/01)
Task 1 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period. Lisa Bauer hired three students in June 2001—Rhoda Chang, Alexis Petru, and
Garth Schultz. Ms. Petru handles outreach and administration, and Mr. Schultz is in
charge of site upkeep and the bike trailer. Ms. Chang was also hired to fulfill
staffing and site upkeep responsibilities. Two additional employees, Dominique Nisperos and Tobias Wait, were hired in
October 2001 to help with staffing duties and bike trailer pickups,
respectively. When Mr. Wait had to quit, David Siddiqui took over bike trailer
responsibilities and will eventually assume Mr. Schultz's role of maintaining the
site.
Task 2: Clean and Set Up Space for Materials Exchange. (6/1/01 to
7/16/01)
Task 2 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period. Employees washed and painted the shop, and installed reclaimed items such as
shelves, a stereo, lights, a computer, and a fan.
Task 2.1: Maintenance and Supplies for Site. (7/1/01 to 5/1/03)
Task 2.1 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period. Employees purchased a banner, a padlock, paint supplies, and bolts and
fasteners for the shop. They also completed final organization and cleaning of
the shop.
Task 3: Develop Program and Write Copy for Outreach Program. (7/1/01 to
8/31/01)
Most Re-USE policies and forms have been developed, but there is
still additional money to allow for revisions in these policies and forms, as
well as to develop new outreach materials. Task 3 is 60 percent complete.
Task 4.1.1: Baseline Staffing Students at Regular Hours of the Materials
Exchange. (8/27/01 to 5/1/03)
From August 27, 2001 to December 6, 2001, the Re-USE shop was open to
the public for pick-ups and drop-offs Mondays through Fridays, 11:00 a.m.-1:00
p.m. The six hours per week budgeted to this task item go towards these ten
hours of staffing.
Re-USE opened for the spring academic semester on January 22, 2002 with the
following schedule: Mondays and Fridays, 12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.; Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Again, the six hours per week
budgeted to this task contribute to these staffing hours. Re-USE is able to stay
open for 12 hours a week this semester because two volunteers work those two
extra hours for free, demonstrating the campus interest in Re-USE.
During their shifts at the shop, employees record pick-ups and
drop-offs into a computer database. In addition to serving and helping
customers, they sweep and tidy the shop. Task 4.1.1 is
ongoing. Re-USE will close for the spring semester on May 14, 2002. Over the
summer, Re-USE will have very limited hours: two to four hours a week.
Task 4.1.2: Extra Staffing Students at Regular Hours of the Materials
Exchange, Including Extended Hours and Special Projects and Services. (9/10/01
to 5/1/03)
Four of these ten hours contribute to the operational hours of the
Re-USE shop. Two to three hours a week are allotted to Re-USE's bike trailer
pick-up route through campus. An employee will ride the bike and bike trailer
through campus on set days, picking up boxes of donations from six major campus buildings. Additionally, they use this money when they make special appointments with
community members to pick up or drop off items outside of Re-USE's regular
hours. They also use money from this category when they spend extra time
cleaning the site or training new employees.
Task 4.1.3: Semimonthly Meetings. (6/11/01 to 5/1/03)
Employees meet every two weeks to coordinate projects, exchange
ideas and information, and discuss and specify policy or administration issues. Task 4.1.3 is ongoing.
Task 4.2: Supervision of Project by Recycling Coordinator.
Ms. Bauer serves as the management review of Re-USE projects and services. She
spends time meeting with the student employees and liaisoning with the
University. Ms. Bauer also fields e-mail and phone inquiries about the program,
referring the interested individuals to Re-USE's employees. Task 4.2 is ongoing.
Task 5.1: Design Advertising Materials. (6/1/01 to 9/1/01)
While using handbills and flyers designed in the first reporting
period, employees created flyers to publicize Re-USE's end-of-the-semester
collection and the Creative Reuse contest. Employees also designed a new mailing
to be sent out to campus employees. Task 5.1 is ongoing.
Task 5.2: Print Advertising Materials. (6/1/01 to 9/1/01)
This task covered the cost of printing handbills (see Task 5.1). Task 5.2 is ongoing.
Task 6.1: Send out Campus Mailings Promoting the Materials Exchange to
Campus Employees. (8/1/01 to 9/1/01) , (1/1/02 to 2/1/02), (8/1/02 to 9/1/02),
and (1/1/03 to 2/1/03)
No new campus mailing was sent out during this reporting period. Task 6.1 is 25 percent complete (with the fall mailing). The next campus
mailing is scheduled to be sent on April 30, 2002.
Task 6.2: Purchase Ad Space in Satellite Magazine.
Re-USE placed a full-page ad in UC Berkeley's literature and arts
magazine that will run in all three issues of this semester's magazine. As of
March 30, 2002, the Satellite has not published their third and final
issue. Task 6.2 is 33 percent complete. Re-USE will make its next purchase during
the fall semester.
Task 6.3: Purchase Banners.
Employees have yet to purchase three new banners: one for the shop's second
entrance, one that requests "no dumping" outside the shop, and another
for tabling on Sproul Plaza. Task 6.3 has not yet been started but it is anticipated that this task will be
completed by July 2002.
Task 6.4: Hiring Outreach.
Task 6.4 has not yet been started, although a few hours have been spent
interviewing one prospective employee. Re-USE will step up its hiring efforts at
the end of the spring semester (May 2002) and the beginning of the fall semester
(August 2002).
Task 6.5: End-of-the-Semester Activities.
This task covers the logistics of and publicity for the collection of items that
are disposed of at the end of the semester, when people move out of their
apartments, dorms, or offices. This includes setting out bins on campus and in
the dorms to collect students' readers and making apertures for these bins, so
people will not use them as trash cans. Employees also tabled in the dorm
cafeterias during the last weeks of school in December 2001 to publicize
Re-USE's collection of students' donations. This task also covers research into methods that will improve their
end-of-the-semester collection. Currently, employees are contacting professors,
teaching assistants, and advisors to see if they can help advertise the
collection of students' readers. Task 6.5 is 25 percent complete.
Task 6.6: Other Outreach Activities.
While some of this task's hours contribute to increase tabling on Sproul Plaza
to publicize Re-USE, most of these activities are geared towards teaching the
concept of reuse. Employees held one creative reuse project day in October 2001, where students
and staff were invited to come to the Re-USE shop to learn to make reused
notebooks. Despite e-mail announcements and flyers, motivating people to come
down to the shop to make notebooks proved difficult, so no more project days
have been scheduled.
During the newly established spring semester Recycling Awareness Week
(February 25 to March 1), Re-USE employees coordinated reused notebook-making
workshops in the dorms with each dorm's Residential Recycling Coordinator. The
success of the workshop depended on the Recycling Coordinator's choice of venue:
one workshop held outside with food and music did exceedingly well, while the
other three workshops held in dorms' lounges did not fare as well. More
activities are being planned with the dorm Recycling Coordinators, including
another notebook-making workshop at one dorm in conjunction with Earth Day.
Re-USE employees also worked on creating the Re-USE library. Fact sheets form
the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, the Alameda County Waste Management
Authority, and other such organizations were ordered and arranged in the shop.
Employees felt the shop should be more than the site of a materials exchange; it
could serve as a resource about waste management issues and organizations. Task 6.6 is ongoing.
Task 6.7: Production of Web Site.
While they currently have a very simple Web site, Re-USE employees plan to
update it, adding more information about the program and the concept of reuse. Task 6.7 has not yet been started. It is anticipated that employees will start
working on the Web site in May 2002.
Task 7.1: Participate in Calapalooza and Recycling Awareness Week
Activities, 2001. (8/15/01 to 9/30/01)
Task 7.1 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period: Two employees staffed a booth at Calapalooza, UC Berkeley's freshman
orientation fair on August 23, 2001. Re-USE had a grand opening during Cal's first annual Recycling Awareness Week
(the second week of September).
Task 7.2: Participate in Calapalooza and Recycling Awareness Week
Activities, 2002. (8/15/02 to 9/30/02)
Re-USE will have a booth at Calapalooza in August 2002 and be
involved in the fall Recycling Awareness Week. Task 7.2 has not yet been started but is anticipated to be complete by October 2002.
Task 8: Design Ad for the Daily Californian Newspaper. (8/1/01 to
8/15/01)
Employees created more ads for the campus community's independent
student newspaper, publicizing Re-USE's end-of-the-semester collections and
Creative Reuse contest. Task 8 is ongoing.
Task 9: Purchase Ad Space for the Daily Californian Newspaper. (8/15/01 to
9/30/01) and (8/15/02 to 9/30/02)
Two ads were placed during this reporting period: one publicizing
Re-USE's end-of-the-semester collections and another advertising the Creative
Reuse contest. Task 9 is ongoing. More ads are expected to be placed during this semester's
end-of-the-year collections.
Task 10: Develop Database of Interested Individuals. (8/30/01 to
10/30/01)
Re-USE forms ask its visitors if they desire to be added to the
Re-USE e-mail contact list, which is updated monthly. Members receive information regarding special events such as the Grand
Opening and project days.
They learn of employment and volunteer opportunities for Re-USE and featured
items at the shop. Task 10 is ongoing.
Task 11: Conduct Follow-Up Calls to Interested Individuals.
(9/15/01 to 11/15/01)
In addition to answering e-mails from interested parties, an employee
sends out a survey to members on the e-mail contact list. About half of the
surveys sent out are returned. The survey will help them gauge how important the campus community thinks
their service is, how they can make the service more convenient for them, and
what kind of items they need. At the end of the academic year, Re-USE employees will tally the results to
see how they can improve the program. Task 11 is ongoing.
Task 12.1: Coordinate Creative Reuse Project. (10/15/01 to 11/30/01) and
(10/15/02 to 11/30/02)
The Creative Reuse contest was intended to be held on March 1, 2002
during the spring semester's Recycling Awareness Week. Contest publicity
included an ad in the Daily Californian; e-mail announcements; posters in
dorms, co-operative houses, and campus building; and announcements to a few
environmental- or art-related classes. However, no one entered the contest. Perhaps the contest was scheduled during
a time in the semester with many midterms, or people might have forgotten the
contest because it was scheduled for a Friday. Task 12.1 has not yet been started. Employees plan to consider alternative
methods of holding the contest in the future; for example, the contest could be
held within an environmental or art class or within a student group.
Task 12.2: Prize for Participants in Creative Reuse Project. (11/30/01)
and (11/30/02)
See above.
Task 13: E-mail and Flyer Promotion of the Program. (6/1/01 to
5/1/03)
Re-USE employees sent out e-mail announcements and flyers to
publicize the Project Day, end-of-the-semester activities, and the Creative
Reuse contest. Task 13 is ongoing.
Task 14: Generation of the Quarterly Report. (10/8/01 to 11/1/01), (4/1/02
to 5/1/02), (10/8/02 to 11/1/02), and (4/1/03 to 5/1/03)
With the completion of this second report,
Task 14 is 50 percent complete.
Task 15: Buy Scale to Weigh Material Collected. (7/20/01 to 8/20/01)
Task 15 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period. The scale was donated by a community member in August 2001. Since
this money was not utilized, it will go towards other maintenance items needed
for the Re-USE shop.
Task 16: Buy Bike Trailer to Collect Materials. (7/13/01 to 7/30/01)
Task 16 was 100 percent completed during the first reporting period. They ordered and received a bike trailer in September 2001 and began making
campus pick-ups in October 2001.
Task 17.1: Planning for Reader/Notebook Drive. (8/20/01 to 8/24/01),
(1/15/02 to 1/20/02), (8/20/02 to 8/24/02), and (1/15/03 to 1/20/03)
Employees arranged tabling on Sproul Plaza with collected readers and
notebooks when classes started in January 2002; they selected the dates and the
employees to staff the event. Task 17.1 is 50 percent complete.
Task 17.2: Staffing for Reader/Notebook Drive. (8/27/01 to 8/31/01),
(1/21/02 to 1/28/02), (8/27/02 to 8/31/02), and (1/21/03 to 1/28/03)
Employees tabled on Sproul Plaza during the first week of classes in
January 2002 to distribute readers and notebooks (which had been collected in
the fall of 2001) and to publicize the Re-USE program. Task 17.2 is 50 percent complete.
Task 18.1: Planning for Re-USE On Campus. (8/15/01 to 5/1/03)
Employees arranged tabling on Sproul Plaza with donated item; they
chose the dates and employees to staff the event. Task 18.1 is 50 percent complete.
Task 18.2: Staffing for Re-USE On Campus. (9/1/01 to 5/1/03)
Employees tabled on Sproul Plaza at least three times a semester to
distribute items and to publicize Re-USE. Task 18.2 is 50 percent complete.
Task 19: Develop Procedures and Policies Manual. (9/3/01 to 12/1/01)
Employees are working on the final draft of a manual that will be
given to all Re-USE employees. It details Re-USE's policies and procedures and
includes sections such as Re-USE's history and background, its mission
statement, acceptable and unacceptable donations, its forms of outreach, its
projects, and employee responsibilities. Task 19 is 90 percent complete, but is expected to be completed by June 2002.
*Permission was obtained from grant recipient to publish project profile.
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