The Green Fee Committee (GFC) held a meeting on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 to discuss the environmental state of NEIU and to vote on proposals that will be implemented in future semesters.
Samantha Sandoval, an undergraduate student in Biology, immediately got the ball rolling. She called for the expansion of CollidEscape screening, which began on NEIU’s main campus in April, to the El Centro building in response to invoices regarding bird collisions.
Dr. Reinke, Associate Professor of Biology, gave justification for the proposal, citing the 100% effectiveness of CollidEscape screenings on the main campus.
“We did surveys and found no dead birds there, which is in contrast to the hundreds we were finding in past semesters,” Dr. Reinke said. “So it is a highly successful method.”
While El Centro’s windows are already shaded with anti bird collision tinting, this project has been perceived as not effective. As a result, Sandoval and Reinke proposed to implement black screening. “We would just put a black screen on the outside, which would keep down the reflection,” Dr. Reinke said.
Sandoval and Reinke were able to get the exact measurements of El Centro’s first floor windows, and volunteers can now be recruited for installation since El Centro is a newer building. However, the bird collisions are occurring primarily on the third floor. Also, CollidEscape screenings can only be installed when the outside temperature is above 50 degrees.
While the process of installing CollidEscape screenings will prove time consuming, they will undoubtedly prevent further bird collisions at El Centro.
One of the other proposals discussed in the meeting was from Facilities Management Superintendent Wilfred Rivera, about encouraging more students to recycle.
“I think a lot of new students, a lot of new faculty, haven’t got behind the whole idea about recycling. They don’t know our programs,” Rivera said. “We can get the whole school involved to a certain point. And hopefully we can put the signs above the recycling bins and stuff like that. So where they’re at, what goes in there? And, you know, a couple other things we can go off of that we can do.”
This would be at very minimal cost and would also include items that are not able to be recycled in standard bins across campus.
The next proposal discussed in the meeting was a composting initiative from Dan Van Lente. He cited his experiences in the food industry and composting industry. Lente cites the little to no composting across all of NEIU’s campuses.
Van Lente delved into the specifics of the composting proposal, “Essentially what it would be is three, like, rolling bins that are dropped off here and picked up and swapped out every week or biweekly. So we can compost anything in there. Paper, you know, whole animals if we want. All food waste.”
Van Lente pointed out that the compost would most likely be picked up and sent to Organixx, a composting facility in the south side of Chicago.
Van Lente cited his experiences working for Urban Canopy, a composting service where composters earn compost back, depending on how much is being composted. In some cases, they would get the finished product.
Van Lente contemplated how NEIU could ease its way into composting, “I just think it makes a lot of sense because most of the food waste happens in the kitchens. And I think to concentrate the bins where pretty much only the kitchen people have access to them is probably the best idea to start, because contamination happens super easy if you just place bins around.”
After some back and forth discussion, a consensus was made to contact Urban Canopy in the future in hopes of bringing composting to NEIU.
Ananth Prabhu, a graduate student in Public Health and Sports and Health Editor for the Independent, discussed a possible combination of the recycling and composting initiatives, “We should have composting bins too, with necessary signage to show people what can be composted, what cannot be. And it will be in the cafeteria. One in the cafeteria, one coffee shop, and then one in the lobby of [the BBH building] because a lot of students do eat their lunch, [and] they bring their lunch from home.”
Prabhu also presented a water conservation proposal, using a giant barrel of approximately 100 gallons as the foundation for conserving rainwater runoff on sidewalks and potentially parking lots, “And then the water can just be utilized to water gardens and grassy areas on campus.”
Prabhu’s rainwater runoff proposal was well-received, with Rivera adding to the possibility of the barrel being outside the bookstore on the main campus, “That area there, we can get some water diversion and a barrel built there. We can use that to water the plants there. That’s going under some renovation right now, I believe. And that’s something that we usually take a hose to. So that could be a place to start.”
Prabhu also proposed the installation of a bidet in bathrooms on campus in an effort to save toilet paper, “It’s actually really feasible to install. The biggest thing would be the electrical work, which would be GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlets. Just an external line behind the toilet stalls in those rooms.”
Caitlin Burkey, an undergraduate student in Sociology, proposed a community garden, citing the lack of accessibility to fresh food on campus, “If you go to the cafeteria downstairs, it’s so expensive and very unhealthy. And then even the farmer’s fridge, expensive, even if it is healthy.”
Burkey also cites the lack of meal plans and vouchers, “That’s a really big problem when you have people living at the school as well, because if there’s no way for them to get food, you know, how will they get food?”
Burkey laid out an important thing for the GFC to consider, “If students can’t eat, they cannot do what they need to do at school.”
The GFC will be sent the full list of proposals. Students will be sent a form to fill out an updated version of their respective proposals with an invoice detailing the final cost. From there, the GFC will vote on whether or not these proposals would pass.
NEIU students, faculty and staff interested in submitting a proposal should contact greenfee@neiu.edu.
