Attendees: Tracy Artley, Alec Cooley, Mark Darling, Dana Donatucci, Judi Gard, Judi Dunn Gray, Rob Gogan, Deb Hanson, Mary Jensen, Barb Kviz, Christine Von Kolnitz Cooley
Absent: Jack Debell, Ed Newman, Becky Valentich
1. CURC Elections
Mary stated that CURC will be changing its election process so that 4 new steering committee members will be elected each year instead of 6. New committee members will serve 3-year terms and 2 current members will extend their time on the committee for 1 year. Discussion ensued on the timing of the election. Judi Dunn Gray suggested having nominations open from 4/14 through 4/25 and having the election after that. Alec inquired about CURC’s long-term plans for recruiting committee members. He suggested that we put effort this year into making phone calls in addition to putting the call for nominations out to the various collegiate recycling listserves. Mary noted that recruiting for the steering committee should be added to the agenda for the September meeting.
2. NRC Congress
Barb discussed the plans to date for the Sunday CURC workshop. The day will begin with a short tour of campus and then attending a talk by Kevin Lyons on green purchasing. A minimally-wasteful & vegetarian-available hot lunch would follow and then the group would be on to a talk by Al Matyasovsky on athletics and stadium recycling. The day would finish with a common ground forum instead of the traditional small group sessions of past CURC workshops. Barb stated that the idea is to have 5 – 6 topics and have Jack Debell moderate a 10 - 15 discussion on each. She requested that committee members send her suggestions on the topics for the forum and noted the need for scribes. Ideas for the topics included composting, recycling operations, building key relationships, STARS, stadium recycling, purchasing/contracts and eco-reps. Each topic would have a lead person associated with it. Discussion ensued on the forum serving the needs of the attendees. Concerns were expressed that it might be too basic for veterans and too advanced for newcomers. Barb noted that basic and advanced topics would alternate to try to keep all attendees engaged. The workshop title is “Working Toward Zero Waste.” Space issues were then mentioned. The current location for the workshop can only hold 80 comfortably. Barb will reserve an additional room in case registration exceeds this number. Comments or concerns about the workshop can be sent to Barb or the planning committee via email.
Discussion turned to outreach to schools in the northeast to encourage them to attend the workshop and Congress. Donna McGowan from EPA Region 3 will be promoting the Congress to contacts in her area.
Discussion turned to the email sent by Karyn Kaplan about the plans for the CURC sessions and meetings at the Congress. Sessions pitched include achieving zero waste at an athletic event, RecycleMania, a CURC panel on marketing to Generation Z, a panel on composting, a panel with Kevin Lyons on contracting. Karyn is pushing to have all of the CURC sessions completed by the Tuesday of the Congress. Mary stated that she would like to see an expanded session on purchasing and contracts and noted that topics are needed for the tabletop luncheon. Discussion ensued on the appeal of the sessions to the steering committee. Mary stated that she would like to see a workshop on integrating recycling with campus sustainability programs. She also suggested that the RecycleMania panel cover why some schools did poorly in the Waste Minimization competition. Christine suggested changing the marketing session to marketing to the college community. Discussion on zero waste ensued. Mary noted that the online movement should be covered in some way. A hard-to-recycle-materials session was also suggested. Alec summarized that the steering committee would like to see RecycleMania, integrating with sustainability and social marketing as CURC sessions. Hard-to-recycle-materials and contracting should be NRC sessions. A composting and/or dining waste reduction session could be either CURC or NRC.
None of the committee members had objections to having the annual meeting at the continental breakfast in the Expo Hall. Alec is finalizing minutes from the meeting in Portland.
3. Adjourn
The call adjourned at 1:30 pm EST.