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Welcome to the

2022 CURC Members Meeting

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College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC)

  • CURC represents over 900 recycling and sustainability professionals in higher education.
  • BOD made up of recycling, zero waste and sustainability managers in North America. 
  • Facilitating the exchange of technical knowledge and best practices for waste reduction and recycling programs.

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Meeting Housekeeping

  • This meeting will be recorded
  • Please remain muted during presentations
  • Feel free to post questions in the chat at any time and we’ll go through them during the open discussion time
    • During the discussion, also feel free to unmute your audio and video or “raise your hand” to ask questions
  • You can choose the breakout room that fits with your institution type
    • You can switch rooms by coming back into the main room and asking the host to move you
  • Any issues? Text: 610-256-1462
  • Recording will be available on the CURC website soon: www.curc3r.org.

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Agenda

Welcome & CURC 2021 Year in Review

New Board Member introductions

CURC Member Survey review

What’s in store for CURC in 2022?

Open discussion

Institutional breakout rooms

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2021

YEAR

IN

REVIEW

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2021 Webinar Series

  • February 18- Increasing Sustainable Purchasing: NERC’s Government Recycling Demand Champions
  • April 15- Safety & Sustainability: Reusable Dining during COVID-19
  • June 17- Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Your Program
  • August 19- Essential Workers as Essential Voices: Operations & Custodians in Waste Program Planning and Implementation
  • October 21- Integrating Reduction and Reuse into Messaging
  • December 16- Diversion Upstream: Working with Purchasing to Prevent Waste

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2021 Events and Activities

  • Annual Members Meeting- Keeping membership informed
  • JEDI Self Assessment- 122 Consulting
  • CURC Membership Survey- listening to our membership
  • Annual Fall Workshop- Community Connections:
    • Connecting our waste programs with the needs and experiences of our campuses’ BIPOC and marginalized communities
    • Connecting with our city/local government on waste reduction and diversion
    • Connecting with community groups working on the health and Environmental Justice impacts of waste
    • Connect with our regional colleagues for mutual sharing of strategies and resources

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2021 Events and Activities

  • Newsletters- Will continue to send out newsletter although frequency may change
  • Social Media- Continue to expand presence
  • Partnerships- Always exploring ways to partner with other organizations
  • Resources- Expanding and growing our resources to include case studies from peer institutions
  • Sponsorships- Continue to strengthen our sponsor relationships

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Fond Farewell

Eric Halverson

we will miss you!

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Who are these people?

  • New Board members in 2021-2022
  • Continuing Board members
  • Staff support
  • All of you! Some of whom are future Board members… ☺️

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Thank you for completing the 2021 CURC Member Survey

The results are in…

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41 respondents

representing 34 schools

2 HBCUs

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Racial Identity

Gender Identity

Title

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CURC Resources YOU find valuable!

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How can CURC provide greater value?

Access to training programs

Tangible guides

Website update

Information on trends in technology

meet ups based on institutional type

Resources on engagement at the systems level

Grants and funding opportunities for campuses

Data collection improvement on campus

Joint lobbying to major haulers

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Of the webinar topics offered in 2021, how

“satisfied” or “very satisfied” were you?

Increasing Sustainable Purchasing: NERC's Government Recycling Demand Champions

Safety & Sustainability: Reusable Dining during COVID-19

Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Your Program

Essential Workers as Essential Voices: Operations & Custodians in Waste Program Planning and Implementation

Integrating Reduction and Reuse Into Messaging

38%

59%

65%

53%

62%

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Future webinar topics

February - Single Use Plastics Bans (75%)

April - Measuring waste as a scope 3 emission (60%)

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Future webinar topics

You get to choose the remaining 4 webinar topics for 2022!!!!

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“I believe CURC is on the right track”

“This is actually YES because I see how CURC is already taking steps to improve”

“Continue to find more ways to involve more minorities, maybe get more HBCU involvement, do some recruitment and not just letting orgs find you”

“I think we have a roadmap now with the report…”

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How can CURC remove barriers that prevent BIPOC and other marginalized communities from participating in CURC activities and events?

“I think current lack of representation makes it difficult for people of color to enter the space. Also, BIPOC members of our community are being asked constantly to do additional work, sometimes for free, which causes a lot of burnout.”

“many have lower budgets with no staff or smaller staff with numerous duties, some are not using much tech or looking for resources because recycling may not be a priority although some on campus may be interested”

“There are so many concerns-- immediate & violent-- that can face marginalized communities that "recycling" doesn't seem important. I think it's important for CURC and other organizations to a) realize this and b) begin to connect our industry to those issues (immediate/violent) affecting people. This enables all of us to understand that there are many ways to participate in creating a safe/healthy/just world- and perhaps CURC can be one path. (I hope this makes sense)”

“The governing structure of CURC follows colonialized methods of power distribution. Should CURC explore other models of governance to support all voices.”

“significant demands on their time and energy given shadow service”

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Imagining the CURC of the Future

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What’s on your mind?

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Institutional “Meet Ups”

  • Small private - 10,000 students or less

  • Large private - more than 10,000 students

  • Small Public- 10,000 students or less

  • Large public- more than 10,000 students

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Website

www.curc3r.org

Register as a member and access archive event and webinars

LinkedIn Group

www.linkedin.com and search for the group College and University Recycling Coalition (352 group members)

Connect with CURC

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Get Involved

Did you know you don’t have to be on the Board to be on a committee?!?!

Committees

  • Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (JEDI)
  • Finance and Sponsorships
  • Board Development
  • Marketing and Programs
  • NEW Rebranding

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Thank you for attending!

  • Webinar recordings will be available on www.curc3r.org
  • See you all in the breakouts!