Asghari_Campus Sustainability Grant_reCYCLE Abandoned Bicycle Repair and Redistribution Program (1)...

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY GRANTS PROGRAM

Campus Sustainability Grant Application Form, REV 09.15.14

Campus Sustainability Grant Application – Cover Sheet

PROPOSAL INFORMATION Project Title: reCYCLE: Abandoned Bike Repair and Redistribution Program PRINCIPAL STUDENT INVESTIGATOR (PROPOSER) INFORMATION

Name: Yasmin Asghari

Email: [email protected] Phone: 404-431-0901

Degree Program / Graduation Date: B.S. Environmental Health Science, May 2015

FACULTY / STAFF SPONSOR INFORMATION

Name: Don Walter

Email: [email protected] Phone: 706-542-7303

Title / Department: Manager, UGA Parking Services

ADDITIONAL PROPOSAL INFORMATION

The proposal includes the following fields (check all that apply):

_X__ Education ____ Research _X__ Service _X__ Campus Operations ____ Sustainability + Arts submission

Summary of Budget:

Personnel Funding ………………………………..…….

Equipment…………………………………………………

Supplies / General Expenses..…….………..…………..

TOTAL……………………………………………………..

$ 1,500.00

$ 834.50

$ 2,495.10

$ 4,829.60

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




Project Overview

Project Description:

UGA Parking Services student employees have located and tagged over 180 abandoned bikes on

campus (Figure 1). Rather than dispose of useable bikes and their parts, the proposed project

will implement an abandoned bike recycling project. Resources will be provided for the

abandoned bikes to be repaired and redistributed to students. Through an interest-based

application process, the bikes will be given to students who commit to at least 3 hours of repair

work in addition to a bike safety course. Applicants will be selected based on written statements

of interest, as well as their willingness to ride to school often and/or willingness to return the

bike at the end of the semester. Students will be given full ownership of the bike. They will,

however, be encouraged to return the bike when it is no longer needed, for example, after

graduation. In addition, a new internship position can be instituted at the Office of Sustainability

(OoS) to ensure a consistently available mechanic. A more bike-friendly UGA community will

stimulate individual and environmental sustainability, community interactivity, mental and

physical health, mobility, safety, and support biking as a viable transportation option.

Figure 1- Left: An abandoned bike with flat tires.

Middle: Alix Wertheimer, UGA Parking Services employee, rides to go tag abandoned bikes.

Right: A bike after it has been tagged as abandoned.




This proposal is designed to contribute to UGA’s implementation of sustainability.

Strategic Direction VII in the University of Georgia 2020 Strategic Plan:

Strategic Priority: Encourage the further development and use of mass transportation to

and on campus.

Benchmark: The number of faculty, staff, and students who commute to campus who

use alternate modes of transportation such as mass transit, bicycles, or walking in 2010-

2011.

Goal: Increase by 20 percent the number of faculty, staff, and students who commute to

campus using alternate modes of transportation such as mass transit, bicycles, or walking.

Intended Outcomes and Progress Towards Achievement of Strategic Direction VII: The bike repair and redistribution program will encourage and increase biking as a viable mode

of transportation and mobility at UGA and in the greater Athens-Clarke County area, discourage

future bike abandonment, reduce potential landfill additions of over 180 abandoned bikes, and

promote a culture of individual and environmental sustainability, safety, and health by building a

student biking community. Increased on-campus bicycle use will reduce the number of single

occupancy vehicles (SOV’s) on campus, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease the

operations and maintenance expenses associated with parking infrastructure. These cost savings

can be reinvested into improving campus bicycle infrastructure.

UGA Parking Services has committed to sustaining the reCYCLE project by creating a

permanent student “bike sweeping” student worker position to continually tag and impound

abandoned bikes throughout the year. Maintaining clear bike racks will encourage students to use

biking as a primary mode of transportation. Parking Services will also sustain the reCYCLE

program beyond the OoS-funded grant by supporting work to repair a consistent flow of

abandoned bikes in years to come.

Contribution to Existing Sustainability Efforts: Providing UGA students with an opportunity to work in exchange for a free bicycle will increase

the number of student bikers. Growth in the amount of bikers on and around campus will

increase the demand for improvements in the local bike infrastructure. More attention to safety

will make bikers feel more comfortable on the road, making demand stronger, thus creating a

positive feedback loop.

Volunteers from the UGA Bike Co-op will develop relationships with the new bikers by helping

them fix their new bikes. The Bike Co-op will grow and thrive from the addition of

approximately 30 student bikers, who will greatly benefit from attending bike tune-up sessions

and group bike rides.




Campus Sustainability Grant Application – Compliance Form

Please answer all of the following questions, and explain in full where required.

Will this project require compliance review in any of the following areas?

Please place an “X” on the appropriate line to indicate “Yes” or “No” for all three compliance areas.

1. Animal Use

____ Yes

_X__ No

If “Yes,” please reference the section and page number in the proposal describing animal use:

For more information contact: Animal Care and Use, http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/acu/index.html

706-542-5933

2. Biohazardous Materials

____ Yes

_X__ No

If “Yes,” please reference the section and page number in the proposal describing biohazardous material use:

For more information contact: Office of Biosafety, http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/biosafety/index.html

706-542-9876

3. Human Subjects

____ Yes

_X__ No

If “Yes,” please reference the section and page number in the proposal describing human subject use:

For more information contact: Human Subjects, http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/hso/index.html

706-542-5318

Name: Yasmin Asghari, Alix Wertheimer, Lauren Steffes, Hannah Barney, Bailey Shea, Christine Kil, and

Sydney Lanier

Title: Undergraduate students, members of Students for Environmental Action (SEA)

Date: November 10, 2014

_X__ By placing an “X” on this line, I certify I will fulfill all requirements pertaining to compliance if this grant is approved.




Campus Sustainability Grant Application – Budget Sheet

Complete all sections.

I. Personnel ***

Number Amount/Person Total Amount

Contractors $0

UGA Staff $0

UGA Student 1 $1,500 $1,500

Other $0

Total Amount: $1,500

II. Equipment**

Specific Equipment Items Length of Use Cost

1. Bike Repair stands (2) and one tool kit Project plus future years work $834.50

Total Cost: $834.50

III. Supplies/General Expenses**

Specific Supply Items Comment Cost

1. Tires 60 x $7.50 each $450.00

2. Chains 30 x $7.00 each $210.00

3. Cables 120 x $0.33 each $39.60

4. Brake Pad Pairs 30 x $2.00 each $60.00

5. Mechanic’s Gloves 5 x $10.00 each $50.00

6. Mechanic’s Apron 5 x $13.50 each $67.50

7. Rags (box of 36) 1 x $18.00 each $18.00

8. Avenir soak dry lube 10 x $5.00 each $50.00

9. Degreaser 10 x $5.00 each $50.00

10. Storage bins 12 x $10.00 each $120.00

11. Helmets 30 x $6.00 each $180.00

12. Front Bike Lights 30 x $12.00 each $360.00

13. Back Bike Lights 30 x $8.00 each $240.00

14. U-Locks 30 x $20.00 each $600.00

Total Cost: $2495.10

*Acceptable personnel funding include: 1) hiring outside consultants or contractors to perform required project tasks, 2) UGA Facilities Management Division

staff labor charges for project implementation, 3) UGA student workers managed by participating UGA department to perform required project tasks.

**If more space is needed, please attach a separate document listing specific items and their costs. Note: All Campus Sustainability Grant funds must be

expended before June 30th.




Notes on the Budget:

The Office of Sustainability Intern will work at $10/hour for 10 hours weekly over a 15-week

period. For 10 weeks, the intern will conduct bike repair workshops. At each of these

workshops, the intern will complete 5 hours of bike repair education by assisting 3 volunteer

students with the repair of abandoned bikes. The other 5 hours will be spent completing project

administrative duties and performing bicycle safety training.

The on-campus Bike Co-op has offered to allow us to use their tools free of charge. In exchange,

their tools can be stored at an indoor repair facility which will also provide indoor work space.

To avoid scheduling conflicts and to allow increased productivity, the budget requests two repair

stands and one tool kit.

The Bike Athens Program Coordinator, Jason Perry, has agreed to help us purchase bike parts in

bulk from the same source Bike Athens uses. The prices for bike parts are calculated for the

rehabilitation of 30 bikes. Some of the parts we have listed for purchase may also be recoverable

from the abandoned bikes. Any parts that are purchased and not used this semester can be used to

repair bikes in the future.




Implementation Plan

Specific Aims:

We will be inclusive and nondiscriminatory in our approach to garner volunteer interest from a

wide array of backgrounds throughout the UGA community. We want to bring together a

coalition of like-minded, sustainably-driven folk who hope to join the proposed project team.

Members of the UGA Campus Bike Co-op have expressed keen interest in our reCYCLING

project. We will collaborate with them and benefit from their mechanical expertise, tools, and

volunteer service. In return, we would provide them with a covered workshop (the space where

we would store the impounded bikes), where they can safely store their supplies in the same

space as the impounded bikes. We plan to reach out to Bike Athens in hopes of gaining their

support in the areas of expertise, providing us with prospective volunteers, and assist us in

purchasing reduced bike parts in bulk.

Partner Organizations/Departments

This project will create a student internship position through the OoS during the 2015 Spring

semester and a student job opportunity under Parking Services in upcoming semesters to

continuously tag bikes, which will allow this program to sustain itself and continually increase

the number of bikers on campus, lower carbon gas emissions, and improve the appearance of

UGA’s campus.

1) Office of Sustainability (OoS): The UGA OoS grant will provide funding to purchase

bike parts and create a paid internship for bicycle repairs. The office will also include an

advertisement for the work-exchange program and a link to the application on its website.

2) UGA Parking Services: Don Walter, the director of UGA Parking Services, created two

paid bike-sweeping positions for the purpose of identifying, tagging, and impounding

abandoned bikes left on campus. Parking Services will provide further assistance by

assisting the reCYCLE project in various ways. UGA Parking Services has agreed to

allow reCYCLE to utilize the Parking Services listserv to widely distribute the program’s

application and post the application to the website. Parking Services will provide free bus

advertising for the reCYCLE program to increase student awareness for the program.

Parking Services will provide an impound lot in which to store the bicycles and will

attempt to secure and indoor location for repair workshops. Parking Services has also

agreed to supplement the budget for parts in the event that expenses exceed the amount

awarded by the grant.




3) UGA Bike Co-op: Shafkat Khan, winner of a sustainability grant last year to fund a

UGA Bike Cooperative, has committed to loaning the Co-op’s tools and equipment to our

repair workshops. To avoid conflict, reCYCLE workshops will be scheduled after

conferring with Co-op leaders and the program will have two repair stands and one set of

tools as its own. Many Co-op members have expressed interest in volunteering with

reCYCLE to serve as knowledgeable advisors and mechanics.

4) Bike Athens: reCYCLE will reach out to Bike Athens to seek volunteers with

mechanical knowledge and expertise to attend our workshops and assist our intern with

the repair process. Bike Athens will also assist reCYCLE in ordering bike parts at an

affordable price in bulk.

Implementation Staffing

Our repair workshop days will be labor inclusive and volunteer-based. We want bike recipients

to have an important role in the repair of abandoned bikes. Apart from bike parts specific to each

bike, as well as safety gear such as lights and helmets, our grant money will fund an Office of

Sustainability Intern, whose job will be to:

Oversee bike repair workshops

Demonstrate mechanical expertise

Lead a bike safety class

Survey bikes throughout the month during which they are impounded and gather

information on: parts needed, which bikes are repairable, which ones are not, and which

parts can be utilized

Help assign recipients a suitable bike, assessed based on the individual’s physique

Outreach:

In order to reach out to students across campus, it is important to make communicative efforts

around campus through advertisements, emails, a webpage and social media. Online access to

the application will be given to allow students to fill out the application form. In addition to basic

student contact information, the application requests the height and weight of the student to

allow the OoS intern to pair bikes with riders for the best fit possible. The application also

includes a written statement of interest and other questions to gauge the student’s likeliness to

return the bike at the end of the year, frequency of how often he or she would ride the bike to

school, and commitment to a 3 hour bike tune-up session. Other opportunities for applying to the

reCYCLE include a designated area for students to pick up an application and turn in the

application at Parking Services’ office upon completion.




Implementation Timeframe:

Task Date

Last Day of Tagging Abandoned Bikes November 14, 2014

Notification of Award December 10, 2014

Application Available December 11, 2014

Bike Impoundment Process December 14-16,

2014

Last Day to Claim Impounded Bikes Saturday, January 17,

2015

All Parts Ordered Friday, January 30,

2015

Applications Due Wednesday, February

4th, 2015

Board Meeting to Determine Qualified Applicants; E-mail Applicants on

Same Day to Let Them Know if They Have Been Selected

Thursday, February

5th, 2015

Safety Class Led by Intern Wednesday, March

18, 2015

Repair February 10 - May 10

Closing Event Fall 2015

Applicants:

The intern will meet with student group members as a board to determine applicants after careful

review of each application. Applicants will be prioritized for students willing to give up

motorized transportation for a bike (i.e., trade a campus parking pass for a bike), along with other

criteria, such as seriousness about riding and maintaining their bikes. We will assign bikes to

selected applicants based on height and weight.

Bike Safety:

Before candidates can use their bikes, it is important to assure bike safety. The intern will lead

instruction on bike safety based on Bike Athens’ online safety course. The intern will show

demonstrations on bike tune-ups, strengthen awareness on common hazards cyclists face, and

facilitate understanding of basic rules of which every cyclist should be mindful.




Opening Event & Workshops:

A kickoff event with volunteers from various environmental and sustainability student groups,

will take place at the designated bike repair location in Fall 2015. Since there will be a variety of

bike sizes, the intern will be responsible for assigning bikes to individuals based on height,

weight, and gender to ensure that the bike best suits the student. Upon assessment of the bikes,

students may begin acquiring work exchange hours. There will be several opportunities

throughout the semester for students to clock their hours, as we strongly encourage that they

contribute at least three towards the repair of their bike.

Communications Plan

The success of the proposed bike-recycling program will rely heavily on the implementation of

several forms of advertising. Parking Services via Don Walter and the Office of Sustainability

via Kevin Kirsche have devoted many of their resources to ensuring the University of Georgia

student body will be informed of their opportunity to work in exchange for a bike, a form of

sustainable and reliable transportation.

Firstly, mass email through the use of the Office of Sustainability listserv as well as the

Parking Services listserv will be available for the program’s use.

Secondly, a variety of flyers will be distributed throughout the university through the use

of dorm bulletins, community boards on campus, and bus advertisements (provided by

UGA Parking Services).

Thirdly, in Fall 2015 the reCYCLE program will partner with the student-run campus

organization Students for Environmental Action and host a kick-off event open to the

entire university community. It will function as an introduction to the program and host

games, speakers, and will be used to assess the preliminary interest in the program.

Fourthly, a Facebook page will be created to keep students and faculty updated on any

events or progress made by reCYCLE and as a community forum for all things bike

related.

Finally, the program will attempt to be featured in several media outlets on campus and

those affiliated with the university such as the Red & Black, the Office of Sustainability

newsletter, Chapel Bell, Flagpole, and UGAzine.




Faculty/Staff Endorsement Letter:




List of Anticipated Grant Project Beneficiaries and Metrics

Project Beneficiaries

1. Bicycle Recipients: Our target is to provide 30 reclaimed bicycles to UGA students.

2. Student Workers: One student will be employed as the OoS intern. At least one other

student will be employed by Parking Services to identify abandoned bicycles.

3. Although 30 students will receive bikes, we hope to reach out beyond to other cyclists in

the community to serve as volunteers. We want to serve as many people as possible, to

make this a community-interactive project. While the bike will function to serve their

owners, the owners will function to serve the community in many ways, from

contributing to less traffic to becoming active members in other biking coalitions

throughout the community.

Metrics

1. Assuming the average bike weighs 20 pounds and we recycle 180 bikes, we estimate to

divert 3,600 pounds of metal waste from the landfill through recycling all unusable bikes

and their parts at a metal recycling center.

2. CO2 emissions reduction on UGA's campus by up to 38,220 pounds annually. US

Government website fueleconomy.gov states that the average car gets 20.4 miles to the

gallon. Assuming the average student lives 4 miles away from class, the average student

emits 2,124 pounds of CO2 per year (according to the EPA's carbon footprint calculator).

30 students driving to and from class emit approximately 63,720 pounds of CO2 per year.

If we provide 30 students with bikes, and they each ride to class 3 times per week, their

collective CO2 emissions drop to 25,500 pounds per year.

3. Increased bicycle usage per year. Our goal is to increase bicycle use by at least 30

bicycles next semester by distributing bikes throughout the UGA student community. If

every semester we produce 30 some new cyclists through reCYCLE distribution, and

assuming there are 1,000 bikers today, a 3% increase is possible from one semester’s

work on this project alone.

http://fueleconomy.gov/

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