The University of Wyoming is celebrating Earth Week by hosting a series of events that focus on environmental awareness and sustainability.
Not all of the events occurring this week are organized by campus groups or take place on university soil, however.
The Wyoming Conservation Corps (WCC) is manning a glass-recycling drop off station in the Wal-Mart parking lot today.
Members of the organization collect any and all glass recyclables brought to the drop station and then load up a truck and trailer to drive the materials to a recycling facility in Loveland.
Jim Fried, a member of the WCC and an organizer of the Glass Recycling Drive, said community participation in last week’s station exceeded all his expectations.
“I honestly figured that I’d be sitting around all day reading a book and maybe loading a few peoples bottles, but I didn’t stop moving for about 13 hours,” Fried said.
The drive was started by WCC members in order to address the lack of any glass recycling options in Laramie following the closure of ARK Regional Service’s glass recycling program.
“People are definitely frustrated that it’s 2014 and we don’t have a way to recycle glass in this town, it doesn’t make sense to them,” said Fried. “Everyone was really happy that we’re doing this, but they want a long term solution, and WCC isn’t the type of organization to conduct a drive like this all the time.”
The timing of the event, while coinciding with Earth Week, was not planned to overlap with the environmentally conscious celebration.
“We honestly only planned on doing this for one week, but when we ended up driving two thousand pounds of glass down to Colorado, it just made sense to keep doing it,” said Fried. “I’d say that…it being Earth Week helps out too, just because it’s easier to spread word to the community about the drive during this time of year.”
The university was instrumental in getting the drive funded, said WCC Project Manager Patrick Harrington.
“We had to do some behind-the-scenes networking to get the project off the ground, and once those funds were secured, we accepted donations from the public for gas costs,” Harrington said. “[Physical Plant Director] Jim Scott really helped get the money for us so this could happen.”
With the lack of glass recycling capabilities in Laramie, and no solution having yet been agreed upon by municipal authorities, UW may take a role in providing an alternative way for citizens to recycle their glass materials, said Harrington.
“All these discussions are occurring way above my position, but I think that the university is taking a lead on this,” Harrington said. “WCC is a university program and I think there’s already been a lot of involvement just because of that.”
In Laramie, the university can provide a lot to the community, said Harrington.
“The WCC always gets involved with Earth Day, we’re all about that,” Harrington said. “The university does have a lot of resources, ones that I could see being put towards this problem.”
The WCC will take glass materials in the Wal-Mart parking lot again this week starting Thursday. They do not charge, but accept donations to help with gas costs.
The university will also host a lecture by Dr. Anne Chin, Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences from University of Colorado (Denver) Friday at 12 p.m. in Arts and Sciences room 210.
Two more events Friday are a RAD seminar on ecosystem management in Agriculture room 1030 at 2:10 p.m. and a Sustainable Business Practice event in Business room 123 at 8 a.m.
