WAYNE – With a full weekend planned to highlight Earth Day, the Wayne Green Team provided the data on how the community of Wayne and visitors reduce, reuse and recycle.
Starting with Friday morning Chamber Coffee at 10 a.m., the Wayne Green Team will host their annual event at the Wayne Public Library where they ask those attending to bring your own mug to make this a zero waste event. The Zero Hero winner will also be announced Friday morning.
Earth Day is April 22 each year as the Wayne Green Team encourages you to live every day as if it’s Earth Day.
Sandy Brown said the Wayne Green Team is a committed group of volunteers.
“We have a great group of volunteers that keep the sustainability actions going and we want to do that,” said Brown. “Thank you to all our volunteers, to the City (of Wayne) for their support and obviously to all the people in our community who want a zero waste place and want to keep things green.”
The Wayne Green Team meets in the SNBuilding on the second Tuesday of each month at noon.
This year’s free Earth Day movie, ‘The True Cost’ is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 21 from the Majestic Theatre. This free screening of the groundbreaking documentary, ‘The True Cost’, is rated PG-13.
The film is a story about the clothes we wear, the people who make them and the impact it’s having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. ‘The True Cost’ is a moving documentary that pulls back the curtain on an unseen part of our world and asks us each to consider, who pays the price for our clothing.
The doors for the free Earth Day film open at 6:30 p.m. with ‘zero waste’ living tips and a mini clothing swap scheduled. This 92-minute film begins at 7 p.m.
The Wayne Green Team also reminds attendees to bring their own popcorn container and cup to help make this a zero waste event. This free event is hosted by the City of Wayne Green Team, the WSC Green Team and the A. Jewell Schock Natural History Museum, with funding from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
Prior to the start of the Earth Day movie, plan to participate in a clothing swap on Sunday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. In conjunction with the free Earth Day movie at the Majestic Theatre this year, the Wayne Green Team and WSC Green Team will be hosting a mini clothing swap. Feel free to bring up to two sweatshirts or t-shirts to swap with others. Leftover items will be donated.
The Wayne Green Team would like to thank the Wayne Recycling & Trash Center (RTC) for their support with eight different types of materials able to be recycled for free. They include aluminum cans, paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, scrap metal, tin and light strings.
Other items being recycled around Wayne include small household batteries, ink jet cartridges, eye glasses and a new recycling material in 2023 being markers, pens and mechanical pencils all at the Wayne Public Library.
“No wooden pencils,” Brown added. “But you can take highlighters, dry erase markers, sharpies regular ball point pens. All of those go to a company called TerraCycle. We just started that at the end of 2023.”
The recycle boxes for the markers, pens and mechanical pencils can be found at Wayne Elementary, Wayne Jr/Sr High School, Wayne Public Library and in the Carhart Science building on the campus of Wayne State College.
There are 21 different materials that can be recycled in the City of Wayne. Since 2013, the Wayne Green Team has been awarded $132,000 in grant funds; since 2017, 4,500 pounds of small batteries as well as since 2016, 4,464 pounds of light strings and 239 tons of glass have been recycled.
The 11th annual Electronics Recycling event will be on Saturday, September 14 from 8 – 10 a.m. near City Hall.
“Our community has done great,” Brown mentioned. “Since 2013, we have recycled 175,000 pounds of electronics. You see every year we are at about 15,000 – 20,000 pounds of electronics; it’s a lot. Thanks to Wayne State College athletes, we have a lot of help.”
For more tips on the ‘Green Path to the Good Life’, like the Wayne Green Team on Facebook or visit www.cityofwayne.org/greenteam. Also, email greenteam@cityofwayne.org. with any questions.
