Members of the Arkansas Tech University community will vote Oct. 13-15 on the design of a sculpture that will adorn the Russellville campus recycling cart.
Potential designs submitted by ATU art students will be on display in the Doc Bryan Student Services Center Rotunda from 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, through noon on Friday, Oct. 16.
Voting will take place at www.facebook.com/arkansastech from 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, through 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. Photos of each sculpture design will be available on the ATU Facebook page. The design with the most likes will be identified as the winner and announced at noon on Friday, Oct. 16.
The effort is part of a larger, multidisciplinary project by students, faculty and staff representing academic programs in art, biology and engineering, the ATU Office of Facilities Management and the ATU Campus Environmental Coalition (CEC) registered student organization.
The ATU recycling program has more than 50 bins in campus buildings and is piloting a residence hall-wide program at M Street Residence Hall. The program is overseen by the ATU recycling committee and carried out by Jonathan Collins, ATU energy manager, and the ATU custodial services staff.
The campus recycling program will be supported by the new recycling art cart. The vehicle will run on renewable energy provided by a solar charging station that ATU engineering students are designing under the direction of Dr. Matthew Young, assistant professor of electrical engineering.
The proposed designs for the cart sculpture are being created by ATU art students through the use of locally-collected, recyclable materials. Manami Ishimura, visiting instructor of art, is guiding the art students working on the project.
Dr. Douglas Barron, assistant professor of biology, chair of the ATU recycling committee and co-advisor for the ATU CEC, said the project is funded through a $10,000 grant from the Pepsi Zero Impact Fund.
“The cart will provide an eye-catching and sustainable means to transport recycling from dispersed collection bins to centralized dumpsters,” said Barron. “Ultimately, we also intend to use the cart for community outreach through parades, school visits and similar opportunities.”
More information about the ATU recycling program is available at www.atu.edu/recycling.
