HSU WRRAP Community
Waste Reduction Resource Awareness Program (WRRAP)
Mission:
WRRAP aims to bridge awareness through outreach and education, encouraging students and faculty alike to participate in a lifestyle that reflects helping the earth, not hurting it. Through five branches, WRRAP can effectively reach out to the HSU community through interaction, hosting events, and providing environmentally sound resources where needed. The five branches currently include:
- The Compost branch which offers a Compost demonstration site and education workshops as well as diverting HSU's food waste from entering landfills.Although the majority of recycling operations are now part of Plant Operations, WRRAP still collects compost from core locations across campus. With the cooperation of Plant Operations, we have acquired the use of a small electric golf cart to pick up the 50 gallon compost drums at the campus drop off sites. Before the program acquired the gold cart, we used a ’99 Ford 250 truck, supplied as a state vehicle. The truck was purchased in part with Associated Student unallocated funds and in part with university funds. Another method that was used was the Ecocycle. A two person, human powered, kinetic recycling vehicle, originally built for the Kinetic Sculpture Race, was purchased from its builder, Mark Mueller in 1992. The Ecocycle served as a great tool for the campus, gaining much publicity, hauling heavy loads of recycling and using raw human power. Spring 2006, the Ecocycle was finally put to rest as the racing gears could not keep up with the heavy hauls. We continue using human power with bike trailers and many helping hands.
- The Education branch which compliments WRRAP's through educating the student budy in numerous comprehensive ways. Our other departments have been actively working to bring awareness and understanding of resource conservation both on campus and in the community as well as a dynamic network of other organizations working towards common goals. By organizing composting workshops, zero waste events, Take Back the Tap events, tabling in the quad, performing educational outreach presentations, designing interpretative displays, and making personal contact with the campus community, WRRAP’s education works to show the connections between individual choices and the waste produced on campus.
- ROSE (Reusable Office and Supply Exchange) branch provides a space within Warren House 53 for donations and supplements of reusable school and office materials to encourage reusing and reducing what would otherwise be considered waste. ROSE provides a space for the donation of reusable materials on campus, and tracks the amount of these materials that have been repurposed free of charge rather than sent to a landfill.
- Zero Waste and Take Back the Tap (TBTT) branch encourages campus organizations and the community in "Green Certified" events that generate minimal to zero waste and provides clean, filtered water for the entire HSU community. Take Back The Tap promotes the elimination of bottled water on campus by providing reusable water bottles and Hydration Stations offering a place to fill these bottles with clean, filtered, and great-tasting tap water, as well as offering students a Bottle-Free Commencement. The Zero-Waste Event department assists the campus community in putting on events that generate minimal to zero-waste, by providing educational guidance, compost buckets, and reusable dishware.
- The Bicycle Learning Center advocates for bicycling as a safe, affordable, healthful, sustainable, and fun form of transportation, and recreation. By providing tools, parts, and education for students to practice bicycle maintenance, we empower the community to ride and maintain bicycles with confidence, as well as to share their knowledge and skills with others. Founded as a club in 1992, the BLC closed for nearly a year before alumnus Rory Baker (’16, Environmental Management & Protection) led the charge to revive the center in 2015 by relocating it to a small workspace beneath the steps leading into the West Gymnasium. In 2018 alumnus Jay Ryan ('19 Environmental Science & Management) led the transition for the BLC to be a branch of WRRAP, an Associated Students program. The BLC continues to be open to students for free, and judgment-free, bicycle maintenance support, and education.