University Teams with Pepsi for a Greener Tomorrow

You have probably noticed the big blue machine stationed outside the entrance to the campus Union, you may have even used it, but at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, you are invited to help celebrate the Pepsi Dream Machine on campus.

The PepsiCo and Waste Management Dream Initiative, is a country-spanning effort to help promote recycling and sustainability with approximately 5,500 machines in the United States. Two of those computerized receptacles sit on the University of Arkansas campus at the Arkansas Union. This machine allows users to register an account so it will keep track of the number of plastic bottles and aluminum cans and award returning users with points. The points can be redeemed at the website, www.greenopolis.com for discounts on local entertainment, dining, and travel.

Along with helping to create a cleaner, greener world PepsiCo has used the initiative to donate more than $500,000 a year and an additional $250,000 for each 10 million pounds of materials collected to Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). The EBV provides free training in entrepreneurship and small business management for post-9/11 disabled veterans.

Speakers at the event include Danny Pugh, vice provost for student affairs and dean of students, Arkansas Union Advisory Committee chair Cathryn Fleener, Chris Weber of PepsiCo, and Carlos Ochoa, program manager for the Office of Campus Sustainability. The event will take place at the east entrance to the Arkansas Union  at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27.