A large cube of crushed plastic water bottles sitting on the lawn caught senior Finita John‘s attention as she walked by Wednesday afternoon. It was from Pro Kansas Recycling Center, where anyone can recycle for free.

“When we are throwing away things we are often not aware it can be recycled,” John said. “I am guilty of taking things for granted. Recycled materials cost less money, so maybe if we paid more attention to our surroundings than we as a nation can cut costs.”

Sally Frede of ProKansas Recycling said the cube of bottles weighed about 500 pounds. She estimated Wichita goes through 22,000 pounds of bottles a day.

It was an accumulation of about two months of hard work for Wichita State freshman Haley Johnston and the rest of the 10 members of WSU’s Green Group to get ready for this year’s Earth Day celebration, Earth-Fest.

The group, which started to make students and staff more aware of recycling and the environment, started planning to have about 25 groups out to WSU campus for Earth day back in February.

Bob Dixon, mayor of Greensburg, attended and spoke to a small crowd about the importance or renewable energy and being environmentally friendly.

The event took place from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. in Shocker Square and included booths from the Wichita’s Roller Derby League, Wichita Rowing Association and Azimuth Solar Energy.

Azimuth Solar Energy owner Darlene Redden said solar energy is the future for powering houses, and people should install panels now.

“It will pay for itself in the next 10 years,” Redden said. “I think every home should have one, and today was a great opportunity to debunk the myths about solar energy.

According to Redden, many people do not know that solar energy panels work in winter, do not require constant maintenance, and are not too expensive.

WSU junior Dalton Jay Nelson was impressed by the variety of causes that came out for Earth day.

“I am an advocate for going green,” Nelson said. “I often hear rebuttals for solar energy and how it’s not true, but they have solid information and it’s good to know.”

Nelson would also like to see more glass recycling on campus and is excited about the university promoting healthy habits.

 “This is the big event for the semester,” Johnston said. “It (Green Group) is a small organization and we’d love to have more people involved.”

Johnston encourages interested students to come to Green Group’s Tuesday meetings. More information is at wichita.edu/wsugreengroup.