Recyclers Help Disabled Veterans’ Dreams Come True with L&C’s Dream Machine

Jan 30, 2014 9:44 AM

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Recycling in the Dream Machine, located at Lewis and Clark Community College in Grand Central by the L&C Bookstore, now helps military veterans realize their dreams.

L&C Sustainability Club member and Army Veteran Max Parks recycles a plastic bottle in the blue barrel near L&C’s Dream Machine. Those who want to recycle and support disabled veterans can now toss their can or bottle in the barrel, and the L&C Veterans Club will take care of the rest. Every time someone recycles plastic bottles and aluminum cans in L&C’s Dream Machine, PepsiCo makes a donation to help disabled military veterans get the training they need to start their own businesses.

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“Just toss your plastic bottle or aluminum can in the trash barrel next to the Dream Machine and the L&C Veterans Club will do the rest,” said L&C Associate Director of Veterans Services Terry Lane. “We have added a large blue trash barrel next to the machine so people can just throw cans and bottles in it when they don’t want to mess with the machine.”

Recyclers can personally benefit from recycling, too, by setting up a Dream Machine account, earning points and redeeming the points for rewards at www.Greenopolis.com.

“Too often, recycling is seen as extra work and no reward,” said L&C Director of Sustainability Nate Keener. “The Dream Machine simplifies the process at the same time that it offers rewards for people to do the right thing. Every time a student recycles at this machine, they are rewarded with points that can be redeemed for a number of prizes.”

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When using the Dream Machine for the first time, recyclers receive a rewards card. After scanning the rewards card, recyclers will create an account. Swiping the card each time they return to the Dream Machine to recycle cans and bottles earns them rewards points.

The more bottles and cans people recycle in the L&C Dream Machine, and in Dream Machine kiosks and bins located across the nation, the more support PepsiCo will provide to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities.

With approximately 4,000 Dream Machines located in 39 states to-date, the program aims to create strategic partnerships to help increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018.

“Experience tells us that people are much more likely to recycle if it’s convenient, and they are rewarded for doing so,” said Paul Wolff, operations manager at Greenopolis. “We look forward to working with Lewis and Clark Community College to enable a recycling experience that is fun and rewarding on many levels.”

Those wanting more information about L&C’s Dream Machine and those community groups who want to help disabled veterans by recycling using the L&C Dream Machine can contact Lane at (618) 468-5030 or tdlane@lc.edu.

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