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Campus Events

Sustainability Office hosts 'Mulch & Mingle'

BYU's Sustainability Office hosted their first-ever 'Mulch & Mingle' event as part of Green Week 2022. Students and Provo residents came together Monday night to spread mulch and beautify the nature trail by the LaVell Edwards Stadium and share treats.

The activity attracted students interested in service and sustainability who were eager to volunteer their time to help with the project.

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A tower of buckets is used by the volunteers to transport mulch. The mulch is created from BYU's yard debris. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Cody Eveson, a UVU student, takes part in the activity. Sustainability connects communities. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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A compost and recycling bin are accompanied by a recycled painted sign. BYU Recycling has many bins on campus to allow students and faculty to recycle. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Whether they participated for the environmental aspect or the service aspect, volunteers had a fun time singing songs and making jokes together. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Student volunteers help set up the Mulch & Mingle Booth. Brownies and cookies were served afterward. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Students from the 113th Ward prepare to spread mulch. The ward participated in the activity as part of their family home evening activity. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Many participants helped, including a puppy. Max came to the event along with more than 50 other volunteers. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Bremen Leak shares a spiritual thought about sustainability at the beginning of the activity. Leak is the director of BYU's Sustainability Office. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Each 5-gallon bucket holds mulch to be poured onto the hill. Mulch helps preserve water and adds nutrients to the soil. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

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Volunteers make an assembly line for easy transportation. Buckets were passed from person to person. (Ashley Pun Eveson)

The event started with a spiritual thought from President Russell M. Nelson's address 'The Creation,' shared by sustainability director Bremen Leak. Leak said this talk has helped him become a better steward to the earth.

More than 50 people gathered to help with the project, which lasted two hours. Participants transferred mulch to buckets, then passed the buckets closer to the hill, where they poured and raked the mulch.

The BYU Recycling Program's supervisor Bill Rudy supplied mulch created from leaves, tree branches and grass clippings from campus. After the landscaping team cuts the grass on the BYU campus and collects other debris, it is recycled at a facility in Mapleton, where it takes about six months to turn into mulch.

Mulch helps retain water in soil and provides nutrients in addition to preventing erosion, Rudy said.

BYU creates 2,000 cubic yards of mulch annually. For the Mulch & Mingle project, it took 30 cubic yards of mulch to cover the hill between the stadium and the path.

'I've always thought that service is really important, it's a good way to destress after studying for a while,' BYU mathematics freshman Nick Metzger said.

Metzger and his friends saw a flyer advertising the event and decided to attend. A whole ward planned to come as their family home evening activity, so many students present were from the Provo 113th Ward.

'I like to be involved with sustainability and the environment when I have the chance,' said Melina Hansen, a freshman from the 113th Ward. 'It's not something you do every day, so I thought it would be a good opportunity.'

Green Week 2022 will continue on campus this week with different activities to raise awareness about the Sustainability Office and efforts to be environmentally friendly at BYU.

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BYU's Green Week 2022 has more activities occurring through Friday. (Flyer courtesy of the BYU Sustainability Office)