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Arkansas Environmental Project Receives EPA Grant

Release Date: 3/31/2004
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

      The University of Arkansas "Waste Not, Want Not - Environmental Issues of Waste Disposal" pilot initiative received an environmental education grant of $20,109 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project increases environmental awareness while encouraging students to pursue careers in environmental fields.

      "Our environment's future depends on our children's understanding of environmental issues and their ingenuity in creating solutions.  Environmental education projects that provide real world contexts and results are the best way to foster these abilities," EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene said.

      The project will engage 25 regional science teachers in Arkansas during an initial five-day workshop with 15 hours of follow-up mentoring on toxic and non-toxic waste disposal issues. The workshops will include lectures, hands-on sessions, visits to the University of Arkansas campus and field trips to Waste Management Tontitown Landfill, a sinking creek in the Savoy watershed, a recycling facility and a wastewater treatment plant. As many as 3,750 students may receive benefits of this teacher training.

      This year, EPA's Region 6 office received 52 entries from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Fifteen groups were selected to receive about $160,000 in environmental education grants. Since 1992, EPA has received between $2 and $3 million in grant funding per year and has awarded about 1,800 grants nationwide.

      More information about these grantees is available at https://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6xa/2003_grants.pdf. More information about environmental education grants is available at https://www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html.