November 19, 2007 10:44 am
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ADA — Cortney Timmons and the Oklahoma State University tailgate recycling program she initiated, “Real Cowboys Recycle”, have been named Recycling Effort of the Year by the Oklahoma Celebrates America Recycles Day Committee. She will be honored Nov. 15 in Tulsa during the seventh annual banquet hosted by The Metropolitan Environmental Trust and Midland Recycling.
Timmons, OSU biosystems and agricultural engineering senior, is a 2004 Byng High School graduate. Last May, she was named a Morris K. Udall Scholar, a nationally competitive award for students committed to careers in the environment, tribal public policy, and Native American health care.
Timmons modeled “Real Cowboys Recycle” after a similar University of Missouri program she learned about from a fellow Udall Scholar at a summer orientation in Arizona.
As chairwoman of the OSU Student Government Association's recycling committee, Timmons said, “I've been trying to tackle the giant of general recycling all over campus, and I thought this would be a great way to springboard recycling at OSU and in Stillwater.” The student government and the student environmental group, ECO-OSU, worked to create the program with the support of OSU administrators and others.
On home football game days, a recycling hub set out on the north side of Boone Pickens Stadium includes bins for plastics, aluminum, and paper. Timmons and other organizers pass out trash bags to tailgaters for three hours before the game, and continue collecting until after the game.
Timmons said neither the university campus nor the city of Stillwater have a big recycling program. Aluminum cans collected on game days are donated to Cans for Habitat, the national partnership between the Aluminum Association and Habitat for Humanity International. Plastic and glass are taken to Allied Waste Services in Stillwater. She hopes “Real Cowboys Recycle” raises community awareness.
Timmons is currently Student Council President of the OSU College of Engineering and Architecture Technology, and is a second year Wentz Scholar. Last summer her Wentz research presentation won 1st place in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Undergraduate Poster Competition in Minneapolis, Minn. Other OSU honors include 2006 Outstanding Sophomore in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, and Top Ten Freshmen Women in 2005.
She is the daughter of Steve and Lisa Timmons of Ada.
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