By Joanne Nesbit
News and Information Services
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Matt Healy (left), an industrial and operations engineering student, and Kristin Tudball, a graphic design major in the School of Art and Design, display the raw materials and finished product–notebooks that will be for sale by EnAct Jan. 5–9 in the Michigan Union. Photo by Bob Kalmbach |
From the breakfast table to the backpack, cereal boxes are making the transition. Cap’n Crunch, Count Chocula, Fruit Loops and Wheaties boxes are being transformed into covers for notebooks carried by U-M students.
A project instituted by EnAct (Environmental Action at U-M), a student committee led by engineering student Matt Healy, is turning discarded paper printed on one side into 100-page notebooks. Each notebook is bound with a cover made from a cereal box. U-M residence halls are supplying the empty cereal boxes.
The committee needs 50,000 sheets of white or colored paper to produce 500 notebooks. The 8.5 by 11 inch notebooks are three-quarter inches thick, and sell for $1. The committee makes about 40 cents on each book after paying expenses for binding and space rental for the sale.
“The notebooks hold up well,” says Healy, a self-described “tree hugger.” “The pages don’t fall out.”
EnAct will sell the notebooks 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Jan. 5–6 in the lower level of the Michigan Union and 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Jan. 7–9 in the Pendleton Room, Michigan Union during the student book exchange.
U-M units or area businesses interested in collecting paper for this project can call the EnAct office, 647-9189, to obtain a collection box. The group can use either white or colored paper that has print on one side. EnAct does caution those donating paper to be sure they are comfortable with the information on the printed side being distributed to the public.
