A rainy, windy morning didn’t stop volunteers at Cyclovia Tucson on Sunday, April 10. Included among their ranks were the student volunteers of the UA’s Students for Sustainability and Compost Cats. 

SFS and its volunteers were there to educate the hoards of cyclists and local Tucsonans passing through the closed-off Cyclovia route on recyclables and how to live more sustainably.

Cyclists and local community residents walked and rode around with their children on a closed route between the Lost Barrio to the south of the UA campus and ending at Himmel Park.

People stopped at the SFS table where they were able to spin a wheel of possible recyclable items. The person who spun the wheel had to say whether the item was recyclable or not. If guessed correctly, participants were rewarded an SFS bag or sticker.

“This is just to let the community know what we’re doing on campus and our community,” said Antonio Arias, Grassroots Committee chair for SFS. “I don’t think enough people know what we’re doing on campus — they think that the student population doesn’t care about sustainability.”

Related: One small step for sustainability, one giant step for Spring Fling.

Arias said SFS is a diverse group because they have a lot of people with different degree backgrounds. He said if he was trying to advertise SFS at Cyclovia Tucson right now, he would tell people that SFS is a student-led group on campus that focuses on sustainability and whose motto is institutionalizing and promoting sustainability on campus.

“This last semester, the Marketing Committee has been in charge of the Water Waste Challenge, which was a challenge in the library to reduce recycling contamination and promote recycling,” said Trevor Ledbetter, SFS Marketing Committee chair. “We’re getting bigger every year, which is pretty awesome. A few people are working to get another committee started with environmental health and things that pertain to that.”

Ysabella Zammit, a Grassroots Committee intern, said she joined SFS a year ago and within the past year, she has seen an increase in knowledge about recycling and sustainability. She can see how significant of an impact the efforts of SFS has had on the campus community. 

Follow Gabriella Vukelic on Twitter.