The Washington State University Common Reading Program will host materials researcher Karl Englund for a 7 p.m. March 24 lecture in Webster 16 titled “Engineering New Products from Old Material.” The public is welcome at the free event.
“Do you ever wonder where that plastic bottle goes after you put it in the recycling bin?” asked Englund, an associate research professor and extension specialist in WSU’s Composite Materials and Engineering Center and a WSU alumnus. “What about all the other materials we throw away—can’t they be recycled?”
Englund’s presentation ties to this year’s common reading book, “Garbology,” by Edward Humes. The book and topics from it have been used in first-year and other courses on campus. Many previous expert lectures and special programming have helped students to think about and identify sources and types of trash, and how Americans deal with them.
Englund will focus his lecture on “the opportunities and challenges associated with closing the recycling loop, where we turn the materials we discard into useful products.”
