Crowds cheer for them. Judges rate them. Students dance on them. But after the cheesy costumes have been worn and the candies have been flung, what happens to a Penn State Homecoming float? In the past, many had a depressing date with the dumpster, but this year most floats will come to a greener end thanks to the University’s new float recycling program.

Through the combined efforts of three student groups and a team from Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant (OPP), nearly all of the 42 floats that will travel the parade route on Friday, Oct. 8, will be systematically dismantled and separated into their component parts (metal, paper and wood) for reuse or recycling.

Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services in OPP, said he is hoping the effort will save about 4 tons of material from landfills. Floats will be taken to a staging area south of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 10, and will be dismantled one at a time by a group of student volunteers.

“This project should give the students involved an appreciation for the effort that goes into doing the responsible thing with their waste. It’s going to be an opportunity to show participants that if you get a bunch of folks together that are like-minded and interested in doing the right thing, it becomes fun,” Matyasovsky said. “If we have one float that is broken down and goes to beneficial use, then this effort will be a success.”

Critical to that success, he said, is the involvement of student groups, including the Penn State Homecoming Committee, members of the WE ARE Campaign, and the STATERs (Students Taking Action To Encourage Recycling). He said they have been the driving force in organizing the effort. Student Nikki Abraham, member of the Penn State Homecoming Executive Committee and 2010 parade director, said her group and the others were ready to jump in as soon as they heard about the project.

“Recycling these materials, as opposed to just throwing them away, is a great idea. We’re all about being green and good to the environment,” Abraham said. “Also, this gives the organizations that have a float in the parade an easy and effective way to tear down.”

Penn State student Chad Fisher, director of the WE ARE Campaign, said his group has been in talks with OPP about the float recycling effort almost from the beginning.

“Al Matyasovsky came to us last year and asked if we would be interested in helping to organize this effort, and we were thrilled to help out,” Fisher said. “We’re hoping to measure what we’ve collected at the end of the day, pound for pound. Hopefully we’ll be able to further Penn State’s recycling efforts through this event."

Students will arrive on the site at 9:30 a.m. and will undergo basic personal safety training. The floats will be decommissioned between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. To get the floats through in that time, Matyasovsky said, the work will have to be done quickly.

“If we run across a float built by a team of engineering students, we might not be able to figure out how to take it apart,” he joked, “but that will be the challenge, to dismantle them efficiently.”

Wood recovered during the effort will stay at Penn State, either as boards to be sold at the University’s annual Trash-to-Treasure event, or to be turned into mulch. Metals will be resold or melted down, and paper will go to the Centre County Solid Waste Authority for recycling.

Students who wish to volunteer for the effort can sign up at http://volunteer.psu.edu/ and click on “Recycle-Your-Float.” Matyasovsky said students who want to pitch in are welcome to, “as long as they’re willing to hear me out on the safety issues.” He said long pants and closed shoes are a must. Gloves, protective eyewear and tools will be provided by OPP. Leaders of organizations whose floats are not already part of the effort can contact Abraham at paradehomecoming@psu.edu for more information.