Earth Day 2025

🌎Earth Day falls on April 22 each year, but the Wayne Green Team encourages you to live every day as if it’s Earth Day. That’s why the Wayne Green Team is kicking off a month of activities to celebrate the Earth and take action to protect it. 

📆ATTEND EVENTS

🍵Attend the Earth Month Chamber Coffee Friday, April 4, 10 am. Bring your own mug to the Wayne Public Library and learn the latest on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle in Wayne. The Wayne Green Team will announce this year's Zero Hero winner, and you’ll leave knowing how to make a green impact in Wayne America.

🍿Watch the free Earth Day movie, Rubber Jellyfish, at the Majestic Theatre, Sunday, April 6, 7 pm. This film reveals the shocking truth about what happens to helium balloons when released into the air. Rubber Jellyfish explores the effects of helium balloons on the environment, wildlife, and human beings. We all know that throwing garbage on the ground is littering, so why is letting a balloon float away seen as something different? Doors open at 6:30pm and the 80-minute film begins at 7pm. Stay for a virtual Q&A with filmmaker Carly Wilson after the movie. Don’t forget to bring your own popcorn container and cup to help make this a zero waste event. This free movie is hosted by the City of Wayne Green Team, the Wayne State College Green Team, and the A. Jewell Schock Natural History Museum, with funding from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

👖Recycle Denim into Bags, Thursday, April 24, 6 pm. Come to the Wayne Public Library for Recycled Denim Craft Night to give old jeans a new life. Experts will be on hand to help you sew jeans into a sturdy, reusable bag. Bring your own jeans or use ones available for this special craft night.

🛒SHOP LOCAL

You can also save green while being green when you shop in Wayne during April with these specials. 

☕Bring your own mug to The Table for $1 off a drink

💐Bring your own vase to I Wet My Plants and Bloom & Grace for a 50¢ in-store credit per vase.

🛍️Bring your own bag to Pac N Save and Quality Foods for a 5¢ credit per bag when you shop. At Pac N Save, you can donate your bag credit to a local organization each quarter, and from March 1 through May 31, 2025, that organization is the Wayne Green Team! This bag credit program is year-round.

📚Visit the Recycled Read bookstore for a special pop-up on April 11, 2-6pm. Run by the Friends of the Wayne Public Library, this store is located at 110 South Logan Street and has books, magazines, games, puzzles, and music for less than $1. You can also bring your donations there (up to 2 bags at a time), including music CDs, DVDs, and puzzles. Wayne also has a variety of wonderful consignment and thrift stores to check out.

👜Bring 10 IKT bags to the store to recycle and get 20% off your purchase. This program is year-round.

Wayne also has a variety of wonderful consignment and thrift stores to check out:

🎬TAKE ACTION

🎯Play Recycle Right Bingo to win $20 in Chamber Bucks
Download our Recycle Right Bingo card or pick one up at the Wayne America office at 108 West 3rd Street or at any of our Earth Month events. Take a picture recycling a square’s item, fill 5 squares to make a bingo, then post your pictures and bingo card with #wayneamerica or send them to info@wayneamerica.org. The first 100 verified bingos will receive $20 in Chamber Bucks from Wayne America, Inc. Valid April 2025. 

Download Recycle Right Bingo Card

⛔Urge UNL to stop releasing helium balloons
The release of helium balloons into the air is littering and has a harmful effect on wildlife and the environment, as seen in our Earth Day movie, Rubber Jellyfish. Helium is also a non-renewable resource in limited supply. 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln restarted its harmful practice of releasing helium balloons at football games in 2024 after a two-year hiatus. The Association of Students for the University of Nebraska voted to ban balloon releases in 2022 and reaffirmed this ban in 2024. Take action this Earth Month and urge UNL to stop this harmful practice. Send UNL’s Athletic Director, Troy Dannen, an email at ad@huskers.com, or mail him a postcard, which you can pick up from the Wayne America chamber office at 108 West 3rd Street or any of our Earth Month events, or download below. For more info on preventing balloon releases, visit the website Prevent Balloon Litter.

Sample language:

Whether on the ground or in the air, the release of helium balloons is litter and harms the environment and wildlife. I urge the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to stop releasing helium balloons on campus and at university-sponsored events.

Download Postcard to Stop Release of Helium Balloons

Take Action for Earth Day - April 2025