By Jen Taylor

One UK club will help insulate homes by recycling denim.

The Merchandising Apparel and Textiles club is participating in the Cotton Incorporated Denim Drive, in which participating colleges around the country collect jeans and denim that are then recycled into insulation for Habitat for Humanity homes.

This is the third year the UK MAT club will be making this effort, said Meredith Cinnamon, MAT club organizer.

“Last year we collected approximately 12,000 pairs of jeans — enough to insulate 24 homes and divert 8.5 tons of waste from the landfill,” Cinnamon said. “We are continuing the drive this year in hopes to collect even more for this great cause.”

The Denim Drive started unofficially three years ago but was so successful, having donated just as much denim as many official drives, that it has become an annual project.

The goal of the nationwide drive is to collect 500 articles of denim per school, said Paige Patterson, the MAT president.

The UK MAT club has exceeded this goal each year it has participated, Cinnamon said.

Patterson and Cinnamon both mentioned their gratitude for Carhartt, a company that has been a supporter for this event in the past year, donating returned denim and contributing rolls of denim fabric in bulk.

The Big Blue Goes Green event will kick-off this year’s drive and the first collection bin will stand alongside of MAT’s display.

The event will take place Wednesday, Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Frank Harris Grand Ballroom in the Student Center.

This week you can check out the Denim Drive booth displayed inside Good Barn during Ag Roundup.