The sight of students digging in garbages around campus last week may have had some people scratching their heads.

Not to worry -- the excavation of these refuse vestiges was not the loss of sanity by students as the quarter is more than half over.

Instead, it was an act of love for the environment.

Western Environmental Watch, an AS club, collected 400 used paper cups from campus garbages in preparation for Recycle Week this week. They strung the cups together on three long strings and hung them across buildings in Red Square Tuesday and Wednesday. A table with free mugs and coffee was set up to complement the cups.

"We got some pretty weird looks shot at us for a while," club member Cassandra Howe said.

The number of paper cups club members dug out of the garbage is very little in comparison to the number of cups students throw away every day, club member Gwen Heisterkamp said.

"Students throw away 3000 paper cups a day," Howe said. "That number was from five years ago. It's a lot more now."

Some students said they thought the free coffee and strung-up coffee cups were sponsored by the coffee club, club member Katie Frankhauser said.

"Some people are really receptive to it," Heisterkamp said.

"We want to raise awareness about the waste of paper cups," Howe said.

Western Environmental Watch is providing an incentive to students to use fewer paper cups and a reward to those who already do, Heisterkamp said.

Students who already were using a mug instead of a paper cup could enter their names in a drawing for one of three donated prizes, Howe said.

First prize was a $25 gift certificate to the Community Co-Op, Howe said.