 What makes for excellence in heart care? It starts with one of the most amazing teams of heart surgeons and cardiologists that I've seen assembled under one roof and the region's leading technology in a new 40 million dollar facility. This is the nationally recognized Heart and Vascular Institute of Eastern Kentucky at Pikeville Medical Center. The University of Pikeville is set to host the first ever Kentucky Recycling Symposium on April 13th and 14th, 2023. This is the first recycling symposium that we've had here in the state of Kentucky, and this is really an opportunity for constituents around the state who are interested in recycling to come together and discuss about what's happening in the state, what is the recycling, and also really consider what the future recycling looks like here in Kentucky. And so this symposium gives a platform for interested voices to really speak about this, but also has an opportunity to network with stakeholders across the state in order to create a coalition, in order to push recycling forward. The two-day event will be catered and attendees can expect to hear from a wide range of inspiring and informative speakers. In Kentucky's a big state, there's a lot of difference between those who are in Louisville and Cincinnati and Bowling Green and Somerset and Pikeville here in our area. So bringing everybody together and having a chance to discuss these really allows us to look at the potential for a more statewide approach to some of the efforts that would enhance recycling in the future. People are interested in recycling, you can tell because we have some recycling events, I mean even here in Pikeville we have recycling opportunities, but people don't really know what and how to effectively advocate for recycling and this gives us a platform and a starting point to really look into that. The University of Pikeville is proud to host this event and is committed to making a positive impact on the environment. CleanPause is the UPIKE sustainability initiative for the mountains. We are an education-based program hoping to engage our students. We're trying to reduce waste on campus. We have implemented a successful cardboard recycling program and installed more water refill stations which have tremendously reduced waste on campus. We regularly host community cleanup events. We're trying to keep our mountains beautiful and our long-term goal is to reach out to our community. We're hoping that our initiatives will go beyond just the campus itself and we're hoping that the symposium will bring light to our issues which is waste and pollution in our area and we're hoping that this will be an annual event. The symposium is open to the public and registration to attend is $100. For more information visit UPIKE.edu. Reporting from Mountain Top News, I'm Ethan Miller.