From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Aug. 8, 1975:

Lawrence’s “Whomper” recycling center on East Eighth Street was in danger of closing down. Just after its successful “Splash for Trash” promotion the previous Saturday, the facility had received word that American Can Co. was closing its recycling facility in Kansas City, Mo., leaving the Whomper without a market. However, American Can operations manager Bob Wunsch told the Journal-World today that the company might begin recycling again in three months. “That, at least, holds some promise,” said Arley Allen, Whomper board president. Wunsch warned, however, that the company would only pay market value for the cans when it opened its new plant. American Can had been subsidizing the recycling program, paying the Whomper and other groups more than the market rate. Allen said the Whomper organization was looking for new markets for its 8,500 pounds of cans per week. National Can Co., Lenexa, was able to recycle cans but could not handle the volume generated by the Whomper, Allen said. The Lawrence organization had also recycled glass until the glass market had dried up in 1974, and plans for recycling paper had been canceled with the closing of Kansas Fibreboard Inc., the main source for paper recycling.